Culpeper Star-Exponent
By Allison Brophy Champion
An Iraq Army veteran from Culpeper is in the running for Virginia’s 7th District in the U.S. House, even as the district could be changing shape again.
Republican Douglas Ollivant is seeking the congressional office based on his perception of the current state of affairs.
“We’re definitely in a period of crisis,” he said in a Feb. 12 sit-down interview at The Raven’s Nest on East Davis Street, when asked why he is running for office for the first time.
“The economy isn’t working for a lot of people. We’re deeply in debt, lots of systems don’t seem to be working, and I thought we need better leadership in Washington.”
The districts could be a’changin
Ollivant said he is not impressed with incumbent Rep. Eugene Vindman, D-7th.
A fellow Army veteran who also served in Iraq, Vindman is serving his first term in the U.S. House, representing a district that includes Culpeper, with its center, and reaches north to his home in Dale City and east to Fredericksburg.
Vindman recently announced he would not run for reelection in November in the 7th District, which, per the proposed Democrat redistricting maps, would draw him out of it while reaching into a part of Fairfax, all the way to the Potomac River. The incumbent is apparently confident the maps will pass at the voter referendum in April, placing him in the new 1st District, for which Vidman announced his candidacy earlier this month.
Advocating for veterans, getting involved
In addition to his time in the military, Ollivant worked at the White House with the National Security Council in 2008-09, under former President George W. Bush; Vindman did as well, 10 years later in the first Trump administration, making a name for himself, along with his twin brother Alexander, running for Congress in Florida.
Being in the Army prepares one for elected office through organizational skills and being around people from all walks of life, Ollivant said.
“For the 7th District in particular, it’s such a military and veteran-heavy district that it’s a real asset. There’s been a demand signal here,” he said of local politicians also being military members. “In other districts, you don’t see as many veterans running. We’re unique in that sense.”
Asked how he would advocate for veterans in the U.S. House, Ollivant referenced allowing disabled veterans to receive both full disability and retirement pay—even those with less than 20 years’ service.
As it is now, one is subtracted from the other for those who retire after less than 20 years, the candidate said.
“It needs to get fixed quickly especially with a lot of our post 9/11 veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Ollivant said. “If they were sergeants with eight or nine years and 100% disability and then were medically retired they’re only drawing one of those two pays…They’ve earned retirement pay, they’re entitled to their disability pay and it doesn’t make sense that one is subtracted from the other.”
Background
Born and raised in rural Oregon, Ollivant left home at age 17 to attend Wheaton College in the Chicago suburbs, receiving a degree in politics before entering the Army.
“We were poor, we couldn’t afford college otherwise, so the Army paid for me to go to school,” Ollivant said of why he joined the military.
He said he grew up on a 10-acre farm, raising sheep and a few steers, and that his father was a tree worker. As an infantry officer, Ollivant said he served two tours in Iraq, earned graduate degrees, taught politics at West Point, and then served a tour at the White House.
“I was there (in Iraq) during some of the worst times. I was on the ground in 2004 and 2005, some major battles, Najaf Cemetery, Second Fallujah, saw some things I would rather have not seen,” he said, asked what it was like.
He returned to Iraq in 2006 and 2007 as a chief planner for the Baghdad surge. Managing the large-scale operation was more stressful and challenging than being on the ground in combat, he said.
Ollivant moved his family to Culpeper from Northern Virginia in 2020. He is married with two grandchildren and seven grown children living around the country, including his youngest, a senior at James Madison University, joining the Army in the spring.
“I wanted to semi-retire. I thought this was going to be a place where I could get away from the rush of greater Washington, was there for a while, in Falls Church for four years and then kept moving further and further out for better quality of life,” he said.
For the last dozen years, Ollivant has been managing partner of Mantid International, a global consulting firm focusing on defense work. He lives on riverfront land on the banks of the Rappahannock in Kelly’s Ford, on the county’s northern end.
