By MADISON BROWN
Fredericksburg Today
Joel Griffin is the Democratic candidate for Virginia’s 27th Senate District, which includes Fredericksburg City, most of Stafford County, and the northeast portion of Spotsylvania.
Quotes are lightly edited for clarity and concision.
Let’s talk about your background — where and how you grew up and how that’s impacting who you became as a person.
Sure. So I grew up in rural parts of North Carolina in a little town called Marshville, right outside of Charlotte. It was very blue collar. It was one of those communities where neighbors relied on neighbors to get things done. If something was broken, you fixed it yourself, or you called a friend to come and help. For me, growing up in that community, I learned the value of hard work.
College was something that people talked about, but not a lot of people in my hometown ever went to college. So I joined the Marine Corps right out of high school and had a successful career in the Marines, where I volunteered for the infantry, and then I served as a member of the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon for several years and then ended my career in Quantico with the Marine Corps Intelligence Activity Command. That connection to Quantico is what led me to live here. It also was a springboard for me to go to college.
I used the GI Bill from the Marines to go to college at Penn State University, and as I was in college I was still working here in the region for a government contracting company—and between those two I was able to manage a work-life balance, but also got married, and we had our first child together.
Fast forward, we’ve lived here since 1999. My wife and I have been happily married for 25 years. And we’ve raised two beautiful daughters. Professionally, I have a career in government contracting. That’s what I did after my service and after college. At some point I started my own government contracting company and was fortunate enough to have that company be acquired. That has led me to actually invest more here into the region.
So the growth management firm that I run today, we have a private equity firm that focuses primarily on our national security markets and supporting small businesses that support our national security market. We also have a hospitality group that is trying to bring new concepts to the region and advance the culinary variety that people will have here in the region, as well as the opportunities for nightlife to come and enjoy.
My wife and I have always invested in our community. We’ve always wanted to leave it better than when we found it. That’s something that we’ve done professionally, and then personally we’ve also been very involved. I’ve served on a number of boards and commissions from Fredericksburg Regional Alliance, The Chamber of Commerce, Germanic Community College, Stafford Hospital Foundation Board, the Stafford Economic Development Authority, on and on. Those are things that I enjoy. Leveraging my experience and expertise to help others, and that’s something that I want to continue to do.
My wife and I did lose our oldest daughter about a decade ago, and her death was a cardiac arrest at her school. And unfortunately, with her passing, we were dealing with that, but we wanted to make sure that no other parent had to go through what we went through. So we went to Richmond and lobbied for legislation which was effectively called Gwyneth’s Law, and Gwyneth’s Law is now in effect, has been since 2013. That law requires teachers to be trained in CPR as well as high school students. We had AEDS at the high schools, and we’ve gone on to work as recently as this January, we were able to support legislation to get passed that required AEDs in every single school. An AED is a defibrillator, and that requirement extended to every school as well as setting funds aside for schools, either rural or urban, that don’t have the financing to be able to acquire those, there’s some money from the state for them to be able to get that.
Again, we live here. We love this area. This is our home, our daughters are from here, so this has been very personal and passionate for me about being involved in the community.
You told me what your position was in the Marine Corps. Frankly, I didn’t recognize the words. Could you tell me more about what you did when you were in the Corps?
Yeah, so I joined right out of high school. I volunteered for the infantry. O311 is the the military occupation specialty or MOS that you sign up for. When I was in Camp Lejeune, I was selected for the Marine Corps Honor Guard in Washington, DC, and that unit is called the Silent Drill Platoon. It’s the unit and the group that actually represents the Marines around the world to foreign dignitaries at the White House, things like that.
There’s several qualifications that you have to have in order to get there, but it was a privilege for me to be able to serve with that unit. I learned quite a bit, but it was great exposure to meeting foreign dignitaries and heads of state as part of our organization. But the most thrilling part for me was not only the men and women that I served with, but also we did some really interesting events. One comes to mind where we were able to meet all of the living Medal of Honor winners, and were able to provide the ceremony for them. As part of that we were able to just hang around those individuals and it was just such an honor and a privilege. And so that’s the kind of thing that I was exposed to in my military experience. It’s very unique. But I have to say that the military certainly provided a springboard, not only for me, for my career, but also for some of the bonds and the relationships that I have and care for to this day.
I’d like to ask you a little bit about your civilian career also. You talked about government contracting. Could you tell me a little bit more about what exactly that consisted of? That could mean anything.
