Role at the time: Democratic candidate for U.S. House in Virginia's 9th District
Mixed or conditional
Statement summary
Joy Powers, the Democratic candidate in Virginia's 9th Congressional District, said license plate readers should not become mass location surveillance without public oversight and should be used narrowly, with limits on retention and sharing of location data.
“I have serious concerns about allowing automatic license plate readers to become a system of mass location surveillance without meaningful public oversight. Law-enforcement technology should be narrowly used for legitimate public-safety purposes, with clear limits on retention and sharing of location data and transparency about who has access to it.”
The reference point is whether networked license-plate reader systems such as Flock should exist and be used. Powers said she has serious concerns about the readers becoming mass location surveillance without public oversight, and that the technology should be used narrowly with limits on retention and sharing. Allowing the readers under limits fits Mixed or conditional.
Role at the time: Democratic nominee for U.S. House, Virginia's 9th district; cattle farmer and small business owner
Condemned
Statement summary
In a written questionnaire for Virginia public media stations, Joy Powers called the war in Iran an unauthorized, unconstitutional war of choice that Congress never voted to approve, and said service members should not be sent into another open-ended conflict without the consent of the people's representatives.
“I believe the war in Iran is an unauthorized, unconstitutional war of choice that Congress never voted to approve. American service members should not be sent into another open-ended conflict in the Middle East without the consent of the people's representatives, especially while American families and farmers are being asked to absorb the economic costs.”
Networked automated license-plate cameras can assemble searchable records of vehicle movements. Candidates and officials disagree over whether to ban the systems, keep them with limits, or defend them as investigative tools. This tracker separates outright bans from narrower restrictions.
Where members of Congress and 2026 midterm candidates stand on the Iran war, which Congress has not formally authorized, based on their votes on war-powers resolutions, campaign statements and public remarks.
