McGuire Refuses Public Debates; Perriello Confirms He is Ready

Congressman McGuire, Who Refused to Hold Public Town Halls, Now Refuses to Have Public Debates

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA — Tom Perriello called out Congressman John McGuire today for refusing to commit to any public debates ahead of the November election, choosing instead to hide from his constituents and evade questions regarding his unethical stock transactions. 

“The people pay John McGuire’s salary, but he won’t show them the respect of accepting public debates,” said Perriello. “McGuire saw no problem taking thousands of dollars out of our pockets, but then can’t be bothered to take a few hours to defend those votes to the taxpayers. This is not a moment for leaders who do what the powerful want and then refuse to answer to the people.” 

While Perriello has accepted all debate invitations — including at least two televised events — McGuire has declined every offer. 

When asked by ABC13 if he would commit to debating Perriello, McGuire deflected to the issue of his unethical stock trades on matters before his House committees that have been publicly disclosed.  

McGuire claimed that he does not trade stocks, despite public reporting sourced from his own public House Clerk disclosures. As first reported by Cville Right Now, McGuire dumped thousands of dollars in BlackRock Inc. stock on July 7, just days before enactment of major housing affordability legislation targeting institutional investors. Additionally, on June 15 — just days after SpaceX’s public offering—McGuire purchased up to $15,000 in new SpaceX stock. 

McGuire holds seats on both the House Armed Services and Oversight Committees, which directly oversee defense contracts, technology regulation, and federal oversight affecting companies like SpaceX, NVIDIA, and Meta — all of which McGuire is recorded as having actively traded while in office. 

By contrast, Perriello has taken the Political Integrity Pledge, which includes an agreement not to trade individual stocks. 

“The taxpayers deserve multiple public debates, and I’ve made clear that I’m ready. We all realize that McGuire doesn’t have good answers for why he jacked up our taxes, our healthcare premiums, and our national debt, but he’s still got to show up and answer questions,” Perriello said. “If he has an explanation for making money off stock trades related to his own committee work, then he should have no trouble explaining that in a debate. As for me, I signed the pledge to trade no stocks while in office and to vote to ban stock trades by members of Congress. McGuire should do the same.”