An 82 year old Congressional representative is getting heat for an embarrassing letter she wrote to a well-meaning 10 year old constituent on the topic of electric cars and climate change, where she seems to brag about saddling his generation with debt through a recent climate rollback she voted for. And she’s up for re-election, by the way.
Christian Mango is ten years old, and was encouraged by his elementary school class to write a letter about a topic of his choice, and mail it to a decisionmaker.
Christian chose his Congressional representative, 82 year old Virginia Foxx (okay, so she’s technically not a boomer – she’s 2 years too old for that).
Foxx is an 11-term Congresswoman in North Carolina, one of the most gerrymandered states in the nation, and is currently running for her 12th term in the heavily republican district, having previously proudly touted an endorsement from an enemy of the US who tried to overthrow the government. Her opponent is Chuck Hubbard, a former journalist and native of the district.
10 year old suggests EVs, climate action
For the topic of his letter, Christian chose electric cars – which is what makes this story relevant to us here at Electrek. Christian laid out several points about EVs, stating that “they’re better than normal cars. They’re better for the environment. They pay less. And there’s no gas.” (All true! well done Christian).
Christian suggested that electric cars could be incentivized with a $5,000 tax rebate – lower than the $7.5k EVs used to get, but better than the $0 they get federally today (compare to the ~$20k in ignored costs that gas cars still benefit from).
Christian went on to suggest action on climate change, stating “maybe there is still a chance for 6.5 million people to not die anymore and for the weather to get better just maybe glaciers stop melting.” Christian was probably referring to the number of people who die from air pollution globally each year (though several estimates suggest that number is actually higher, and Christian did conflate climate and weather… but we’ll give him a pass on this one, his heart is in the right place).
Christian was proud of his letter, as was his mother, Emily Mango, who said “he researched, cited facts, and made good arguments in his essay – an essay that had nothing to do with politics. He was proud of his essay.”
Congresswoman’s response sparks outrage from mother
But then he got a response, and that’s when things took a turn for the worse. Christian’s mother Emily angrily shared the response on Instagram, where it has gained traction.
Emily said Foxx’s screed was “disrespectful, hostile and unkind” and called it “demoralizing and reprehensible.” She said she had to speak to her son and teach him that this response was “not okay,” and that “nobody should talk to a child like that and nobody should talk to a teacher like that.”
I’d also add that it’s full of disinformation, and that it even seems to brag about the massive debt that Foxx has imposed on Christian’s generation.
Foxx’s response filled with climate/EV disinformation
Foxx includes six links, all from propaganda publications that deny the science of climate change. 3 are from from WSJ (2 of which are opinion pieces) and 1 is from Fox, both of which are owned by the same climate denier, Rupert Murdoch. 1 is from Washington Times, a tabloid founded by a religious cult (yes, really), and 1 is from another right-wing climate denying publication, National Review.
Notably, none of the six links have anything to do with electric cars.
In the text of the response, Foxx touts republicans’ “all of the above” energy policy, which is ironic given that the party whose energy policy she touts has spent most of the last year forcing broken dirty coal plants open and trying to shut down clean cheap ones. Apparently “all of the above” is code for “fossil fuels and nothing else.”
Foxx’s letter does not directly address the strengths of electric cars, despite them being the subject of Christian’s letter. Notably, EVs actually can receive energy from any generation method, whether it be wind, solar, or even coal or gas – whereas gas-powered vehicles can only use one type of energy, oil. Thus, an “all of the above” strategy should probably find EVs the preferable route for transportation.
But in apparent contradiction to Foxx’s surely sincerely held belief that we should pursue an “all of the above” energy policy – which electric cars would help to achieve – she in fact has voted against EVs when given the opportunity.
Foxx voted against EVs, for giveaways to wealthy
Foxx claims in her response that she can’t support tax credits on electric cars, because those go to “mostly people with higher incomes who are able to purchase ‘new’ electric cars.”
But she in fact voted against, and later voted to repeal, incentives which were limited to lower-income-earners and were only available on cars up to a certain MSRP cap. Further, they were available on used vehicles, not just new ones – suggesting that Foxx doesn’t know what she voted against.
Foxx was one of 218 republicans to vote in favor of a ~$4 trillion giveaway to wealthy elites. Her vote raised electric bills and threatened US energy security and surrendered US manufacturing jobs to China. Some of the money given away to wealthy elites in the bill was clawed back from energy efficiency programs that had been going to regular Americans.
Those energy efficiency programs had been instituted by the Inflation Reduction Act, the Biden-era law which established tax credits for EVs and other efficiency rebates. The Inflation Reduction Act was actually revenue positive, which is to say it reduced the national debt (by $238B), rather than adding to it, because of provisions to increase enforcement against wealthy tax cheats.
But most of the IRA was repealed by the bill that Foxx voted for, meaning the US lost out on those deficit reductions. All in all, the bill Foxx voted for would add $4 trillion to the national debt – which, incidentally, is another point Foxx touches on in her response.
And she mocks a 10 year old over the trillions in debt she voted for
In one sentence, she seems to directly mock Christian, telling him that “YOU and your classmates will be responsible for that debt” as part of a warning about the dangers of government debt.
But I read this sentence as mockery, rather than as a sincere warning, given that Foxx voted to add $4 trillion to the national debt, which she, at 82 years old, knows she will not have to pay off. Christian, who is 10, will likely spend his whole life saddled with the debt Foxx voted for.
He will also have to pay for her inaction on climate change, which will have increasingly worse effects on the world Christian will grow up into. Foxx’s generation has already felt the heat, with the massive floods that devastated her state in 2024, from a hurricane that was made 200x more likely due to climate change. Now, imagine how much worse it could get if Foxx’s policies remained in place until 72 years from now when Christian will be her age.
Foxx then closes out the letter with disparaging remarks about teachers, claiming that they are “too interested in indoctrinating you,” and warning Christian about “propaganda.” Which I guess shows where Foxx’s attitude comes from – if she has spent her 82 years never trusting anyone who knows more than her about a topic, that would certainly lead to the ignorance reflected in her letter.
Foxx – who somehow has a doctorate in education and currently sits on the Congressional education committee – could have turned this into a nice moment to teach the child who wrote her something about democracy and responsive government, but instead turned it into a moment to teach the world what’s wrong with her.
Incidentally, for no reason whatsoever, here’s a campaign website for a man named Chuck Hubbard, a Wilkes county native and former journalist who is running to represent North Carolina’s gerrymandered and heavily republican-favored 5th district.
He’s running against the 82 year old, 11-time Congressional representative who you met above, who was emotionally abusive a well-meaning 10 year old who clearly understands the challenges the world is facing more than she does, and yet she has a projected 97% chance of winning.
And here’s Chuck’s donate page. Godspeed, Chuck.
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