Given the extraordinary nature of the 2026 election cycle, Virginia's five public media news stations are partnering to ensure voters across the state get the full breadth of the federal midterms, state and local elections. This coverage includes questionnaires for the congressional races across the state.
Rep. Cline's office did not respond to several email and phone invitations to fill out the candidate questionnaire. In our emails we informed the representative that if he chose not to participate, we would review his public statements and relevant legislative votes to summarize his positions on these issues.
What follows is WMRA's analysis of Cline's positions.
LOCALITY OF RESIDENCE
Q: Where in Virginia do you live?
A: Fincastle, Botetourt County, Virginia; according to previous news reports and county tax records.
OCCUPATION
Q: How would you describe your career history?
A: From his website: "Prior to his election to Congress, Ben worked as an attorney, first by serving as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County, and then by launching a private practice with offices in Lexington, Amherst, and Harrisonburg."
EDUCATION OR PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATIONS
Q: List any college degrees or professional certifications you hold.
A: Bachelor's degree from Bates College, 1994, law degree from the University of Richmond, 2007.
PREVIOUS POLITICAL EXPERIENCE
Q: Have you served in an elected or appointed political office before? When, where, and in what position?
A: Cline has represented Virginia's 6th Congressional District since 2019. He previously served in the Virginia House of Delegates for District 24 from 2002 - 2018, according to Ballotpedia.
AI USE
Q: Please describe any ways you’ve used generative artificial intelligence in your campaign (to produce mailers, signs, a website, public statements, etc.).
A: OpenAI's online tool designed "to detect content generated with ChatGPT, the OpenAI API, or Codex" did not find AI markers in any of eight graphics recently posted to Cline's campaign Facebook page.
Cline told the Semafor Global Economy Summit last October that "it's so critical that we win this, what is essentially a war on the supremacy on AI, and making sure that our standards, our technologies, are the ones that become globally universally adopted. It's critical that we win that battle, so I do think that it is important for us to push the envelope there on encouraging growth and development, but at the same time, protecting our own national security interests are also critical."
Cline did not directly answer a question from a recent issue of The Rockbridge Advocate about whether his campaign plans to use AI, saying "Like any new technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has enormous potential for both positive and negative purposes."
DIVISION OF POWER
Q: What do you see as Congress’ role in acting as a check and balance on the other branches of the federal government?
A: Cline has generally supported President Donald Trump in what the libertarian think tank The Cato Institute previously described as "an unprecedented expansion of executive power," including orders to ban transgender students from competing in women's sports, shuttering the Department of Education, and funding cuts for foreign aid and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting initiated by the Department of Government Efficiency.
AFFORDABILITY
Q: The United Way estimates that 38% of Virginia households, and 41% of American households, live below the ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) threshold – the amount of income required to afford basic needs in their locality. How do you think the federal government should address affordability challenges?
A: Cline told The Rockbridge Advocate "The greatest challenge facing the 6th District continues to be the high cost of living. While inflation has come down from the record levels of the last administration, costs are still too high. By eliminating the wasteful spending of the Pelosi/Biden years, attacking fraud in bloated government programs, and removing the burdensome regulations that are forcing small businesses to cut back or close down entirely, we can continue to bring inflation rates down and help working families across our part of Virginia."
Context from WMRA:
The U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee Republicans reported last month that while the Core Consumer Price Index has trended down in the last three years, the Headline Consumer Price Index, which includes food and energy costs, hit a three-year high of 4.2% in May and remained slightly above its July 2023 level through July 2026. The U.S. Department of Labor's most recent Consumer Price Index for August, released Sept. 11, reported a 3.4% rate of inflation over the last 12 months.
DATA CENTERS
Q: With Virginia being home to the largest data center market in the world, and new facilities continually being built across the state and nation, what do you see as Congress' role in regulating this industry and the demand it places on our energy grid and water resources?
A: WDBJ reports that Cline has expressed concerns about a planned Google data center in his home county of Botetourt, saying he shares constituents' "concerns about the water usage, about the impact on electricity bills … Congress shouldn’t be making those decisions. Local governments and state governments, in consultation with residents, should be making those decisions. So, I support transparency at the federal level that would give folks at the local level the tools they need to make the right decisions for them."
Cline has accepted a $2,000 donation from the Google LLC NetPAC this election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Cline posted on Facebook on August 13 that "requiring data centers to pay for new transmission infrastructure is the correct decision," sharing a screenshot of a Cardinal News report which states that a recent order from the Virginia State Corporation Commission will require Dominion Energy to devise policy that will charge large-load energy users, including data centers, for the cost of new transmission infrastructure needed to power them.
ENERGY
Q: Where do you stand on the pending Dominion Energy–NextEra merger?