We specialized in cybersecurity, that was the focus of our business. My background leading up to that, I was working for Booz Allen Hamilton doing critical infrastructure assessments, then I went on to Lockheed Martin at the Pentagon, where during 9/11 I was a part of the security team that was not only cleaning up from the tragedy of that day, but also from the weeks that followed, working with all of the various intelligence and law enforcement as well as DoD entities to create greater security around the Pentagon.
Subsequently I was awarded the Patriotic Civilian Service by the US Army for what we did there. But that led me to an interest in the Department of Homeland Security, where I went on to support initially Tom Ridge’s office, but subsequently the department, once it was set up, going back to continuity of operations, critical infrastructure protection and a number of different things. I supported several intelligence agencies doing classified work and then subsequently started my own cybersecurity business. But all of that experience led me to having a basic understanding of defense, intelligence and law enforcement and how they coalesce, how they work together, and then subsequently with Homeland Security that additional layer of security for our nation.
It seems like a career like that would give you a natural inclination to be interested in national politics. What exactly inspired you to start this campaign [for State Senate]?
No, absolutely. For me it was pretty clear. There’s a couple of bookends for me that stand out.
First, the Dobbs [v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization] decision really was a very poignant position for me because when I volunteered for the Marines, I signed loyalty to the Constitution. Not to a political party, not to an ideology, not to a particular person, but to the Constitution. For me, when I think about serving overseas and the people that that do every single day and then we’re having discussions here about individuals losing their rights, particularly a woman’s right to choose. For me, that’s just not something that America stands for in the 21st century. Equality under the law is something that should be without question, women should be treated equitably and fairly. It’s very poignant and close to home for me as well because I have a 20-year-old daughter, and as her father, I don’t feel that it’s my position to make her health care decisions. I certainly don’t want a politician doing that. That’s really the most poignant position for me.
I think secondly, some of the things that we have seen in in the recent years with the extremist arms of the Republican Party, specifically for me it was January 6th. As a Marine, again, I look at how we send our troops into countries in order to help…defend democracies who are dealing with situations like that. I just couldn’t envision it happening on our doorstep.
When I think about those things, that’s not who we are. Not only as Virginians, but as a nation. We can absolutely disagree. We should disagree, but we should be able to have civil discourse. We should be able to disagree on things and we shouldn’t have citizens afraid for their rights, afraid to be who they want to be, living in fear that there’s an extreme arm of a party that would shout down their values and their beliefs in order to stamp them out. For me, as a Marine, I go back to stepping forward, making sure that we defend the rights of all, not just those that think like us.
Do you have any plans as to first-priority bills that you want to introduce in January if elected?
The first thing that I would do is I would be not only supporter of, but I would love to be able to author and put the legislation forward to ensure a woman’s right to choose in in our [state] Constitution. I know that takes time, it takes multiple sessions, but we have to start the conversation that a woman’s equality is not something that’s open for debate. That they are half our citizenry, half of our educated population, half of our workforce, and to see them treated in a different way based off of their gender is just not something that should be tolerated.
Secondly, our schools, and making sure that not only are they funded but that we are constantly reinvesting. As a parent of children that went through public school, I’ve heard stories about parents don’t have a right to say anything, or parents don’t have a voice in the schools, and I just know that’s the furthest thing from the truth. Parents have always had parent-teacher conferences. They’ve always had the ability to reach out to the librarian and say, “I don’t want my student to read this book.” And to take that to an extreme and rather than tell a librarian, my child shouldn’t read this book, we’re burning books like “To Kill A Mockingbird” because it has a racial undertone that people aren’t comfortable with. Defending our schools takes on not only funding them and making sure they stay open, but making sure that knowledge that the basis of education is something that is open to everyone, not just to people who can afford private schools or have the luxury of teaching from home.
That was something I was hoping to ask you about, your position on education. Are there any other policies you would pursue, aside from funding the schools well, to alleviate some issues they are facing?
I think maintaining a strong economy that works for everyone. Our economy right now is robust. We’ve had the fastest growing region in Virginia for several decades and we’ve got to make sure that we not only plan for the future growth that’s already coming — the largest VA hospital on the East Coast is opening here, a major theme park is planned to come here, there’s discussion of data centers — there’s a lot of potential growth that’s going to be coming to the region. I just want to make sure that we’re planning for the future, we’re not waiting for it to happen and then complaining that, you know, traffic and affordable housing is something that hasn’t been thought through.
I would love while in Richmond to be able to work with developers to figure out how we can incorporate affordable housing into new developments. I’d love to talk to our conservation groups about how we can find alternative modes of transportation locally so that we have opportunities for people to ride their bike to work, or to be able to take dedicated passenger rail lines from Fredericksburg into the City and using that as a method for them to get off of the highways.
