CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Rep. John McGuire, up for re-election this year in Virginia’s 5th District, praised the work of President Donald Trump and said he sees positive signs for the economy, both nationally and locally, as 2026 begins.

“Gas prices are down, we’re bringing jobs, we’re bringing opportunities,” McGuire said Friday during an appearance on WINA Morning News.

McGuire expressed his support for the Trump administration’s tariffs and said they will help affordability issues. He also noted he is sponsoring the “American Dream Act,” a bill that would give capital gains tax breaks to people for selling rental properties to first-time home buyers, increasing the inventory of starter homes under $500,000 and making it easier for young people to enter the housing market.

“The American Dream has been slipping away from this younger generation,” McGuire said. “And I think that this bill, the American Dream Act, is a step in the right direction.”

McGuire said as he traveled around the district over the past year, he saw signs of economic decline.

“I saw a lot of abandoned warehouses and abandoned factories,” McGuire said.

He said constituents blamed NAFTA for that loss of industry in Virginia. McGuire said that he’s worked in efforts to bring manufacturing back to the district, deals that could bring the district 7,000 jobs in the coming year. McGuire pointed to the announced investments of pharmaceutical giants AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly as part of that progress.

McGuire also said the nation’s border security has improved, again crediting the Trump administration. McGuire indicated that the bi-partisan border security bill that Trump directed Republicans to block in 2024, and other legislative measures, were unnecessary.

“The Biden administration kept saying we need this legislation or that legislation,” McGuire said. “All we really needed was a new president. President Trump was elected and within a few weeks, border crossings went way down.”

On a hyperlocal front, McGuire said he’s working to address accessibility issues at Wintergreen, where there is only one road into the area and residents have been asking for an emergency route to be added.

“Unless something goes wrong, we’ve got Democrats and Republicans across the board saying it’s a great idea,” McGuire said. “We may solve a 25-year problem in Wintergreen within the next 30, 40 days, that five Congressmen have failed to solve.”

McGuire largely avoided hot-button issues including redistricting and his impending re-election bid.

“I just focus on what I’m doing,” McGuire said when asked about former Democratic 5th District Rep. Tom Perriello’s candidacy. “I’ve been to almost 400 different churches in the district. I put 245,000 on my truck. I’ve been to every tractor pull, every rodeo. I go to businesses after businesses after businesses every day when I’m in the district, and what they tell me every day is that they’ve never met a Congressman. And what I tell people is, if you voted for me, I love you. If you didn’t vote for me, I love you.”

Asked about impending Democratic efforts to have Virginia undergo an early redistricting ahead of the mid-term elections, McGuire questioned whether Democrats followed proper procedure in their push. Virginia law requires the redistricting be approved by two sessions of the General Assembly, with an election in between, and then be voted on by a public referendum. That referendum would likely occur in April, a Democratic source told Cville Right Now.

Democrats passed an initial redistricting plan in the last session of 2025 and are poised to pass it again in the first session in 2026, which begins Jan. 14.

“I’m not as a concerned about that as others,” McGuire said. “I’ll just give it to God and work hard and help as many people and be the best congressman i can be for as long as I can. I just don’t worry about it.”