A: Cline has not published any statements regarding the merger. He has historically accepted campaign donations from Dominion Energy, including $8,500 from the Dominion Energy, Inc. Political Action Committee this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
ABORTION
Q: Where do you stand on the issue of abortion, and do you believe there’s a role for federal legislation in regulating abortion?
A: From his website: "From the moment of conception, all life has great value. We have a duty to protect the weakest among us – the unborn. Over the past 50 years, more than 60 million lives have been lost to abortion. I have always been a champion of pro-life legislation that protects our God-given right to life, and I’ll never stop fighting for the unborn."
SBA Pro-Life America gives Cline an "A+" rating for voting "consistently to protect the lives of the unborn and to stop forced taxpayer funding of abortion. This includes delivering the largest pro-life legislative victory in two decades by defunding 'Big Abortion' businesses, like Planned Parenthood, of Medicaid dollars for one year through the reconciliation bill H.R.1."
AUTOMATIC LICENSE PLATE READERS
Q: What is your stance on the use of Flock or other automatic license plate reader cameras in our district?
A: The Freedom Caucus Daily reported on August 26 that Cline urged local governments to stop using Flock cameras following a WIRED investigation that found the company built an AI tool capable of identifying and tracking individual drivers, despite telling the public for years they did not have that ability. Cline commented "Any Virginia municipality using this technology should stop. … Americans have a constitutional right to live their lives free from unchecked government surveillance. New technology does not strip citizens of that right.'"
HEALTHCARE
Q: Healthcare systems in our district, including Valley Health and Augusta Health, have spoken out about the impacts that federal funding cuts for Medicaid and other healthcare programs will have on their organizations, contributing to the closure of three small clinics in Augusta County last year. How will you advocate for health, wellness, and access to medical care in our district?
A: Cline voted in favor of the budget reconciliation package termed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which cuts federal health spending by about $1 trillion over the next decade and will cause nearly 12 million people to lose health insurance under Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act by 2034, according to NPR.
Cline has supported the $50 billion Rural Health Transformation Program included in the budget reconciliation package and sponsored the "Skinny Labels, Big Savings Act," which aims to protect generic drug manufacturers from patent infringement claims.
IMMIGRATION
Q: What is your stance on the Trump administration's mass deportation campaign and the methods used to execute it, including traffic stops, the detention of immigrants at court hearings and ICE check-in appointments, and the detention of immigrants who have open immigration cases and no criminal record for indefinite periods of time? Have you spoken with farmers or poultry processors in our district about how these policies have affected their workforce?
A: Cline posted on Facebook on August 31 "ICE keeps Americans and Virginians SAFE. Abolishing ICE is dangerous for every community across the country."
Cline shared a video of himself speaking on the House floor on September 8, commenting on the recently publicized immigration enforcement arrests of 1,328 people in Virginia and Maryland, of whom the Department of Homeland Security said almost 400, or 30%, had been convicted of or charged with a crime in the U.S.
In the video, Cline says, "during the Biden administration, our immigration laws went unenforced. When individuals who entered our country illegally and committed serious crimes are allowed to remain in our communities, the rule of law is undermined and public safety is put at risk. Governor Spanberger and prosecutors like Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano are making it harder to enforce our immigration laws, weaken cooperation with ICE, and remove dangerous criminals from our communities. The Trump administration and House Republicans are taking action to restore accountability and protect our communities. These efforts not only make Virginia safer, but also strengthen public safety across our entire nation."
ELECTION INTEGRITY
Q: Who won the 2020 presidential election?
A: The Harrisonburg Citizen reported in 2021 that Cline was one of the more than 100 House Republicans who voted for "failed bids to reject Arizona and Pennsylvania's Electoral College ballots cast for Joe Biden."
FOREIGN POLICY
Q: What is your stance on the United States' foreign policy with Israel, including our participation in the Iran War and our financial support for Israel throughout the war in Gaza?
A: The Washington Post reported in 2024 that Cline voted in favor of a bill providing $17 billion in weapons for Israel and about $9 billion of humanitarian aid for Gaza and other places.
As The News Leader reported, Cline said in a town hall last September (that he barred the news outlet from attending) "the situation in Gaza is horrendous. … We see what’s happening in Gaza with hunger and the battle that is going on between Israeli forces and Hamas. Ultimately, it is Hamas that is responsible for the situation in Gaza because it is Hamas that attacked Israel on Oct. 7.”
Cline has accepted more than $20,000 in campaign donations from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Political in this election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission. The PAC advocates for policies strengthening the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.
Cline told The Rockbridge Advocate "I believe the United States was justified in using military force against Iran because Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon poses an unacceptable threat to American national security and our allies."