Vote on Tuesday, Virginia! Ideally, for these people
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Our 2019 Virginia primary endorsees. Images provided by the candidates or from the candidates' websites.
Tuesday, June 11 is the Virginia primary. Many important offices are on the ballot, and for county offices in many deep blue parts of our region, the primary winner is virtually assured of winning office. We’ve made endorsements in a number of races.
Our volunteer Elections Committee worked to sort through local races to identify which candidates will best advance urbanist priorities on transportation, housing, and other policies. For competitive primary races we chose to focus on, we sent candidates a questionnaire and considered their responses, reader comments, and other information.
Here are the races with our coverage and our endorsements. All endorsements are for the Democratic primaries unless otherwise noted.
Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
Fairfax County is the largest jurisdiction in Virginia or the Washington region and an economic powerhouse. Fully half of the ten seats on the Board of Supervisors are open seats this year, in what’s been called an “unprecedented” level of turnover. The chairman is elected at large, while there are nine supervisor districts (and uniquely to Virginia and West Virginia, they have names instead of numbers).
- Chairman: overview, more candidates, responses, forum
- We endorse Jeff McKay
- Braddock District: overview, responses
- We endorse James Walkinshaw
- Hunter Mill District: overview, more candidates, responses, forum
- We endorse Walter Alcorn
- Lee District: overview, responses, forum
- We endorse Rodney Lusk
- Providence District: overview, more candidates, responses
- We endorse Edythe Kelleher
General Assembly
The main action for the General Assembly is in November, when Democrats need to pick up one seat in each of the House and Senate to take majorities while Republicans seek to shore up their control. A few Northern Virginia districts will have real partisan competition, like the open seat in the 13th in Loudoun and Prince William. There, there is not a Democratic primary but is a contest on the Republican side and we have made an endorsement. Meanwhile, there are also several primaries in safe Democratic districts with challenges to incumbent legislators.
- 49th House district (Arlington & Fairfax): responses
- We endorse Alfonso Lopez
- 13th Senate district (Loudoun & Prince William): responses
- We endorse Ron Meyer in the Republican primary
- 31st Senate district (Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun): overview, responses, forum
- We endorse Nicole Merlene
- 35th Senate district (Fairfax, Alex., Falls Church): overview, responses, forum
Commonwealth’s Attorney
The chief county prosecutors in Virginia are called Commonwealth’s Attorneys, and they are also up for election. Criminal justice reform has emerged as a top issue, and these prosecutors also have a role in road safety enforcement activities.
- Arlington & Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney: responses
- We endorse Parisa Dehghani-Tafti
Virginia is an open primary state, so any registered voter with photo ID can vote in the primary, regardless of party affiliation.