On Wednesday, February 18, Republican Congressman John McGuire came to speak at Western. The event, hosted and planned by Club America, the high school offshoot of Turning Point USA, featured McGuire engaged in a cross between a debate and a Q&A with students. Discussion of immigration and McGuire’s attendance at the January 6 insurrection dominated conversation.
A former Navy SEAL, McGuire is the current US Representative for the 5th Congressional District of Virginia, which includes Albemarle County.
At Western, as the McGuire prepared offstage for the debate, WAHS Club America leaders mimicked t-shirt cannons to launch TPUSA merchandise into the audience. The shirts were modeled after the one late TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk wore when he was assassinated: a plain white shirt with “FREEDOM” written in bold black lettering across the front.
With the t-shirt cheers still resounding through the auditorium, McGuire stepped onstage. From there, the event—marketed as a prove-me-wrong style debate—morphed into a Q&A, in which students lined up to ask prepared questions.
Senior Ike Noth opened the Q&A. “I do want to first say that this is not a debate if we don’t get a rebuttal,” he said, referring to the format in which students were given a minute to ask a question while McGuire had two to respond. Noth continued with a question about McGuire’s stand on ICE’s violation of “96 court orders within one month,” reflecting a common sentiment among students: half of the six students who spoke asked questions about ICE and immigration.
McGuire’s responses to such questions hinged on his belief in “protect[ing] the American people,” as he said, “we have a right to know who’s coming into our country.”
“I believe in your right to peacefully protest,” he said, referring to anti-ICE protests. “But when you’re blocking roads and impeding officers, you’re creating a dangerous situation.”
Senior Sam Rosenbaum asked the second question, introducing McGuire’s participation in the January 6 insurrection of the capital. Referencing McGuire’s positive stance on law enforcement, Rosenbaum said that his participation was “contradictory to your point, because that led to the death of a police officer.”
McGuire upheld that he had a “constitutional right to peacefully protest,” likening his presence during illegal activity to the guilt of someone going to a Girl Scouts meeting in which another individual commits arson.
Punctuating most of his points with a series of “I love you”s—to those who voted for him and those who did not, notably—McGuire drew criticism from the audience for indirect responses to questions. During his answer to a question about the Christian idea of “love thy neighbor” in the context of immigration, shouts of “answer the question!” erupted through the auditorium.
Club America is reporting 700 students in attendance, more than half of the total WAHS student body.
This event marked the second stop on McGuire’s campaign trail. The previous Monday, he hosted a meet-and-greet at Free First Coffee Bar in Hollymead, and he continues to tour the district, holding town halls both in-person—some of which have required payment for entrance—and over radio.
Previously, McGuire served three terms in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2018 to 2024, and was elected to the Virginia Senate in 2024, from which he stepped down when he was elected to Congress.
During his time in office, he has consistently voted for greater freedom concerning firearms, increased privileges for veterans, and restrictions on abortion and gender-affirming care. In 2024, he drew controversy as the only Virginia state senator to vote against a comprehensive ban on child marriage.
McGuire is set to face Bob Good, whom he defeated in 2024, in the primaries in June. However, Virginia will vote on a redistricting bill in April to increase the number of Democrat-dominated districts from seven to ten out of the 11 congressional districts. Though the proposed change would place his home of Goochland County into the seventh congressional district, while Albemarle County would shift to the liberal-leaning sixth, McGuire has refused to comment on his plan in the event of the bill’s passage.
“I’m very confident that we’re going to overturn this, because [Democrats] have clearly broken the law,” he told 29News in February. Soon after, along with Melissa Jurk and Republican representative Robert Wittman, McGuire filed a lawsuit against the Virginia State Board of Elections, alleging the bill to be unconstitutional. The Virginia Supreme Court has now greenlit the proposal twice.
