Clay Percle
From Ballotpedia
This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Clay Percle (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Virginia's 10th Congressional District. He did not appear on the ballot for the Republican primary on May 21, 2022.
Percle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Clay Percle was born in Fort Knox, Kentucky. He served in the United States Air Force from 1999 to 2019 and retired as a lieutenant colonel. Percle received graduate degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in 2007, Air University in 2012, and National Defense University in 2016. His professional experience includes founding and serving as president for Gray Cloak Aerospace. Percle has been affiliated with the Republican National Committee, Fairfax County Republican Committee, the National Rifle Association, Airplane Owners and Pilots Association, and Military Officers Association of America.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Virginia's 10th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Virginia District 10
Incumbent Jennifer Wexton defeated Hung Cao in the general election for U.S. House Virginia District 10 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Jennifer Wexton (D) | 53.2 | 157,405 |
 | Hung Cao (R)  | 46.7 | 138,163 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 572 | ||
| Total votes: 296,140 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Jennifer Wexton advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10.
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Shadi Ayyas (D)
Republican primary election
Republican Primary for U.S. House Virginia District 10
The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Hung Cao in round 9 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.
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Total votes: 15,168 |
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Clay Percle (R)
- Paul Lott (R)
- Adam Gizinski (R)
Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Clay Percle completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Percle's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Clay is a dedicated servant leader and a pragmatic conservative. He is the proud husband of an active Air Force officer, and the father of four children. Clay is a combat veteran fighter pilot and a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. He flew the F-15 Eagle and was the first active Air Force pilot to achieve 1,000 hours in the F-22 Raptor. Clay is also an expert in national security, having led planning efforts to deter aggression from Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, while defeating violent extremism from the likes of ISIS. He has spent his life serving others at home and abroad. After 20 years in the military, Clay founded a thriving small business in Clifton, Virginia. After only two years out of uniform, he was called to serve once again. Having defended the nation from threats to our liberties abroad, Clay decided to stand up against the unchecked radical leftist agenda that threatens our liberties at home. He is running for Congress in Virginia to take away the majority from Nancy Pelosi, and restore checks and balances in Washington.
- Restore Election Integrity: I founded the Commonwealth's first and largest Election Integrity team right here in Fairfax County to help ensure elections are fair and transparent. Easy to vote...hard to cheat!
- Individual Liberty and Limited Government: Our rights come from our Creator, not the government. I will stand against the left as they try to erode our liberties in the name of crisis.
- Security: Of Our Neighborhoods, Borders, and Abroad: We must support our law enforcement heroes, secure our border, and ensure peace through strength against those who threaten our nation.
First and foremost, we must learn to have reasoned and pragmatic conversations about policy and stop screaming at one another over personality.
The right to keep and bear arms is non-negotiable. The first step of totalitarian regimes has always been to disarm its citizens. Mass shootings and other acts of violence are reprehensible, but they will not be solved by any additional infringement upon law abiding citizens’ right to keep and bear arms. We must find social and mental health solutions to these issues.
The right to free speech is being assaulted by a cancel culture that allows a vocal minority to demonize and silence anyone who would disagree with them. As Voltaire said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
The free exercise of religion is one of our most fundamental liberties enshrined in the Bill of Rights. This does not mean you may only hold your beliefs privately, but that you may shout them from the rooftops. It also means that the government cannot discriminate against you based on your religious beliefs.
Critical Race Theory is a disgraceful and counterproductive ideology which seeks to undermine the very principles of Dr. King's dream. Our schools must not be permitted to indoctrinate our children with this harmful and divisive doctrine.
I have been blessed to have so many great examples to look up to in my life: My father, a true war hero and Vietnam veteran; My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who will always be the consummate example of love and sacrifice; My Scoutmaster growing up, who taught me to think of others before myself; My Grandmother, who was a strong and independent woman who broke down barriers. But perhaps the one example that I would most like to follow is that of the Apostle Paul. His story has always captivated me. He was not a perfect man. He was humbled and ashamed of his own failings, but he knew the power of grace and redemption. He showed what it meant to love with truth and live by faith. He always thought of others before himself and he risked his own life to do what was right and to try and save others. He was a prolific writer and communicator who had a mastery of metaphor. Paul ultimately gave his own life fighting for what he knew was good and right. I have been blessed to know so many great examples to emulate that I could never list them all here. I have drawn on portions of each of them to become the servant-leader I am today.
One word: Service. Too many career politicians have never truly served a day in their lives. They have climbed the political ladder with their own personal ambitions in mind. They view their office as the pinnacle atop a pyramid of staffers and a foundation of constituents. They need to turn that pyramid upside down. They are at the bottom. They should view themselves as a humble servant grateful for the opportunity to represent the people. The greatest men and women I have had the pleasure to serve with understood that. They never sought accolades or recognition, they just lead from the front. They took every opportunity to give credit to others and take blame upon themselves. The win went to the team, and the loss was all on them. That ethos of servant-leadership is one that is desperately wanting in Washington D.C. I have seen it first-hand in my opponents own Twitter feed. Ever post is a self-serving photo-op of herself. She puts herself at the top of the pyramid. In my decades of service, I have never witnessed such self-aggrandizement. We need more leaders in Congress who view their constituents as their bosses, not the other way around. I am not a politician, and I don't seek to be one. I am a servant-leader who will negotiate the political landscape on behalf of my district to solve complex problems and put their needs first!
