E. Wayne Powell, a Chesterfield County lawyer, will run against Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, next year.
Announcing his candidacy, Powell said Cantor has never represented his constituents in the 7th District, but is more interested in "his own advancement and in promoting the objectives of others."
A Democrat, Powell said Congress should continue to provide full funding for Medicare and Social Security. He would support ending tax breaks for the top 1 percent of wage earners and ending oil subsidies. The ending of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq as soon as possible should be a top national priority, he said. He said he supports health-care reform and immigration reform.
"In my view ... fixing Washington would be in large part accomplished by defeating Eric Cantor," Powell said. He said Cantor is someone "who embodies much of what is wrong with the political system as it operates in our country today."
Cantor has represented the 7th District since 2001. He is the House majority leader.
Democrats have run candidates against him in the past without success.
A native of Richmond, Powell served 30 years as an active-duty and Reserve Army officer in intelligence.
He has spent 31 years as a trial attorney, since 1999 as president of Powell & Parrish, a Midlothian-based law firm. During the 1980s, Powell was an assistant attorney general and deputy commissioner of the Virginia Worker's Compensation Commission.
(Cantor's wife, Diana F. Cantor, is a member of the board of directors of Media General Inc., parent company of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.)
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