Myth of the Week: Is Wittman a moderate?
Not even a little bit.
Welcome to Myth of the Week, where we address some of the most-repeated myths about Rob Wittman’s work as our VA-01 Congressional representative.
MYTH:
Rob Wittman is a moderate, common-sense conservative.
REALITY:
Wittman is hard-right MAGA.
Rob Wittman wants us to see him as a steady, practical conservative, above partisan extremes. But when independent organizations and advocacy groups score his actual votes, he lands far to the right among his fellow members of Congress.
Wittman repeatedly sides with anti-worker rights groups, anti-LGBTQ organizations, absolutist anti-abortion activists, and extreme deregulation advocates. He is currently backing the SAVE America Act and MEGA Act, which aim to significantly restrict our voting rights and facilitate a federal takeover of elections. Wittman is not a reliable ally to the VA-01 farmers he represents, with his passive greenlighting of tariffs that destroyed their markets. Nor is he willing to protect older Americans’ Social Security or the Medicare that many families rely on. And he’s been complicit with the gutting of Medicaid, affordable healthcare, and access to hospitals.
The AFL‑CIO gave him a 5% score for 2024, and just 13% over the course of his career for his votes against workers’ rights and protections. The Alliance for Retired Americans and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare both give him a 0% score. That’s ZERO. The GovTrack project funded by the independent Civic Impulse puts Wittman in the top 6.7% of right-leaning representatives in the House.
There is nothing moderate about Wittman’s record. While he portrays himself as a moderate, he lines up obediently with the far-right policy agenda of Trump and Project 2025.
Voting to gut protections for workers
The AFL-CIO scorecard tracks Wittman’s abysmal voting record on worker protections going back to 2009, and all we have to do is look at a few recent votes to see that whenever workers’ rights conflict with corporate power, Wittman’s loyalties are with monied corporations, not the majority of people in VA-01. In the last two years alone, he has repeatedly voted for measures that weaken worker protections and empower large corporations.
Wittman backed the CHOICE Arrangement Act, which pushes bare-bones health plans that skip essential benefits like emergency care, maternity coverage, and prescription drugs. That’s the opposite of what we’d expect from a “family-focused” representative who wants the best for his constituents. These radical omissions from our healthcare coverage expose all of us to financial disaster when emergencies occur or babies arrive.
The Separation of Powers Restoration Act got Wittman’s support. This Act is designed to destroy the 1984 Chevron deference principle which mandates that when judges don’t fully understand a statute, they defer to the experts in the relevant agency. Federal agencies (are supposed to) employ scientists, engineers, and health experts to advise them on things like worker safety standards and consumer protections. This “Restoration” Act allows corporations to ignore the experts and find a sympathetic judge who will simply rule in their favor, essentially allowing corporations to cut corners on our safety to maximize their profits.
Wittman also voted for the REINS Act, which would block agencies from implementing protections for workers and regular citizens without rapid congressional approval — a subtle but super important move. It means that rules on things like our exposure to toxic chemicals, extreme heat, and toxic air and water pollution are subject to an automatic veto if both chambers of Congress don’t explicitly approve them. This is a sinister way to use the dysfunction of Congress to avoid the implementation of worker and citizen protections. It’s also a convenient way for lobbyists of powerful industries — some of whom might be among Wittman’s big donors — to stall protections.
Hard-line economic and social policy votes
On economic and social issues, Wittman’s voting record follows the same hard line. He has backed aggressive attempts to roll back health coverage, social supports, and reproductive rights — even when those efforts demonstrably threaten our health and wellbeing. He has repeatedly supported efforts to undo or undermine the Affordable Care Act — he voted against it 40 times! — despite the fact that it expanded coverage and consumer protections for millions, including over 34,300 in VA-01.
Wittman also voted for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which advances a sweeping anti-abortion agenda and moves federal law toward the frighteningly absolutist stance of the religious right. This would preclude medical intervention even when pregnancies go horribly wrong for mother and fetus, and would put the lives and safety of pregnant people at extreme risk. If you have any doubt he means business, just look at the NINE times he co-sponsored extreme personhood bills between 2007-2021, which grant full constitutional protections to a fetus at the moment of conception. That’s two cells with the same constitutional rights as you or I. This is by no means a “moderate” stance.
In the realm of fiscal policy, Wittman’s support for the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 signaled his willingness to embrace deep domestic cuts — billions of dollars slashed from programs that fund health care, food assistance, student debt relief, and veterans’ medical care. And of course, in recent months we’ve all watched him enthusiastically vote for H.R. 1, which slashed billions more from those important and life-saving programs while granting his corporate and wealthy donors the tax cuts they covet. Not coincidentally, only 1.5% of Wittman’s donations come from small individual contributions of $200 or less. In light of that fact, his extremist, corporate-friendly positions start to make a lot of sense.
