2026 Virginia Candidates Meet & Greet 2. Candidates:Bert Mizusawa,Kim Farington,Shelly Arnoldi,David Sisson,Arthur Purves

I'm General Burt Mizusawa. I spent 41 years in uniform serving our nation. It's an honor to be here among my people. And when I say my people, I'm not talking about the fact that I happen to be Asian-American. I'm talking about anti-communist Americans. I think we all share the same culture and values and I think that's what brought a lot of immigrants to the United States because they realize our culture and our values and our opportunities is in line with their dreams. And today, this month is the sad anniversary, the 27th anniversary of the crackdown of religious freedoms in the People's Republic of China. And so we're so happy that you're here. We have a First Amendment that guarantees you the freedom of religion. So welcome and we like the entrepreneurship. The CCP is something that not only can I talk about, I've actually practiced. How many of you are old enough to remember Kamoi and Matsu after the communist takeover of China? There you go. You know the deterrence issue there. Well, that was very important. America came to the aid of Taiwan and the freedom-loving people of China to make sure that the mainland did not take over those islands. I basically helped fight the communist Chinese in Korea. Jin Hee's here. It's not, it's just a problem for China. It's a problem for all the countries around there. Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Vietnam, especially any country that's bordering the South China Sea. So I led combat on the Korean border. I rescued a person who was defecting from the tyrannical communist regime. In this case, it was a Soviet citizen, but he ran across the border from North Korea. And I went face to face, not only with North Koreans, but they still had the Chinese people volunteer to CPV. That name doesn't mean much to anybody, but the Korean War has not officially ended. We had an armistice. There's not a peace treaty. So I fought there. I lost soldiers. We had to kill North Korean soldiers to ensure the freedom of this defector. I've been to the Philippines. Many of you probably don't know we have nine EDCA sites there. EDCA means Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agency sites. That's where the United States is coming to the defense of our allies in Asia. Some of them are oriented towards Taiwan. Some of them orient towards the South China Sea. Many of you know that the South China Sea is the main artery for international trade. And right now the CCP is a threat to the freedom of our navigation and our trade. And so I have a long history. When I worked in the Senate, I had coverage over the Asia-Pacific area, and I knew China was the number one threat. I worked in the Pentagon of International Affairs for the Army, and once again, I knew that China was the number one threat. I was one of Donald Trump's senior national security advisors during his 2016 campaign. I was also in charge of national security policy during the transition. I made sure that China was put at the very top as the threats that were facing our nation. So I'm very well aware of what's going on. One of our vulnerabilities here in America, and I do want to point that out while it's up there, sick separatarianism. That's the Virginia motto. All right. Well, that king that's there at the bottom, that's where I think the CCP should be. So anyway, with that, Burt Misesow at BurtForSenate.com. I hope you come out and vote. Thank you very much. I am Kim Farrington, and I too am running for U.S. Senate. I am a CPA. I'm a small business owner that specializes in cybersecurity and financial management. I'm also an inventor and holder of three patents. And I also understand that the CCP is not the Chinese people. I understand that the CCP is not Chinese culture. I also understand that the CCP is not representative of the Chinese Americans that came to this country seeking the American dream. And that's what we need to protect. And I've already done that. When I was in federal government, my last job was as the chief financial officer for the First Responder Network Authority. And for those of you who don't know about it, it's a telecommunications network. Well, I've already had to deal with the Chinese government. They actually, we had a risk, huge critical infrastructure risk. We actually had Huawei equipment throughout the $100 billion program telecommunications network. That was critical because as you probably know, one switch is switched off and the whole telecommunications network in this country could have gone down. But we were on top of it. We investigated it. We found it. We mitigated it. So I've already dealt with the Chinese government and I will continue to do that for you and all Americans. And I also will be protecting Chinese Americans and all Virginians when it comes to the intellectual property. Holder of three patents, I personally can understand how important and critical your ideas are and how we need to protect those as well. And I also, being a small business owner, understand the importance of supporting our Chinese Americans and all Virginians with 99.6 of all businesses in Virginia being those small businesses. So I will help those small businesses thrive and grow. And since we're talking about tech, I'm talking about technology. I also want to share that another idea I have is bringing a center of excellence to the commonwealth, focusing on cyber security. And let's take the 514,000 vacant cyber security jobs in America and bring them here to Virginia to further help us protect ourselves against the CCP and other external and internal threats. Thank you for your time. If you would like to read more about me, my website is www.Kim4Virginia, all spelled out, dot com. And I also have door hangers letting you know that early voting has already begun for the Republican primary and the primary date is August 4th. God bless each of you. God bless the commonwealth and God bless America. My name is Shelley Arnoldi and I'm running for the 8th district for Congress as an independent with the libertarian support. I apologize that I didn't dress up for this event because I was not aware it was as formal as it is. The reason that I'm running is because my children were in 7th and 9th grade in 2020 when COVID started. Schools were closed and I recognized there was a problem. And a year after the schools were closed, I got a survey in the mail asking my racial bias. And when I contacted the school, they told me they were following a One Fairfax policy. And when I researched what One Fairfax was, I got angry. And I've been trying to raise awareness ever since. I started a Moms for Liberty chapter, hoping to replace the 12 school board members. I did not succeed. We still have 12 Democrats on the ballot. I ran for delegate last year, hoping to get my foot in the door to out what's going on. Did not succeed. Again, the two-party system doesn't seem to be working for me. So I decided