I am combat-proven leader. I am a skilled writer and public speaker, having won a state championship in extemporaneous speaking. I work hard and I don't give up. I have faced challenges and setbacks in my life which have strengthened me as a person as a public servant. I always try to put the needs of others above myself. I am deeply versed in foreign and domestic policy and I understand that complex problems require complex solutions. I know the value of hard work and am willing to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty. I rely on strong core values I learned as a military officer and as a Christian to guide me every day. I am the father of four children, so I know the challenges all parents struggle with. I came from humble beginnings, starting my life in a trailer park outside an Army base. I know the value of hard work, and that together we can achieve anything!
I would like to leave a legacy of hope for my children. For the first time in our nation's history, many of us are afraid our children will not enjoy a better quality of life than we did. I refuse to believe that the best days of America are behind us. I pray this current cultural upheaval and lurch to the left will be a bump in the road, and not a fork. I believe we can come back together, not to agree on everything, but to have conversations again. I would like for my children to be able to speak their minds freely and ask the hard questions without fear of being cancelled by the hyper-woke. My children are the reason I seek to serve in Congress. I cannot stand by and allow their future to be taken from them. I am hopeful that OUR legacy, not mine, will be that WE came together and rejected socialism, fear, and division. I am hopeful our children and grandchildren.
The first historical event that really sticks out in my mind was the election of 1984. I was 8 years old and Ronald Reagan was running for his second term against Walter Mondale. I remember how proud I was of our country. We were still fighting the Cold War, and there was a sense of optimism and hope that had not existed since the Vietnam War. I recall making my own "4 More Years!" posters and bringing them to my class in school. We hung up the posters in the hallways because we were allowed and even encouraged to be mindful of our civic duty. I remember the excitement when Reagan won re-election and the energy that permeated the nation. We were on the road to recovery and we had Reagan's principles and policies to thank for it. I recall what a great communicator he was and his ability to disarm his detractors with wit and reason. I consider myself a Reagan-Republican to this day, and look forward to a similar resurgence in American pride and leadership abroad!
I learned the dignity and value of hard work from my father. He taught me that nothing in this world is handed to you. I began mowing lawns as a boy, but my first real job outside the home was when I turned 14. I worked summers as a furniture mover for a local moving and storage company. The father of a friend in my Boy Scout troop managed the business and knew he could count on me to do the work. I would wake up at 5 a.m. and go into the warehouse. I would often start there moving furniture and boxes from storage to a staging area for delivery, or vice versa. The best days were when a driver would need another hand on a pickup or delivery. I would ride along in the big rig to people's homes and load up their belongings with care. While many of my friends were sleeping in or hanging out at the pool, I was learning the value of a hard-earned dollar. I took pride in working hard and being paid fairly for it. My family didn't have a lot of money, so it allowed me to buy new clothes and eventually put gas in the tank of the car. I was proud to be contributing to my own needs with the gifts that God had given me: a strong back and a willingness to get my hands dirty. I worked that job part time over every summer through high school until I went to college. Although it was hard work, I remember it fondly and have grown to appreciate the impact it had on me.
When I was a young man all I wanted to do was go to the Air Force Academy and fly F-15 fighter jets. That dream was coming true when I attended the Academy in 1994. During basic training I suffered a hip injury on the obstacle course. After weeks in the hospital, I was told I could not continue with my class. I was devastated. Fortunately I was able to attend college on a full academic scholarship, but I had a long road of physical rehab ahead. In time my injury healed and I refused to give up on my dream. It was exceptionally hard to get into pilot training in the '90s if you didn't graduate from the Academy. My university had an ROTC program, but they had not sent anyone to pilot training in over 5 years. My chances were slim, but I wasn't giving up. I joined ROTC and did everything in my power to excel. I knew I would have to do my absolute best to earn a pilot training slot. I excelled academically, physically, and militarily. I was honored to command my Cadet Wing and be selected as the sole Distinguished Graduate of my class. Upon graduation and commissioning, I was overjoyed to receive the first pilot training slot in nearly 8 years! I went on to succeed in pilot training and fly F-15s as I had dreamed. That experience taught me so much about overcoming life's obstacles. It's not about how many times you're knocked down, it's how many times you get back up!
