O'Quinn's campaign website highlights the following issues (2011):

Excerpt: "If elected, Israel plans to host an agriculture conference at which farmers, vendors and all of Virginia’s agricultural resources can connect and learn best practices. The Commonwealth of Virginia should be there to help the agriculture community, not over-regulate them and choke them to death."

Excerpt: "A great education begins with great teachers, and that is why we must recruit and retain the very best educators. To be able to retain those teachers, we must raise Virginia’s teacher pay to the national average. While times are tight now, Education must remain as one of our top priorities."

Excerpt: "Many people throughout the 5th District are employed by a variety of energy companies. While there are those in Washington, DC who would love to shut the energy sector down, their sentiments are extremely misguided. Not only would they put thousands of Southwest Virginians out of work, they would make our electric bills skyrocket. Israel will fight the federal cap and trade legislation that would devastate our economy."

Excerpt: "Virginia is a pay-as-you-go state, which has saved us from the problems facing many states such as California or New Jersey. We live under a biennial budget and the General Assembly cannot adjourn until that budget is balanced. Once it is balanced, state government cannot exceed its boundaries. Israel believes that is exactly how the budget should work."