Meet the candidates: Thomas Garrett

Thomas Garrett Jr. won the Republican Party primary in the 22nd Virginia state senate district on Aug. 23, beating fellow Republicans Brian Bates, Mark Peake, Bryan Rhode and Claudia Tucker.

Garrett is now campaigning against Democrat Bert Dodson for District 22’s Virginia state representative. Virginia will hold elections for state senators on Nov. 8.

“After a long and challenging primary campaign and election, Tom (dedicated the following week) to his family,” George Goodwin, campaign manager for Garrett for Senate, said.

The issues that are getting the most attention from candidates in the state senate elections are the economy and jobs in Virginia.

“The means to achieving goals for families is unfortunately, but realistically, income,” Garrett said. “So, if we could leave more money in people’s pockets, they’ll be able to make better decisions for their families and there will be more jobs created because there will be more capital in the free market.”

Virginia is facing an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent. Garrett wishes to regulate the role of government so the private sector can create jobs and prosperity, which he thinks will be appealing to college graduates that will be entering an unstable job market.

Garrett offered advice to students who will be graduating and entering the daunting job market.

“You need to work to differentiate yourself from your peers,” Garrett said. “If a prospective employer sees that you’re willing to keep on working when other people have stopped and gone home, people notice that sort of thing.”

Garrett insists that how a person carries him or herself will shape the opinions of others and pointed out that this characteristic is a strong suit among Liberty students.

“If you carry yourself professionally and you look people square in the eyes and you do a firm handshake and you stay to clean up the chairs in the room after the assembly is breaking up and stuff like that, people notice,” Garrett said. “You’re going to get hired before your peers do. It’s not unfair, it’s just the product of what you’ve made with your time and your energy.”

Garrett is an advocate of tuition assistance grants for those who choose to attend a private university and need the assistance.

“I am an advocate for school choice and am somebody who feels that if you choose to homeschool or send your kids to private school, you should get some sort of tax credit,” Garrett said. “(Having private universities) … encourages competition in the marketplace, which means that all the schools, whether state schools or private schools, perform better. Competition makes everybody better. That’d be something that I would look to maintain, the tuition assistance program.”

Garrett is a pro-life candidate, whose position on abortion has been shaped by family, church and the personal experience of a friend, Garrett’s campaign website said.

“I am proud today, and have been for some time, to stand for what I believe is the only intellectually honest position on this issue,” Garrett said on his campaign website. “Having said that, I assure you that on issues of life, I will vote to protect the first and foremost inalienable right given to us by the Creator. No exceptions.”

Garrett also takes a stance on immigration, which includes not allowing the government to look into an individual’s immigration status unless there is a reasonable belief that the person is living in the United States illegally, Garrett said on The Rob Schilling Show.

Garrett’s interaction with Liberty University involved a debate amongst Garrett and four other candidates held at the Liberty University School of Law. Dean and Professor of Law Mathew Staver moderated the debate.

The Lynchburg Tea Party hosted and set the rules for the debate, Staver said.

“Tom Garrett was one of the candidates that did exceptionally well,” Staver said. “The LTP leadership met after the debate and voted Tom as the winner of the debate.”

The LTP now endorses Garrett’s campaign, Garrett’s campaign website said.

“He answered questions directly and appeared to connect to the audience,” Staver said. “He espoused conservative values throughout the debate, and these values resonated with the audience. This is no doubt why he was voted as the winner of the debate.”

Garrett and his wife Dana have two daughters, Caroline, 12; and Laura, 9. Garrett graduated from the University of Richmond and served for nearly six years in the army. Garrett proceeded to law school and worked as a prosecutor. Garrett worked under current Virginia Governor Bob McDonald when he was a delegate running for attorney general and worked for Bill Janis when Janis was a delegate.

Garrett was raised in Louisa and has served as Louisa County Commonwealth’s Attorney since 2007, Office of the Louisa Commonwealth’s Attorney website said.

“In my home of Louisa County, I challenged and defeated a two term incumbent for the office of Commonwealth’s Attorney,” Garrett said on his campaign website. “…In fact, we did all of this as the first Republican county-wide candidate to win since Reconstruction.”

Garrett’s resume as Commonwealth’s Attorney includes cracking down on child sex predators by dishing out several life sentences and two sentences over 100 years to convicted sex offenders, Garrett’s campaign website said.

Garrett also served as Assistant Attorney General in 2005, Office of the Louisa Commonwealth’s Attorney website said. As Assistant Attorney General, Garrett prosecuted white-collar and internet crimes and worked on the Youth Internet Safety Task Force.

“We share a lot of values with the community at Liberty and the community at Liberty is influential in the greater Lynchburg area,” Garrett said.