CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Whether he ends up running in the 5th or 6th District, former Congressman Tom Perriello said the issues he will continue to campaign on – and his criticisms of the Republican party – won’t change.

“Sadly, families are struggling whether you go north, south, east, or west,” Perriello told Cville Right Now on Thursday. “No one can afford healthcare because Congress is sending premiums through the roof. Nobody can afford childcare because their wages haven’t gone up in years.”

Perriello launched his campaign in December to reclaim the 5th District seat he occupied from 2009-11, the last Democrat to win in the district.

Under the proposed new voting map Democrats are hoping to put before voters in April, Charlottesville and Albemarle – strongholds for Perriello – would be moved to the 6th District. The map would bring together many of the Commonwealth’s college towns, with the University of Virginia, James Madison, Virginia Tech and others in the 6th.

“I am currently running in both the existing 5th district and in the proposed 6th district,” Perriello said. “What’s exciting for me is that our smaller towns are (usually) the ones that get left out of the political conversation, and we have districts that are vast and rural. We have big city districts, a lot more people in the suburbs. This will be one of the few districts in the country and in the region where you’re really having small towns like Charlottesville, really highly represented.”

In the 5th District, Perriello would have run against Republican incumbent John McGuire, who’s positions Perriello spent much of the past two months lambasting. Now, he will need to shift his focus to 6th District Republican incumbent Ben Cline.

“As a citizen, what makes me sad is it changes almost nothing because Ben Cline has done the exact same thing as McGuire,” Perriello said. “Both of them voted to send healthcare prices up. Both of them voted for policies that are closing our rural health clinics. Neither of them had the guts to even sign the Epstein discharge position petition that had bipartisan support. Neither of them, both of whom have talked about being part of the freedom caucus, have stood up for freedom when ice is coming into communities.

Cline has served as a U.S. Representative for the 6th District since 2019. McGuire became the 5th District rep in 2025. If redistricting is successful, McGuire could potentially run in the 7th District, which would include Greene, Orange and Louisa Counties.

Representatives for McGuire did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

“It really comes back to what it means to be a representative in the House of Representatives,” Perriello said. “It means to represent the community, not to represent Donald Trump, not to represent the resistance to Donald Trump. It is to represent the community, and I think that’s where Ben Cline and John McGuire have failed.”

Perriello’s December entrance to the race pushed out a string of 5th District Democratic contenders, including Adele Stichel, Paul Wiley, Katie Zabriskie and – this week – Mike Pruitt.

It remains to be seen if the same will happen in the 6th, where Beth Macy is the most established candidate. Macy’s campaign did not respond to an interview request.

Thursday, Army veteran Hugh Murray announced he would vie for the Democratic nomination.

“I was raised on values of honesty, duty, and accountability,” Murray said in a statement announcing his candidacy. “Congress has completely forgotten those standards. Families’ healthcare and grocery costs are out of control; there’s no accountability for the corruption in the White House. The 6th District needs a Democrat who can win this tough district and hold it beyond this election. I’m the candidate who can do that. I believe in serving my country. I did it in uniform, and I’m prepared to do it in the halls of Congress.”

Of course, nothing will be set until the Democrats’ redistricting efforts clear two remaining hurdles. First, the Virginia Supreme Court will hear a procedural challenge to the way the General Assembly passed its redistricting amendment to the state constitution.

If the court allows the effort – which is being done to offset Republican gains through redistricting in Texas – to go forward, the ultimate decision will rest with voters, who can approve or reject the plan in an April vote.

“The maps, unlike Texas, where there was a backroom deal, this is being presented to the voters, and the voters will have the ultimate decision,” Perriello said. “The Democrats have taken the extra step of agreeing to the maps and presenting them to the public. So, this is a democratic, transparent process.”