Congressman Morgan Griffith

10/24/2026

October 24 is Dr. Pepper Day!

This Sunday, Rural Retreat is hosting an event to celebrate Dr Pepper’s roots right here in Southwest Virginia.

10/23/2026

CONGRESSMAN GRIFFITH’S WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 10.23.26

TOPIC: Wagner

Major League Baseball (MLB) will crown new champions this fall.

The Tampa Bay Rays and Milwaukee Brewers will compete for their first World Series championship in franchise history.

Just before Americans welcome a first-time baseball champion, Southwest Virginia welcomed a first-of-a-kind Hall of Famer to the region.

In October, 2025 Hall of Fame inductee Billy Wagner returned home for a dedication ceremony in downtown Tazewell.

Many in Southwest Virginia claim Billy Wagner as their own.

Wagner’s place of birth is Marion. But when he was with his aunt and uncle in his high school years, he lived in Tannersville.

He attended Tazewell High School where he was a dual-sport athlete in football and baseball.

Because of multiple broken right arms he suffered as a kid, he converted to pitching left-handed. Playing for the late Tazewell High School coach Lou Peery, Wagner became a pitching sensation.

Following his high school success, he stayed close to home playing for Ferrum College in Franklin County. After a dominant performance in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, where he set four records that stand to this day, Wagner was selected 12th overall in the 1993 MLB Draft.

To many MLB fans, Wagner is a legendary ballplayer. But to Virginians in our region, Wagner is more than that.

Wagner is a legendary human being who cares for Western Virginia.

On the day of the ceremony, I traveled to other events, including the Apple Dumpling Festival in Stuart and a fall festival thrown by the Radford Veterans of Foreign Wars.

When talking to constituents about my day’s plans, I mentioned that I’d later be attending the dedication ceremony in Tazewell.

I heard numerous accounts from people that Wagner the man was an amazing person.

One lady told me she got to know Wagner through one of his roommates at Ferrum. She recounted to me that Wagner is one of the finest men she has ever met, he cares about people and he gives back to his communities.

Wagner has a history of supporting childhood initiatives. Through the Wagner Family Foundation, Wagner helped direct resources to literacy initiatives, homeless outreach programs and organizations serving at-risk youth.

In 2005, Wagner founded the Second Chance Learning Center in Bluefield, Virginia. This Center provided tutoring and counseling services for local underserved children.

During Wagner’s 2025 Hall of Fame induction speech, he wore a Tazewell County pin and Ferrum College pin. Earlier this year, Wagner joined Ferrum baseball’s coaching staff.

Despite a time-consuming career that spanned 16 seasons and forced him to move back and forth across the country, Wagner never failed to support his family and stay connected with our region.

Wagner raised his four kids alongside his wife, Sarah, who is also a standout athlete from Ferrum College. Following her collegiate basketball career, she was inducted into the Ferrum College Hall of Fame. The Wagners deeply love their kids, including a son who plays in the MLB.

With the feedback I received, I headed to the Tazewell dedication ceremony.

I focused my remarks on the human side of Wagner that I learned about. I shared my earlier conversations in the day to highlight the kind of positive impact that Wagner had on his many friends here in Virginia.

Those that attended the ceremony included elected officials and community leaders. Coach Peery’s wife listened to Wagner comment about the role models that helped shape his life, and how her husband was almost like a father to Wagner.

The only thing that would have made the day better, according to Wagner, was if Peery was alive to celebrate this moment with him.

After opening by thanking God, Wagner’s emotional remarks praised Tazewell: “It was you guys that inspired me. The town of Tazewell means more to me than words can express…This is the hardest speech I have ever had to give, because you are my family and I love you.”

After the speeches, he threw a pitch to one of his former Tazewell teammates, who caught it on behalf of all of Wagner’s Tazewell and Ferrum teammates. It was a heater!

A new downtown park in Tazewell, “Billy Wagner Park,” features a statue of Wagner and a plaque noting his membership in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, something no other D-III athlete has ever done.

It was an honor for me to be there in person and celebrate with the community.

Wagner’s words and actions not only inspire athletes and athletic programs in our region. They inspire the human heart.

That is what Southwest Virginia is all about.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/.

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10/23/2026

Public health programs, resources and services are for patients, not fraudsters.

I am proud to be a Congressional leader in the War on Fraud.

10/22/2026

We're trying to bring the clinical trial to the patient instead of the model today of bringing the patient to the clinical trial.

The Faster Clinical Trials Act will expand research efforts, facilitate treatment options, and support American patients, particularly in rural America.

A new bipartisan bill aims to speed rare disease drug development by making clinical trials faster, cheaper and more accessible to patients.

10/20/2026

Billy Wagner’s legendary path to the Hall of Fame started in Southwest Virginia.

But to our region, he is more than a generational athletic talent. He is a great human being.

This past weekend, I delivered Congressional remarks to celebrate Billy Wagner the baseball player, but my speech at the ceremony was stories I had heard in Southwest Virginia about how good Billy Wagner the person is. A Tazewell park has been dedicated in his honor.

