Our endorsements for the Arlington County Board

Early voting is underway in Arlington for the Democratic primary, during which voters will select the party’s nominee for County Board. In this blue county, this primary will likely decide the general election this November. This is the county’s second Ranked Choice Voting election, meaning you’ll be able to choose two candidates, ranked in order of preference.

GGWash endorses Julius “JD” Spain Sr. and Tenley Peterson, in that order.

First, the questionnaires

Our endorsements are primarily based on the questionnaire that we send to candidates. Completing that questionnaire online is a prerequisite in order to be considered for our endorsement.

Four of the five candidates completed our questionnaire, and we published their responses (a blank version is visible here). It asks applicants 24 questions about housing, land use, transportation, and the role of community input into decision-making. Some of the questions are about issues in Arlington County while others are more broad, designed to reveal how applicants think and how they would approach the many tradeoffs and wicked problems that arise in urban planning.

We endorse JD Spain and Tenley Peterson…

Unlike its neighbors in DC or Maryland, Arlington County doesn’t have an elected mayor or executive, meaning the County Board has a lot of power. Each year, the five board members select a chair, who is effectively the public face of the county. The current chair is Libby Garvey, who, along with Board member Susan Cunningham, has been chilly to the issues we care about. Garvey is also stepping down from the Board this year, creating a big opportunity to move Arlington forward–or not.

We’ve previously endorsed three of the current County Board members: Matt DeFerranti in 2018, Takis Karantonis in 2020, and Maureen Coffey in 2023. All three have been supportive of building more homes, and more deeply affordable homes, in this increasingly expensive, desirable community. They have also supported safer streets and more frequent, reliable transit. Having four votes on the County Board would make it that much easier to push those policies forward. That’s why GGWash endorses Julius “JD” Spain, Sr. and Tenley Peterson for Arlington County Board.

JD Spain is a recent president of the NAACP Arlington Branch, whose support was key to opening up single-family-only zoning in Arlington last year. We endorsed him last year, and we’re proud to do it again. In a county where the median home price is nearly $800,000, he’s embraced a variety of solutions to make Arlington more affordable and accessible, from upzoning to community land trusts. He also identified worthwhile policies we didn’t ask about in the questionnaire, such as changing Virginia’s antiquated occupancy laws to allow more than four unrelated people (say, single moms trying to split expenses) to live in a house together.

We also appreciate Spain’s openness to using Arlington’s limited street space to make room for bus and bike lanes, which will give more people safe, reliable alternatives to driving. After two years of driving around on the campaign trail, he’s committed to buying an e-bike “or a similar mode of transport” for trips to church or other activities close to home.

Spain would lend greater weight to community engagement that meets people where they’re at, like door-knocking, instead of more traditional public hearings, in which well-off, white residents who own homes are typically over-represented. In an increasingly diverse metropolitan area where most large cities and counties are now majority people of color, Arlington stands out as one of the few majority-white jurisdictions, and there are currently no non-white County Board members. Arlingtonians of color need representation too, and while that’s far from the only reason to support JD Spain, it’s a meaningful one.

Tenley Peterson has served on the Arlington Planning Commission for five years, reviewing proposed developments and neighborhood plans and advising the County Board. She displays a deep understanding of the policy levers she could use as a Board member to improve housing affordability.

She’s the only candidate in Arlington (or perhaps in any race we’ve endorsed in recently) to mention allowing single-stair buildings to reduce housing costs, something the Virginia General Assembly is exploring. Peterson supports building more three- and four-bedroom apartments for families, giving them an alternative to townhomes and single-family homes. Living with her husband and children in a condo, she’s experienced firsthand how urban living can offer families a way out from driving everywhere. We need more elected officials who can speak to the benefits of that lifestyle, and will fight for the improvements needed, like adding bus and bike lanes to Arlington’s streets, to give more people access to it as well.

…and they should endorse each other, too

A common strategy in other communities with Ranked Choice Voting is for competing candidates to endorse each other. With five candidates running in Arlington, it’s more likely that either Spain or Peterson will reach the 51% needed to win if the other candidate’s supporters vote for them as well. For that reason, we think JD Spain and Tenley Peterson should endorse each other.

The contrast between Spain, Peterson, and their three opponents is crystal clear. We didn’t hear from lawyer James DaVita, but his website says it all: “THE “MISSING MIDDLE” WILL DESTROY THE SUBURBS AND TURN ARLINGTON INTO A CITY…I DON’T WANT TO LIVE IN A CITY. (Save the Suburbs!)”

Julie Farnam advised now-US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 presidential campaign, but Buttigieg, who’s known for biking to work and has directed money to bus lane projects nationwide, might be bummed to see that Farnam opposes repurposing street space for more bike and bus lanes.

Then there’s Natalie Roy, aka the Bicycling Realtor, who came in ahead of Spain in last year’s election, and has a wide lead in fundraising this year. Just like last year, Roy sent us a PDF instead of filling out the questionnaire online as a way to avoid directly answering multiple-choice questions.

Not only is Roy opposed to the county’s Missing Middle zoning, she’s encouraged people to donate to the lawsuit against it. She said it was “unrealistic” for the county to make it a priority for kids who grew up in Arlington to be able to afford to live there as adults. Roy repeatedly said she supports transit-oriented development, but also that “in the last few years, the county has relied solely on land use and densification, which has damaged the environment and our fiscal health.” How putting more homes and jobs near transit so that people could drive less (and bike more!) is bad for the environment or the county’s “fiscal health,” we do not understand.

We love that Roy gets around Arlington on a bike, but we’d love it more if she wanted to make it easier for others to do that. She said she supports more bike lanes, but wouldn’t say whether or not building them should involve taking space from cars.

Of course, people have many reasons for voting for the people they vote for, and it’s possible that someone might rank one of our endorsees AND one of the other candidates, increasing the likelihood of an anti-housing candidate securing the Democratic nomination. In November, that person will go up against 55- or 75-year-old independent Audrey Clement, who is even worse. (There aren’t any Republicans running this year.)

Progress is never linear, and despite making history last year, Arlington could take several steps backward in this election. We have to stick together out here, and that’s why we’re not just asking you to vote for JD Spain AND Tenley Peterson–we’re asking them to ask their supporters to vote for both of them, too.

Now what?

Early voting in Arlington runs through June 15. You can also vote on Election Day, June 18. Here’s a list of polling places and a sample ballot. You can register to vote in this year’s primary through Election Day, though you may need to use a provisional ballot.

For more information about how we’re making endorsements in Virginia in 2024, see our 2024 endorsements process post. Our 2024 Elections Hub is your one-stop shop for GGWash’s questionnaires, endorsements, process details, and more. Access the hub anytime from the “2024 Elections” link in the upper right corner of our homepage.

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.