Danville Tea Party Leader Nigel Coleman and other local activists were among hundreds of other Virginia Tea Party members lobbying in support of smaller government. Hurt, who is also running for the GOP nomination in the 5th Congressional District, has been accused in recent weeks of evading the Tea Party after not agreeing to participate in the group’s 5th District debates.

“We got a little closer, I would say, to him and his campaign,” Coleman said Tuesday. “Just to air out any differences that people thought might’ve existed. Some people stated he was ducking debates and his campaign was against the Tea Party. We got a chance to speak about some of those issues as well. Our main focus was who was gonna sponsor these bills (Monday).”

The two House bills are the Virginia Healthcare Freedom Act (HB 10, introduced by Delegate Bob Marshall) and the Virginia Firearms Freedom Act (HB 69, introduced by Delegate Bill Carrico), both of which seek to limit the reach of the federal government into state regulation of health care and gun rights.

Coleman said both pieces of legislation were written by a member of Campaign for Liberty, a group that works closely with the Virginia Tea Party Patriots. The health care bill states that no individual can be forced to purchase health insurance, and the firearms bill states that any weapon manufactured, sold and retained in Virginia would not be subject to federal interstate regulation.

“Our Founders believed that if the power is not expressly given to the federal government,” Hurt said, “those powers should rest with the state and primarily with the individual. These bills are I think an expression of that sentiment and, if adopted, they are an assertion by the state of Virginia that we will insist on those rights for the individual and for the states.”

Hurt said he thought the bills had “a very good chance” of being adopted. When asked if he was supporting the bills in an effort to reach out to the Tea Party, he said he shared their Tenth Amendment concerns.

“I am aware that some of the members of the Tea Party are supporting these bills,” Hurt said, “and I’m in agreement with them. I share that concern that many, many of my constituents have about the size and growth of the government. This is something that I think is an important measure.”