10/16/2026

CONGRESSMAN GRIFFITH’S WEEKLY E-NEWSLETTER 10.16.26

TOPIC: Fighting for Coal

American coal requires fighters in its corner. In our corner of Virginia, I am proud to be in the ring to support a vital industry for communities in Virginia’s Ninth Congressional District.

As such, I have supported legislation and signed many letters as one of the co-chairs of the United States House of Representatives Coal Caucus.

Some of those letters have gone to encourage the Trump Administration to be aggressive in promoting coal.

And the President, always a coal supporter, has heard our voice.

Perhaps no president this century has been as supportive of coal as President Donald Trump.

What has happened since Trump’s January 2025 inauguration?

Numerous pro-coal Executive Actions. I proudly attended events at the White House to celebrate announcements which invest in America’s beautiful clean coal, fight anti-coal actions taken by Presidents Obama and Biden and give coal a seat at the energy table.

The Obama-Biden “War on Coal” constrained American coal production, which encouraged the world to look elsewhere for coal.

Countries like India and China, looking to support the energy needs of their billion-plus populations, view American coal as a key resource.

According to a graphic online from Visual Capitalist, in 2024, China and India accounted for nearly 35% of U.S. coal exports.

China in particular is historically a major buyer of U.S. metallurgical coal, which is the type of coal used to make steel. The coal mined in Southwest Virginia is mainly metallurgical coal and had been sold to China in the first Trump Administration.

But the Chinese Communist Party took actions to disrupt American coal access to Chinese markets, threaten U.S. coal mining jobs and rattle our coal communities.

Data provided by the U.S. Energy Information Administration notes the impact of Chinese tariff increases on U.S. coal exports. From 2024 to 2025, U.S. coal exports to China dropped a dramatic 92 percent!

In response to China’s anti-U.S. coal moves, I helped lead efforts to engage the Trump Administration.

As Chinese President Xi Jinping prepared to visit DC for trade negotiations, I requested President Trump prioritize American coal in the negotiations.

Following the late September negotiations, President Trump announced that China will import at least 10 million metric tons of American coal in 2027 and another 10 million metric tons in 2028!

This announcement means coal business in America will get a boost. Foreign belief in American coal will continue to present major opportunities for economic growth, domestic coal jobs and certainty for America’s coal operators.

I am proud to help secure this trade win for American communities. It is a positive outcome that confirms the strong demand for resources that our miners work every day to produce.

I am also fighting for another positive outcome that impacts our region’s coal.

Currently, one of the last remaining coal-fired power plants in Virginia is the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (VCHEC) in St. Paul, Virginia.

As one of the 10 newest coal plants to be constructed in America, VCHEC employs world-class emissions control technologies that reduce carbon harms to the environment. Further, the plant cleans up waste coal sites, like gob piles, and eliminates mine drainage.

The current VCHEC owner and operator is Dominion Energy. However, Dominion is engaged in a new merger proposal with NextEra Energy.

Should the merger secure approval from Virginia regulatory authorities, it would potentially put the VCHEC under the control of NextEra.

As an advocate for VCHEC, I voiced the plant’s importance to both Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger and the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), the regulatory authority responsible for reviewing the merger proposal.

With a SCC decision expected in January, I will continue to monitor discussion on the merger and its potential impacts on VCHEC.

Protecting our region’s coal assets through the VCHEC is essential to support coal jobs, provide net environmental benefits as shown by our clean coal technologies and serve reliable as well as affordable electricity.

Coal plants can be particularly helpful for our electric grid to withstand challenges and prevent the threat of blackout periods.

Accordingly, while the Department of Energy works to ensure there is enough energy available for American consumers, I believe Southwest Virginia coal is an indispensable resource that can help meet the growth in electricity demands.

Further, as a co-chair of the Congressional Coal Caucus, I will continue fighting and promoting energy solutions and trade relationships that boost the prospects for American coal.

If you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact my office. You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671. To reach my office via email, please visit my website at https://morgangriffith.house.gov/. Also on my website is the latest material from my office, including information on votes recently taken on the floor of the House of Representatives.

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10/15/2026

While at my alma mater Emory & Henry University today, I signed Vice President Vance’s Pledge to Protect Americans from Fraud.

From Medicare and SNAP fraud to fraudulent birth tourism, I will continue to be a leader in the War on Fraud.

10/15/2026

Republicans in Congress agree: fraudulently taking advantage of federal health care programs is WRONG!

Thank you Dr. Oz and HHS for working to protect these benefits, stop fraud and support our vulnerable populations.

10/15/2026

This month, I toured a faith-based addiction treatment center based in Floyd County.

As someone who has helped author policies to help combat substance use disorder, I will continue to promote related services and resources for patients.

10/15/2026

Auburn High School claims the Class 1 Virginia title in golf!

Congratulations on a stellar team finish!