Our endorsements for Northern Virginia’s 2019 general election

Virginians will go to the polls on November 5 to select a new General Assembly and representatives for many local offices in our region and around the state. The high-stakes state legislative races will determine partisan control. Meanwhile, in Fairfax County in particular, at least half of the seats on the Board of Supervisors will have new members, and possibly more depending on what happens November 5. Here are our endorsements in contested races:

• 13th Senate district (Loudoun, Prince William): John Bell
• 40th House district (Fairfax, Prince William): Dan Helmer
• 49th House district (Arlington, Fairfax): Alfonso Lopez
• Braddock District (Fairfax): James Walkinshaw
• Mason District (Fairfax): Penny Gross
• Springfield District (Fairfax): Linda Sperling
• Sully District (Fairfax): Kathy Smith
• Fairfax Board Chairman: Jeff McKay
• Arlington County Board: Christian Dorsey, Katie Cristol
• Arlington & Falls Church Commonwealth’s Attorney: Parisa Dehghani-Tafti

Virginia legislature

In an open seat for the 13th senate district, John Bell (D) faces Geary Higgins (R). In the contested Republican primary, we endorsed Loudoun supervisor Ron Meyer but voters chose the much more conservative Higgins. The campaign has largely focused on gun issues, though both candidates also filled out our questionnaire to share their thoughts on transportation and planning.

We appreciate Higgins’ efforts to talk about specific projects and his support for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure, though he also is enthusiastic about road widening. John Bell earned our support with stronger answers on our issues, including on the importance of Metro in Loudoun and on the need for an affordable housing program in Prince William where there is none today.

Slightly to the south, Dan Helmer is challenging Tim Hugo, an 18-year incumbent and Republican caucus chairman. Helmer‘s effective understanding of the district’s multimodal transportation issues, demonstrated when he ran in the Democratic primary for Congress in 2018 and now in this race, bode well for the future. We have no doubt that he would make an excellent member of the legislature and would work effectively with local government leaders to promote transportation solutions that move beyond dependence on single-occupancy cars.

Hugo, on the other hand, has focused all his transportation energy on advocacy for more roads. He has actively challenged projects at the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority (NVTA) around regional priorities of increasing transit and building out the trail network. He-single handedly led the Republican caucus to oppose the governor’s funding strategy for Metro — a strategy that Northern Virginia local government leaders had helped develop and supported. Instead, NVTA lost significant funding for regional priorities. Hugo did not complete our questionnaire, which covered this issue among others. It’s time for the voters to send him home.

Alfonso Lopez, the incumbent in the 49th district around Columbia Pike in Arlington and Fairfax, faces independent Terry Modglin, who also ran unsuccessfully for legislative seats in 2013 and 2015. Modglin showed admirable enthusiasm for low-income housing and for Metro, including wanting a new Metro line, streets dedicated entirely to bicycles, and walking-only downtown areas. While these ideas lack specificity and often realistic paths to success, it’s great for people to espose them. Lopez, however, has been a staunch fighter for policies that advance multimodal transportation and housing affordability as the incumbent, and deserves re-election.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors

The most contested race in the general election is in the Springfield district, where Linda Sperling (D) is aiming to unseat the board’s only remaining Republican, Pat Herrity. The differences on our issues were quite clear in a recent forum, where Herrity touted his advocacy for more and wider roads, while Sperling spoke much more about buses, trails, and sidewalks. Sperling favors more and affordable housing near Metro while Herrity said he was “proud to fight” against new homes. We hope voters will choose Sperling.

In the Braddock district, we appreciated independent Carey Chet Campbell’s statements in favor of more affordable housing, less car dependence, more bicycling, and his frequent citations to transportation guru Jeff Speck. It’s less practical to, as he said, “bring Boring Company tunnelling technology to Braddock,” but we appreciate his enthusiasm. But our Democratic primary endorsee James Walkinshaw has long experience in the county and clear support for practical steps forward on our issues, including for expanding VRE, Vision Zero, walkability, and affordable housing, and we recommend him for this seat.

Kathy Smith (D) in the Sully District similarly had good questionnaire answers and a record of supporting good policies on the board, as did Penelope (“Penny”) Gross in Mason District. We did not hear from Smith’s opponent, Srilekha Palle (R), while Gross’s Republican opponent Gary Aiken did complete our questionnaire. Aiken had some laudable comments about Metro, though he also would reduce spending on sidewalks and bike lanes, and made an awkward comment about teaching immigrant populations how to stay safe. We really appreciated his views and general support for many of our issues, but support Gross for re-election.

Reading what candidates wrote, it’s actually quite notable how much “establishment” Democrats in Fairfax County elected office are unified in arguing that the future of the county is in transit and transit-oriented development, support bicycling and walking, and favor increasing multi-family housing and affordable housing — all things we argue for as well. While county adminsitrators’ actions don’t always align with this and the board could take a stronger hand at times, quite simply, the “smart growth” viewpoint we share has also become entrenched as the “establishment” view in Fairfax County, for both incumbents and many of the presumptive future board members who have long records of civic involvement in the county.

We did not receive questionnaire responses from Joe Galdo, the Republican competing with our primary endorsee Jeff McKay for chairman, but we renew our primary endorsement. We also did not receive responses from either Dranesville candidate, incumbent John Foust (D) or challenger Ed Martin (R). In the Providence District whose Democratic primary went to Dalia Palchik, Republican Paul Bolon died of a heart attack and his replacement, Eric Jones, only entered the race last week. With no new information in any of these races, there is nothing for us to say that’s new at this point (and it’s virtually assured the Democrats will win in all of these).

There are no opponents to Democratic primary winners Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill) or Rodney Lusk (Lee), or to incumbent Daniel Storck (Mt. Vernon).

Arlington and Falls Church

While she faces no opponents on the ballot, we still encourage Arlington and Falls Church voters to vote for Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, the criminal justice reformer who won the Democratic primary for Commonwealth’s Attorney and whom we endorsed. Her election will herald an exciting step for a more justice-oriented criminal system in these two jurisdictions.

For the Arlington County Board, Democratic incumbents Christian Dorsey and Katie Cristol have been exemplary members of the board and deserve re-election. Also on the ballot are independents Audrey Clement, a perennial candidate, and Arron O’Dell. Dorsey was the guest at GGWash’s 2019 birthday party celebration in Arlington, and if you haven’t seen his 2018 comments on housing affordability and segregation, watch them now. As the county’s representative on multiple transportation boards, Cristol has been a voice for good transportation policy throughout her first term in office. Both are well-respected and capable board members and will continue to serve Arlington County well.

This is the official endorsement of Greater Greater Washington. All endorsements are decided by our volunteer Elections Committee with input from our staff, board, and other volunteer committees.