“I thought I was going to be raising my dogs, feeding my chickens, trying to grow vegetables, getting better at the composting, then I woke up and Eugene Vindman was my congressman, and I just found that unacceptable and unimpressed with his record,” the candidate said.
“I don’t think he is a good fit for the district. I think if it weren’t for Google maps he’d have a hard time finding Greene or Caroline counties. He doesn’t understand Virginia, just barely lives here, so decided I needed to get in the race.”
Friday, Vindman joined community members and police in Stafford, Culpeper, Caroline and Madison to celebrate funding for local law enforcement. Thursday, he was in Greene and Orange counties for the announcement of grants for public water and school improvements.
In his spare time, Ollivant said he reads a lot and spends time with his dog, Cocoa, a shelter dog who’s half Norwegian elk hound and part coon hound.
Candidate platform
Ollivant is running on a three-point platform that includes regenerative agriculture.
“We should be helping our local farmers grow good, solid food absent petrochemicals and be able to do direct to consumer sales with much less regulation,” he said. “Get the middlemen out of the way. That brings down food costs and then we can all eat better.”
The candidate is also campaigning on “the responsible industrialization of Virginia.”
“Responsible is the key word—we don’t want to be dropping factories in the middle of a farm fields,” Ollivant said. “But we’ve seen since President Trump’s first term an emphasis on we need to build things here again.
“It starts with the defense industries…all the small pieces and parts of the major defense items. When you are drilling down, there’s a lot of Chinese content there and we’re trying to eliminate that over time.”
The candidate’s third campaign point is “a policy of energy abundance.”
“We’re paying way too much for power, probably twice the kilowatt what the Chinese do and it’s mostly a supply demand equation, there’s just not enough power in the grid. We need immediately more natural gas plants.”
He advocated developing “modular nuclear” for data centers to eliminate high-voltage power lines and said he’s all for solar where it makes sense, adding, “Turning hundreds of acres of agricultural land into solar fields does not.”
He called for sensible regulation of data center development, with facilities not located next to battlefields or large housing developments.
The economy & Social Security
Asked about inflation and the economy, Ollivant said it’s a matter of holding prices steady while wages catch up.
“That’s where we need to focus—getting better jobs that can better afford everything they need,” he said, adding, “It doesn’t help those on fixed incomes. We need to make sure seniors are taken care as the economy transitions.”
Ollivant said the U.S. “absolutely need to maintain the status quo of Social Security” benefits for millions of older Americans.
“My father in law lives with us so I am painfully aware of the struggles seniors are going through so we need to maintain that contract,” he said. “The way we maintain that contract is to grow the economy faster that’s why I am talking about manufacturing renaissance, power, etc.”
The election?
Several other Republicans have announced plans to run in the 7th District including State Sen. Tara Durant of Fredericksburg, John Gray, Darius Mayfield, Jacob Roginsky and Alex Thymmons, Virginia Public Access Project reports.
The slate of candidates could change with the pending redistricting process and referendum, announced after the interview with Ollivant and in flux.
VPAP still lists Vindman as the Democratic candidate in the 7th along with Matthew Rainworth. Ollivant said at the interview earlier this month he is the candidate best positioned to beat Vindman.
“I’ve got the background where I can be a real active advocate for the 7th district. Not just a party line voter, be a real leader in Congress, push forward policies that are good for the 7th District of Virginia and America.”
The Republican candidate said the 7th District is competitive, asked if a Republican could win it.
The proposed new congressional maps would make the 7th over 55% Democratic voters, based on past elections, according to the VPAP analysis.
Ollivant thinks he can win it.
“I’m the local candidate here from the western counties. No one else in the race is from this side of the district to my knowledge everyone else is on the I-95 corridor so I like to think I’m the hometown boy,” he said. “My biggest selling point is I’m the guy with the resume to beat Eugene Vindman. I’ve seen people like him before. I could beat him.”