Immigration, border policy, and “open borders” rhetoric
Wittman has offered only praise of the Trump/Stephen Miller/Kristi Noem immigration enforcement tactics. His overtly enthusiastic support for ICE activity at the same time they were violently and aggressively operating in Minneapolis was truly nauseating.
Immigration enforcement is a necessary reality in every country. In America, the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) has existed in some form since 1952 and has been amended multiple times. ICE was created after the establishment of the DHS in 2003, and the immigration laws authorize officers to arrest without a warrant if they have “reason to believe” an individual is removable and likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained, and then to detain that person. BUT the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable seizures and excessive force during an arrest. The tactics we’ve witnessed in Minneapolis have violated that amendment. Wittman should voice his concern, not support the aggression. The Secure the Border Act of 2023, for which Wittman voted, further amended immigration law focusing solely on punitive enforcement initiatives, significantly expanding immigration detention, and removal; and restricting asylum options and reducing protections for children.
The result is that as noncitizen immigrants are detained, families are left terrified, often unable to locate their loved ones for days, and at times financially destitute. This approach harms all workers, regardless of immigration status, and the businesses they own or for which they work. It drives people into the shadows, makes them afraid to seek help when crime happens, and prevents them from seeking necessary healthcare for fear of abduction. Wittman could have backed reforms that pair enforcement with worker protections and humanitarian safeguards. He could have pushed and voted for 2024’s proposed bipartisan immigration bill, which would have stemmed immigration and even would have enacted some of Trump’s original immigration initiatives, such as construction of the border wall. Instead, alongside his fellow MAGA acolytes, he bowed to Trump’s demands to kill the bill in order to keep immigration a campaign issue in 2024.
Elections, democracy, and the Trump-era right
Wittman’s posture on democracy and elections also underscores just how closely he tracks with Trump-era extremism. After the 2020 election, he joined efforts to object to the certification of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, lending credence to the Big Lie that the election was somehow illegitimate, even as multiple courts and state officials upheld its integrity. When questioned, Wittman tried to present his objection as a routine “debate,” but objections like his were central to a coordinated effort to cast doubt on a lawful, certified election. Even though Wittman described the events of January 6, 2021 as “completely unacceptable, undemocratic, un-American, and criminal,” he nevertheless refused to impeach Trump on the grounds that “impeaching the lame-duck President before the peaceful transition of power occurs [would] only further inflame emotions and further divide the Nation.”
Wittman voted for H. R. 7109, which would add intimidating questions about immigration status to the census. It aims to discourage immigrant participation, thereby undermining an accurate count that communities rely on for fair representation and funding.
Wittman also backed H. R. 9495, a bill allowing the Treasury Department to strip tax‑exempt status from nonprofits (including unions), based solely on unsubstantiated accusations and without a fair hearing. This would give the President a powerful tool to punish and silence dissent.
Wittman’s votes in January 2020 have a direct line to the administration’s new, larger attempts to stifle voting. At this moment, Wittman is a big supporter of the SAVE America Act, which would impose burdensome proof‑of‑citizenship requirements to vote (not just to register to vote) and create new hurdles for many eligible American citizens — especially working‑class voters with less time, less money, and less access to documentation. To be clear, registration will require a passport, birth certificate, or military ID. And if the name on a person’s current ID doesn’t match those other documents (due to a legal name change, for instance), they will not be able to register to vote, despite being legally eligible. Wittman also just voted for the related MEGA Act, which even the libertarian-leaning CATO Institute warns would threaten state authority and control over elections. This suite of acts seeks to solve virtually non-existent “voter fraud” by curtailing voting rights and mail-in voting, eliminating registration by mail, and disenfranchising many groups including military voters, married women, and rural, disabled, trans, and elderly voters.
Far-right and dangerously reshaping our lives
The gap between how Wittman tries to market his brand and his actual voting record could not be more stark. He tries to claim he is a common-sense conservative. But when you strip away the selectively-worded, boastful press releases, the condescending constituent letters, and the performative photo ops and look at how he actually votes, what emerges is far from moderation. It is in fact a consistent vote for the far-right project reshaping American lives, communities, law and politics — at our expense.
Wittman is not a moderate conservative. He is a radical member of the MAGA operation that aims to steal power, keep it, and do to you whatever they want, for their own gain and profit.
What do you think about Wittman’s faux-moderate posturing? Let us know by posting comments here or on any of our social media channels: Facebook, Instagram, BlueSky, or Reddit.