The United States has been blessed with a great deal. I believe it is a truly exceptional nation that was born of an idea; that a free people could thrive under self-governance as a constitutional republic. Regrettably, that idea is under siege. The threat of Socialism spreads like a cancer. It began as one maligned idea which spread from one cell to another; one unwitting person to the next. By the 1980s, the failed ideology of Lenin, Marx, and Mao had been discredited as an evil totalitarianism which failed to provide the promised “workers’ paradise.” Instead, it led to enslavement, poverty, destitution, mass murder, and even genocide. Tragically, those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. Over time, this cancerous threat to peace and prosperity has resurfaced. It has permeated our educational institutions, mainstream news, big-tech oligarchs, social media, and the greater American zeitgeist. Uninformed young Americans flaunt Che Guevara and “Feel the Bern” t-shirts. Woefully ignorant of the bloody and painful lessons of history, these young people have become radicalized at a young age. This cancer would have you believe that America represents an evil and racist force in the world. It hides under the guise of advancing health, security, and prosperity for Americans; all the while seeking to destroy the very institutions that have made America the bulwark for democracy around the world. This malignant force deceives its believers with promises of equity, while villainizing the very job creators who provide them opportunity. It speaks of law and order while its cities burn, its people suffer, and millions stream into the country through a porous border. We have a choice to make. Do we stand by and watch our country be drug into the abyss by a destructive and disproven leftist ideology, or do we stand up and fight for the future of our children and grandchildren? The consequence of this struggle is America’s survival.
Earlier this spring I stopped in for a bite to eat at a diner in Leesburg. My server was a really friendly and helpful woman. We quickly struck up a conversation and talked about the area and the effects of COVID. She shared that she actually lived out in Winchester and was a nurse by trade. I was surprised to hear that. I asked what had brought her to Leesburg to wait tables. She shared with me the challenges and frustrations she faced as a nurse caring for the elderly who had contracted COVID. She felt they were understaffed, underequipped, and overworked. After almost a year, she had become burned out. Our system had failed our first responders and caregivers. I could see the pain and frustration in her eyes as she talked about the long hours, the exhaustion, and the desperation. The emotional toll her work had taken on her was evident. To make matters worse, she was acutely aware of the impact of the opioid epidemic that was also raging in our district. She had seen the impacts of this terrible disease firsthand and lamented the fact that people were turned out into the street without a place to go. They inevitably fell back into the trap of addiction. Without a doubt, we need more outpatient treatment facilities and must seriously reconsider the unintended consequences when prescription drugs are made less available. Unfortunately, many have turned to unregulated alternatives such as fentanyl which are many times more addictive and fatal. This woman's story was painful and compelling, but it is not unique. It represents the impact of government that fails to understand the consequences of its own policy decisions. My opponent sponsored a bill to further 'study' the opioid epidemic, rather than take desperately needed action. Where I come from, we call this "admiring the problem" and it is unacceptable! The people of our district deserve action now, and that is what I will do on day one in office.
A mom and dad had two sons. One was a supreme optimist, the other an incurable pessimist. At the end of their rope, they went to a child psychologist. He recommended putting the optimist in a room full of horse manure and a shovel and leave him their for a week. By then, he would learn that everything wasn't sunshine and rainbows. Conversely, they were to put their pessimist son in a room full of toys, video games, and candy for a week. Certainly he would see that there were things to be thankful for. The parents did as instructed and after one week had passed, they went to retrieve their sons. They went to the pessimist's room first. He was still sitting in the middle of the floor having not touched a single thing. "What on earth are you doing, son? Why haven't you been playing?" The boy looked up at his parents and said, "I'm afraid the toys will break if I play with them." His parents just walked away, certain he would never be cured. They then walked to the optimist's room. They opened the door and there was horse manure flying EVERYWHERE! The boy was shoveling frantically! "What is going on here, son!?" The boy stopped shoveling, turned to his parents grinning ear to ear, and said "With all this horse poop, there's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"
The willingness and ability to compromise is necessary and vital to for making sound policy which is Constitutional, pragmatic, effective, and responsible. Unfortunately, many politicians today are more interested in being social media influencers than taking the time to thoroughly understand the complex issues we face. They are bogged down in ideological quagmires with such religious zeal that they refuse to even entertain an opposing view. The current Democrat majority has demonstrated this unwillingness to compromise in the extreme. President Biden claimed he would bring a new era of bipartisanship and cooperation. Instead, he redefined bipartisanship to exclude the minority opposition. In an attempt to cement this type of one-party rule, his party has sought to eliminate the filibuster, stack the Supreme Court, and stack Congress by making D.C. a state. Of the 535 members of Congress (House and Senate) the margin is split by only 5 members. This is far from a mandate by the people for a progressive one-party agenda. To the contrary, there has never been a greater need for bipartisanship and cooperation between the parties. The incumbent I intend to unseat in 2022 was ranked in the lowest quarter of all Representatives for bipartisanship. She is a prime example of what is wrong in Congress today. When I am elected, I pledge to reach across the aisle and work with any member who will have rational, informed, and reasonable discussions about the issues that matter to my constituents. We may never agree on the most extreme issues, but there is so much good we can do for the American people when we find our common ground and begin building. While compromise on policy is essential, I will never compromise my morals, my integrity, or my principles.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2022 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on June 4, 2021
Senators
Tim Kaine (D)
Mark Warner (D)
Representatives
District 1
Rob Wittman (R)
District 2
Jennifer Kiggans (R)
District 3
Bobby Scott (D)
District 4
District 5
John McGuire (R)
District 6
District 7
Eugene Vindman (D)
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
James Walkinshaw (D)
Democratic Party (8)
Republican Party (5)