Working with developers and the trades in order to make sure that these new data centers that are coming to our region, where are they going to go, who’s getting those jobs, making sure that we have planned growth.
As a member of the Economic Development Authority in Stafford for over 10 years, one of the constant fears we heard was, growth without a plan is just going to create chaos. I want to make sure that we do have a structure in place, we do have sort of a long term vision of who we want to be as a community and be able to incorporate walkable space, green space, opportunity for Class A office space, opportunities for people of every economic circumstance to be able to afford and have everyone live, work and play in our region.
It’s so beautiful. It’s so wonderful. We have access to so many amenities that other regions would jump at the chance partake of if they could. And so we just need to have politicians in Richmond who are thinking ahead versus looking backwards.
I also wanted to ask you about your pro-democracy stance. You’ve elaborated a little bit on January 6th. That’s something that is very important, but most American political candidates would claim to be pro-democracy and maybe mean different things by that. At risk of asking you a giant, unsolvable question, could you talk to me about what are some of the challenges that you see facing our democracy either nationally or here in Virginia, and what you ideally would like to do to fix that?
I think the first answer is civility. We have gotten to a point in our nation where Republicans will say, “Well, if you’re a Democrat, I can’t vote for you,” without hearing the conversation.
We have Democrats who say, “Well, if you’re this or that, you can’t possibly be a Democrat.”
I personally experienced that, and I’ve seen that. I just think that we need to think first that we are Americans, that we are Virginians and that at our core, all of us have the same values and all of us have the same beliefs. We can be different. The fact that we are different is actually what makes America even better, because everyone brings their own experiences, their own ideas, their own nuanced understandings of things in order to come together. That’s what’s always made America great. It’s not the fact that we look alike and think alike and act alike. It’s actually diversity is what’s made us better. I want to see us continue to embrace diversity. I want us to be able to do it. In a civil way.
I know that everyone doesn’t agree with me, but I want to be able to have a conversation with anyone and everyone, and not with the result being a shouting match. We can agree to disagree, but we can also find common ground that we can work on, and that’s how I plan to lead in in Richmond.
Coming back to a region that is not solidly red or solidly blue, this is a region that is representative of of everyone and frankly, this is how democracy is supposed to work. It’s supposed to be built around the idea of compromise, and everyone gives a little in order to make that the greater good the focus. When you have a very competitive district like mine, you have the opportunity to really pick the best person for the job, and the best person is someone who has the most experience, who has been involved in the community, who has a greater understanding of what the issues are. Not someone who uses a particular issue to sort of highlight themselves.
I mean, it’s really about if the citizens are going to hire a new CEO for their company, you want to have the resume that has the experience and the person who can do the job the best and has proven results.
There are a lot of politicians that while they might have very broad platforms, there’s a particular issue or policy that people tend to associate them with when they think of that candidate. If there were any particular issue or policy that you would want people to associate with you and your campaign, what might that be?
I think I go back to the three issues that I continue to speak to, and these are not just political points for me. I take these very personally.
Equality under the law for women, and their ability to maintain their decisions for their healthcare. And not just for women, but for people of color, for the LGBTQ+ community, for the trans community, for anyone in our community that doesn’t feel like they are represented, they should have equality under the law. It’s a very slippery slope and we need to make sure that protecting a woman’s right is first and foremost.
Secondly, schools in our region are making national news, and not for the right reasons, and we need to make sure that the people that are representing us have values that represent all of us, not a particular viewpoint.
And again, planning for our economic continued growth. It’s not something that we can wait for and it’s not something that we should be sitting around hoping that we can support. We’ve had the worst traffic in the nation for over a decade. Why do we not have politicians in Richmond who are pounding their fists on the table and saying, “We’re first in line when it comes to transportation dollars?” But moreover, looking at it from a different perspective. Why don’t we have alternative strategies? Secondary roads, the passenger rail system, right? The passenger rail system is something that Democrats have been working on for years and it’s finally coming to fruition. And so, in the next five to seven years, we will have access to rail. But if COVID taught us anything, you don’t need to drive to Washington. You don’t need to be on the road to Arlington and Fairfax for two hours every day on 95, you can actually work from home. So providing those amenities for our small businesses here in the region, so that they have access to broadband, they have access to Class A office space. These are all things that contribute to maintaining a strong economy.
If there’s any following questions or if anyone has any questions about our campaign, they can visit our website, we’re on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. So check us out online and we’re happy to answer any questions. Even if someone thinks that they may not necessarily agree with me on something, but they have a question about our campaign, I’m not going to shy away from any conversation. I’m happy to talk to any constituent here in the district at any time.
