A retired Army colonel who served with the elite Special Forces -- and who is now running for Congress -- is being accused by his Democratic congressional opponent of being unqualified to serve in Congress.
Chris Perkins is running for the 11th congressional seat in Virginia, which encompasses the Washington, DC, suburbs and a large constituency of federal government employees. Perkins served most of his 24 years in uniform as an Army Green Beret overseas.
But incumbent Democrat Gerry Connolly recently told The Washington Post, which has endorsed his candidacy, that Perkins' military service makes him unqualified to hold federal office because he has not been civically engaged in the 11th District.
In response, Perkins says Connolly has been bragging about his career in government.
"He actually was in front of a Chamber of Commerce group and he said, 'Where has [my opponent] been' while I was building schools and getting sidewalks and so forth," Perkins notes. "I gotta tell you, it was a lot of fun telling folks exactly where I have been, and I think there was a lot of sympathy for our case after that."
He thinks Connelly's comments have been a major game-changer.
"There's a lot of outrage over that. We have the highest population of veterans in all of America here in the 11th District, as you can imagine, being just south of Washington, DC," the Republican mentions. "So we're already close. I think this could be a major game-changer for the campaign. I think he's poked a hornets' nest here."
Perkins contends that under Connolly's standard, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower would have been unqualified for office.