Virginia may have had its presidential primary already, but voters will return to the polls for local primary elections Tuesday, June 18, 2024. Greater Greater Washington will be endorsing candidates in the Democratic primaries for Arlington County Board and Alexandria Mayor and Council. In these heavily Democratic jurisdictions, the winner of the Democratic primary often determines the winner of the general election in November.

As with our DC endorsements process, we wanted to share how our Virginia endorsement process will unfold this year.

The Virginia races in which we will conduct endorsements

2024 will be a consequential year both nationally and locally, as several jurisdictions in our region will face crucial elections, the results of which will shape how we grow and develop in the years to come. We identified several races in which we will make endorsements. They share a few characteristics: They’re in places where we already have a sizable base of readers or supporters; involve positions that have authority over land use and transportation policy-making; and are places where there may be competitive elections or open seats.

In 2024, GGWash will conduct endorsement processes in the following primary races:

  • Alexandria Mayor and City Council (Primary Election, June 18)
  • Arlington County Board (Primary Election, June 18)

GGWash may also conduct an endorsement process for the Arlington County Board General Election November 7, with a final determination to be made after the primary.

The endorsements process

In consultation with GGWash board members and myself, GGWash policy staff design questionnaires for each race. We know how tightly intertwined land use, housing, and transportation are with other topics–like economic justice, climate policy, and public safety–and many trusted groups with expertise in those areas deliver their own endorsements. So, we focus our questionnaire on land use, housing, and transportation.

In order to be considered for GGWash’s endorsement, candidates must respond to our questionnaire using the online survey. We send that questionnaire to all candidates registered with that jurisdiction’s Board of Elections, to the email address on file, with a clear submission deadline. Following receipt, we publish the received responses on our website as a resource for voters.

Then, our endorsement committee reviews candidates’ responses as well as other publicly available information, such as campaign materials, answers in public forums, press coverage, or candidate social media posts, to decide who to endorse. While the questionnaire typically holds the greatest weight in our decisions, we reserve the right to factor in other considerations at our discretion. We’ll write up our decisions and post them on our website and social media channels in early May. We reserve the right to not endorse anyone in a given race, but in the event that such a decision is made, we will publish an explanation as to why.

When we endorse a candidate, we’re able to promote positions and statements on our platforms, publicize volunteer opportunities with campaigns, fundraise, and, of course, encourage voters to vote for our endorsees. In conducting any political activity for any campaign, we comply with local laws as required by that jurisdiction’s Board of Elections.

In 2024, a subset of GGWash staff and board comprise the Virginia elections committee:

  • Chelsea Allinger, executive director
  • Alex Baca, DC policy director
  • Kai Hall, DC policy officer
  • Omari Hardy, board member
  • Jayson Harpster, board member
  • Dan Reed, regional policy director
  • Alberto Rivera, board member
  • Caitlin Rogger, deputy executive director
  • Adriana Vance, policy intern

The above committee members are the sole individuals responsible for determining GGWash’s Virginia endorsements in 2024 (note that the DC elections committee has a slightly different composition). No other staff, board members, or volunteers determine our endorsement decisions.

Ethics and conflicts of interest

GGWash maintains a political activity policy that allows people to work for, volunteer for, or otherwise serve GGWash while engaging in politics in various ways. It also contains guardrails to protect the integrity of our endorsements process and our work overall, including our non-political work. That policy is publicly visible here.

As detailed in the policy, we prohibit the sharing of non-public campaign information with individuals involved in making endorsements. Elections committee members with a pre-existing campaign affiliation – whether on the basis of volunteering or financial contribution – are required to recuse themselves from the endorsement decision-making process for that race.

What about [insert place here]?

Over 30 municipalities across the Maryland and Virginia suburbs–and larger cities like Baltimore and Richmond–will hold elections this year. Among them, we prioritized jurisdictions whose elected officials have control over land use.

Endorsements are a labor- and resource-intensive process, and there are restrictions around what financial resources we can use to support this work. Specifically, almost all grant funders prohibit the use of grants for political activity, which means we lean on individual donations to support this work. Therefore, we carefully identified a limited number of races in which we felt we could make an impact within those constraints. With your help, we can launch additional endorsements in Maryland and Virginia in future election cycles.

Mission-driven work

GGWash engages in political endorsements as a service to voters and in service of our mission. It’s an intensive, important process that we take extremely seriously. We’ve developed this process and the policies that guide it through extensive work, discussion, and consultation with outside and legal expertise.

With these parameters in place, we look forward to delivering a slate of endorsements for candidates who will support more housing, more affordable housing, frequent and reliable public transportation, fewer trips by car, and fair land use, and do the work within their power to bring those things to bear for Virginia voters. Any questions about the process guiding our 2024 endorsements should be directed to me at callinger[at]ggwash.org.

This process relies on staff to administer it, supporters to fund it, and readers to make it worthwhile. Thank you for believing in the value of this work.