Rosslyn by BeyondDC licensed under Creative Commons.

Super Tuesday is long gone, but the presidential primary isn’t the only game in Virginia this year. Early voting started May 3 for two key primaries in Northern Virginia, where Democratic voters will select their nominees for Arlington County Board and Mayor and City Council in Alexandria. In these deep blue jurisdictions, the Democratic primary will likely decide who wins the general election in November.

Alexandria will get a new mayor, who is more of a figurehead and votes as part of the City Council, but plays a large role in shaping the city’s agenda during their three-year term. Outgoing mayor Justin Wilson announced his retirement just days after the city opened up single-family zoning, and offered his successor a new challenge: how to diversify the city’s stagnant tax base, which is heavily reliant on residential property taxes. With everyone pointing fingers after plans for a new sports arena blew up, and residents suing to block the zoning changes, both issues loom over this year’s primary.

Two sitting councilmembers, Alyia Gaskins and Amy Jackson, and prominent local developer Steven Peterson are running to succeed Wilson, and each have a very different vision for the city’s economy. Meanwhile, eleven Democrats are running for the City Council’s six seats. All six current councilmembers, including the four running for reelection–Canek Aguirre, Sarah Bagley, John Chapman, and Kirk McPike–voted in favor of zoning reform, but with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

A year after Arlington ended single-family-only zoning, it’s basically back on the ballot as residents also sue to overturn the change, which allows up to six homes on lots throughout the county where previously you could only build one house. Five people are running for the County Board to replace outgoing member and “missing middle” skeptic Libby Garvey. She’s also the current board chair, selected by her colleagues in January to set the agenda for the board and serve as the body’s public face.

The County Board has a lot of decision-making power. Instead of an elected mayor or county executive, Arlington has an appointed county manager who makes recommendations to the board. Members serve on staggered four-year terms, meaning there’s an election most years. Garvey’s successor could significantly shift the balance of the five-member board. Two of them are familiar faces from last year’s primary: former Arlington NAACP president JD Spain, Jr., who we endorsed last year and championed the zoning reform, and realtor Natalie Roy, who leads in fundraising and has encouraged people to donate to the lawsuit.

That’s why we reached out to candidates in Arlington and Alexandria and sent them a questionnaire. We’re sharing the responses we received here as a service to the public. Questionnaire responses also inform our endorsement decisions, which we’ll announce later this week.

Wait, how does this work?

This is the second year that Arlington County will use Ranked Choice Voting, which became legal statewide in 2020. On your ballot, you’ll be able to select up to two people for the open County Board seat. Your first choice will get counted first, and if that person gets more than 50%+1 of the vote, they’ll win. If they don’t, your second choice will get counted, and then your third, in that order.

Alexandria uses the classic “first-past-the-post” method, where whoever gets the most votes wins. You’ll cast seven votes: one for mayor, and one for each of the six city council seats. All city council councilmembers serve at-large, meaning everyone votes for all six seats, regardless of where they live.

Here’s what the candidates had to say

Below we are excited to share the questionnaire responses we received. Click on a linked name to view that applicant’s questionnaire.

Alexandria Mayor Alexandria City Council Arlington County Board

*While we ask all candidates to complete our questionnaire online, Canek Aguirre and Natalie Roy opted to write theirs on a PDF.

And don’t forget, our Elections Hub is your one-stop shop for questionnaires, endorsements process details, and our endorsements themselves. Access the hub anytime from the “2024 Elections” link in the upper right corner of our website.

Distinctly political work, like our endorsements process, is not funded by grants. We are only able to make endorsements with support from individual donors. If you value our endorsements resources, consider a contribution, of any amount, to support us in 2024 and beyond. You can do so by clicking here.