CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – Rep. Ben Cline is confident voters will reject a Democrat-backed redistricting amendment that proposes moving Albemarle County and Charlottesville into the 6th District he represents. Cline said that, despite statewide victories for the Democrats in November, including the election of Gov. Abigail Spanberger, he believes public support for redistricting will fall short.

“I’m optimistic, after talking to voters across the western part of Virginia, that this referendum is going to be defeated soundly,” Cline told Cville Right Now in an exclusive interview. “Voters are angry that Democrats in Richmond have tried to gerrymander this state into an unrecognizable mishmash of maps and they’re going to vote ‘No’ between now and April 21 to reject this partisan power grab.”

Early voting opened Friday and the official election day is April 21 for the referendum that will decide if the districts remain as they’re currently drawn or switch to the new maps proposed by Democrats temporarily, until the next census in 2030.

Cline said he has no plans to extend his campaigning into the Albemarle and Charlottesville region, which is currently in the state’s 5th District and represented by fellow Republican Rep. John McGuire.

“I am blessed to represent the 6th Congressional District and my time has been spent focused on the people of the 6th District,” Cline said. “So, it will continue to be focused on the people of the 6th District as I’m running for reelection to that district, and I’m continuing to drive the 81 corridor, from Roanoke County to Frederick County, each and every day.”

In fact, Cline points to is work in support of Interstate 81 as an example of his effectiveness in hyper-local matters. In February, he worked to add $17 million to the appropriations bill to avoid another government shutdown, money earmarked for the Virginia Department of Transportation for improvements to that roadway.

And while critics argue Cline should have done more for the interstate, and done it sooner, Cline said he’s doing what he can leveraging his position on the House Appropriations Committee to help people in his district.

“81 is the economic backbone of the district and every little bit helps,” Cline said. “… It takes billions of dollars to add third lanes to Interstate 81 and I’m doing my part as an appropriator to help direct federal funding in that direction. In my view, I’m doing as much as I can and every little bit helps.”

Cline said concerns about the viability of rural healthcare clinics, including those in his district, since the passage of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, are valid but the blame is being misplaced.

When Augusta Health announced it would close clinics in Buena Vista, Churchville and Weyers Cave, it cited the impact from Trump’s budget bill. But Cline said that should actually be blamed on former Pres. Barack Obama and the Affordable Healthcare Act.

“We definitely have a healthcare problem in this country,” Cline said. “The ACA, also known as Obamacare, really had a negative impact on healthcare in this country. And we need to fix it from a broader perspective. But on a day-to-day basis, we need to make sure that federal funds flow to rural hospitals. That’s why I was so proud to make sure that $50 million was included in the One Big Beautiful Bill to go to rural hospitals to make sure that our rural healthcare needs are met.”

Cline said he was “absolutely” confident that healthcare needs in his district will be met in the coming year.”

“I think that we’re going to continue to focus on improving delivery of care, making sure that we continue to encourage rural education of physicians and nurses and the profession in rural parts of the country like Virginia,” Cline said. “… We will continue to be a partner to those rural hospitals, whether it’s through the appropriations process or through the legislative process, to improve efficiencies and make sure that we continue to support them through legislation.”

Despite touting himself as an “America first” politician, Cline said he supports Trump’s military attack on Iran. Cline said that despite the President’s declaration that Iran’s nuclear program had been destroyed by joint U.S. and Israeli military strikes in June, the latest attack was necessary for American safety.

“I think the President has done a good job of making sure that we destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities, prevent them from being able to threaten both American interests at home and abroad, to disrupt their terror networks that have been killing Americans for decades, and to remove that threat immediately,” Cline said. “Now, moving forward, we want to make sure that our thoughts and prayers are with the troops who are continuing these combat operations. Make sure that we do what we need to do in the Congress to provide the resources to the administration to do the job successfully and quickly and get our brave men and women back home.”

Cline dismissed growing concerns among Democrats and even some Republicans that the current Congress is ceding too much Constitutional authority to Trump. The Supreme Court recently ruled that some of Trump’s international tariffs were illegal, because they should have come through Congress.

Critics of the attack on Iran argue that the same applies to that action.

“Unfortunately, past Congresses have ceded a lot of its authority to the executive branch, and the actions of the executive branch today are simply in line with the statutes that were passed by past Congresses,” Cline said. “The War Powers Act requires that Congress be notified within 48 hours of hostilities occurring, and then congressional approval being requested after, I believe it’s 45 days. So, the president has said that he’s confident that those hostilities will be completed by then. But if not, then Congress will consider a request that the President come before Congress to get that approval.

“Now, as for tariffs, the Supreme Court has ruled on that issue. They’ve ruled that the statute in question did not give the President the authority to apply those tariffs as broadly as he did. But he has a number of other pieces, a statute, that give him authority to impose tariffs, and he’s looking to those statutes as well. Now, if you want to have a debate about how broad of tariff authority a President should have, I’m happy to have that discussion, but past Congresses, they’ve given the President that authority. He’s using it as a tool to help restore American manufacturing and help to balance our trade imbalances that past Congresses and past administrations have created.”

While he won’t be tailoring his campaign messages to include the parts of the 5th District that could move into the 6th, Cline said there are plenty of issues that overlap for voters across the region.

“There are a lot of issues that overlap district lines, agriculture being one of the most important ones,” Cline said. “That’s why I sit on the appropriation subcommittee on agriculture and work every day to assist farmers in our part of Virginia with issues that are important to them. And so, transportation infrastructure issues, whether it’s I-81, whether it’s I-64 or making sure that our other infrastructure needs are met.”