I'm going to try to run for Congress as an independent to fight for what they did to my family. So I'm a veteran. I'm a Navy veteran. I'm an engineer. I have degrees in electrical, computer, and environmental engineering. And I'm a licensed professional engineer. I am retired now. So I get to use my history and my past to do what I'm doing now. So learning about politics is kind of new for me. It's been exciting. It's been tough. I have a website. It's shellyarnoldi4va.org. I am a constitutional conservative, and I'm all for peace. I do not like war. Our government debt is a disaster. So I'm focusing on the Constitution and making sure that we get our rights back. Because right now, our rights are infringed in every way. And yes, what the CCP is doing is insane. And what's happening in China is insane. But it's happening here. So if they have their laws in America, they're right now violating the First Amendment. And I'm going to fight to ensure that never happens here. I appreciate the time, and I really appreciate this group. So thank you very much. My name is David Sisson. I think I'm the only local. I'm running for Arlington County board member, not Fairfax, but specifically Arlington. I'm 29. I'm currently a contractor with Amazon. And my community involvement is the executive vice chair of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance and a member of the Transportation Advisory Committee of Arlington. That's just community members come in, and they provide feedback about what's working, what's not working in regards to transportation. To answer the question about what I would do about Communist Party influence in the United States, I think we have to look at what is creating the fertile ground for extremist ideology, whether that's Communism or Democratic Socialists of America. And I think, honestly, most young people today feel like the social contract is broken, that the young people today are not going to be better off than their parents. And many of the people here could talk about the ethnic community law that China just passed that gives them jurisdiction over all Chinese citizens across the world, or how Congress, you know, just let Trump not ban TikTok because, you know, his oligarch friends said, leave it. Didn't talk about that, but could have done that. I'm not doing that. How do we get people to feel like they have a future in America? And I think changing zoning laws, improving public transportation are the ways we can do that. If we can get rid of the restrictive zoning laws in Arlington, we can increase the housing supply, we can improve the number one expense of every person, and we can address the affordability crisis in Arlington. But there are a few levers that, as a local politician, I could pull to help prevent CCP influence that is offensive, that's not homegrown, that we're all shooting ourselves in the foot for. One of those is reinforcing cybersecurity for the local government, whether that's hospitals, schools. There was an attack in the city of Vienna just in February this year, where there was a ransomware attack. We could prevent that in Arlington if we double down on our cybersecurity. Additionally, we can make sure that there are media literacy classes in schools that are mandatory so that young children, as they grow up, understand what is propaganda and what isn't. And we can also leverage the Arlington Learning Center for adult classes so that they can see what is propaganda and what isn't. Because we all know that, you know, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, they're all just like radicalization algorithmic machines at this point. They're just maximizing engagement. And the way they do that is to get you upset. I don't think, in the absence of congressional action, as a local politician, I can do anything about that. But I can try to empower young people and the citizens of my community how to push back on that. Is that my 30 second or my one minute? 30 seconds. Okay. So to reiterate, David Sisson, running for Arlington County board member. If you want to look at my website, it is davidsissonforarlington.com. And I have the gamut of all the socials. It's the same David Sisson for Arlington. Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm Arthur Purvis. I am the Republican candidate for the 11th congressional district. My late wife and I moved to Fairfax County 50 years ago. You know, two children who attended Fairfax County public schools, grades K through 12. I was my son's lacrosse boosters president and my daughter's at Marshall High School, my daughter's crew boosters president at Thomas Jefferson High School. And I've been president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance for 29 years. One of your speakers last week stated that the CCP wants to quote, make America weaker, end quote, and wants to quote, accelerate America's decline. I'm running to prevent that by addressing America's most existential crisis, which is out of control, federal spending. Deficits are now $2 trillion a year. Interest on the debt is $1 trillion a year. We risk spiraling debt, hyperinflation, anarchy, and the collapse of the constitution, all of which the CCP would love. However, I'm running to tell you that we can slash federal spending without cutting a program. That's what I learned as Taxpayers Alliance president. How? Eat real food. How could that be? Well, here's why. The federal government spends $2 trillion a year on medical care. 90% of medical spending is on the chronic disease epidemic caused by ultra-processed food and the old high-carb food pyramid, which was a prescription for diabetes. And now half the country, thanks to the federal government, is diabetic or pre-diabetic. Fortunately, RFK Jr. fixed the food pyramid. We now know it is okay, in fact healthy, to eat eggs, full-fat dairy, even red meat, along with the fruits and vegetables. Just don't eat anything in a bag or a box with a barcode. Carbs should be whole grains and not refined flour. Revisit realfood.gov. We are trapped between Big Food, which makes trillions on chemicalized food that makes us sick, and between Big Med, which has no financial incentive to cure us. They make trillions off of us taking their drugs every day, and they are two of the biggest lobbyists in D.C. Big Med is the biggest. $700 million a year to get $2 trillion in gross receipts. It's a pretty good deal. Edmund Burke said, quote, men are qualified for civil liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to put moral chains on their appetites. How do we overcome appetites such as greed? George Washington gave the answer when he stated, religion and morality are the indispensable supports of political prosperity. Fundamentally, the battle between freedom and communism is a battle between faith and atheism. Please vote for me and donate to my campaign so I can advocate for your faith and freedom. On the floor of the House of Representatives, my name is easy to remember because Purvis rhymes with Congress.