By Bridget Manley, publisher
Less than 10 months after U.S. Rep. Ben Cline, R-Fincastle, won a fourth term in Congress, a Democrat already is seeking to challenge him in the 2026 race.
Pete Barlow, a 10th-generation resident of the Shenandoah Valley and former government official, has announced he would seek the Democratic nomination for Virginia’s 6th Congressional District, which stretches from Roanoke north to Winchester.
Barlow, who has been an emergency manager at FEMA since 2020, left his role at the disaster response agency a few weeks ago to run for the seat. Cline has held the seat since 2019.
Barlow held his campaign kick-off at the Granary inside Valley Pike Farm Market in Weyers Cave on Wednesday to a crowded room of supporters.
While Virginia’s 2025 election is getting into full-swing, Barlow says he’s beginning his 2026 campaign early because he needs to raise funds now to compete with Cline’s campaign resources.
Cline has $427,978 in cash reserves, according to the Virginia Public Access Project. His top donors includethe Virginia Bankers Association, the Virginia Trial Lawyers Association, and the Republican Party of Virginia, with other major contributors like Verizon, Dominion Energy and the Virginia Auto Dealers Association.
“I’m running really early because Ben Cline has a machine behind him,” Barlow said. “He’s been funded by corporate power. We aren’t going to take corporate donations, but we have to get a war chest behind us.”
Representatives for Cline’s campaign were not immediately available for comment.
Over the next five to six months, Barlow and his team of volunteers plan to travel across the Valley to listen to voters’ concerns about issues important to them.
They plan to do so in an old pickup truck, which supporters covered with notecards of support and their hopes for change.
Staunton resident Tom Long attended the kickoff to support Barlow and hear more about his positions. Long said he is frustrated with Cline’s lack of face time with his constituents and wants a change of leadership.
“[Cline] has done nothing for us,” Long said. “He votes against the best interests of this district. He won’t communicate with us. When’s the last time he did a town hall or communicated?”
Long said he first heard Barlow speak a few months ago and was impressed by his résumé and background.
“He has experience in FEMA and public service that qualifies him to take on somebody like Ben Cline,” Long said. “I think Pete can connect with voters. He’s from this area; he talks their talk.”
As an emergency manager at FEMA, Barlow worked on the frontlines of natural disasters, such as the 2020 earthquake in Puerto Rico and recent California wildfires to help restore infrastructure in those areas.
Before his tenure at FEMA, Barlow worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia State Parks, as well as served in the Peace Corps.
Barlow said those experiences gave him more perspective on investing in infrastructure, in addition to protecting the environment.
He told the crowd that he couldn’t understand how harmful President Donald Trump’s policies have already been to people in the Valley, which motivated him to run for office.
“I never thought that an arbitrary trade war against our closest allies would be threatening small farmers and businesses, increasing prices and interest rates. I never expected most of this stuff,” Barlow told the crowd. “I didn’t think that we would ever get to the point where we are unilaterally terrorizing our immigrant community. I never thought that my wife might be enjoying fewer rights than her mother when she was her age because of backsliding on nearly 50 years of equality.”
He made a plea for Democrats to work together instead of letting “purity politics” tear the party apart from within.
“The purity tests that we hold ourselves to are killing us,” Barlow said. “We need to have hard conversations.”
He faces an uphill battle. The 6th District has voted solidly Republican. Cline won the seat in 2024 with 63.1% of the vote. Democrat Ken Mitchell received 34.8%, and independent candidate Robert Wells Jr. earned 2%.
Still, Barlow believes it’s a seat Democrats can win.
“This race can be won,” Barlow told the crowd. “If there was ever a year when we could flip 35 years of unrepresentative elected officials in this area, this is the year. People are angry, and they have a right to be angry. We have been betrayed.”
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