Daniel Gray

Daniel Gray (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Virginia's 8th Congressional District. He did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on August 4, 2026.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

We are in deep trouble as a country. Our national debt has more than doubled in the last ten years. The dream of home ownership is receding out of sight for the next generation of Americans. Trump is back in office. What about this is working? The Democratic establishment is simply not delivering the results we need. We need to chart a new course for our party and our country, and it's time for a new generation of leadership in the House of Representatives.Daniel wants to live in a country that works for everyone. It shouldn't matter what ZIP code your were born in, you should be able to get a good education, have quality and affordable health care, and have access to good job opportunities. It's an easy thing to say, but we have an enormous amount of work to do to accomplish that.Voters shouldn't have to sift through hundreds of press releases, votes, and news articles to understand what their Representative did during their term. Instead, every year the Representative should publish a scorecard that lays out their top priorities and explains the efforts they made toward achieving those priorities, what they learned, and what they intend to do differently next year.

The status quo now is that Representatives aren't so much re-elected on their performance as on the incumbency advantage, which results in incumbents being re-elected 95% of the time.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

First, we are experiencing a housing affordability crisis in this country, and people are seeing the American Dream of home ownership evaporate in front of their eyes. The government needs to respond to it with the urgency, scale, and boldness required in a crisis.

Second, we need age limits in Congress. In 2025, we were unable to stop Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" because too many Democrats had passed away in the House of Representatives. This is no way to run a country, especially considering the stakes right now.

Third, we need to reform primaries. The incumbency advantage is so overwhelming that it leads to incumbents winning re-election 95% of the time. This reduces the healthy competition that keeps our democracy strong.