FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Tom Peterson, a Fairfax City Council member running for mayor, says the cost of living, economic security and fiscal responsibility are the most pressing issues facing voters, arguing that rising expenses are putting pressure on both household and business budgets.
"This is a difficult time for many Fairfax households and businesses," Peterson said in his response to Patch's candidate questionnaire. "High housing, energy, tax, transportation and everyday costs are putting real pressure on family budgets, while businesses face many of the same rising costs."
Peterson said city government cannot control all of those expenses but can scrutinize spending and major investments, avoid what he called excessive debt and unnecessary tax increases, and seek more cost-effective ways to provide services. He said fiscal responsibility should also include maintaining essential city services and responding to residents' and businesses' economic needs.
Peterson, 67, currently serves on the Fairfax City Council and previously chaired the city's Environmental Sustainability Committee. He is president and CEO of The Center for Climate Strategies and said he has 44 years of professional experience spanning government, business, nonprofit and academic work.
Peterson is running against Kirsten Lockhart for Fairfax City mayor in the Nov. 3 general election. Patch invited the candidates to share their backgrounds, priorities and views on issues facing Fairfax City through its campaign questionnaire. Peterson's responses follow below.
Your Name
Thomas D. "Tom" Peterson
Position sought (Mayor of Fairfax City)
Mayor
Age (as of Nov. 3, 2026)
67
Campaign Website
Tom4Fairfax.org
Have you been endorsed by a political party or aligned yourself with a group of candidates in the 2026 Fairfax City elections? Select the answer that best describes your campaign. If both apply, select Other and explain.
Unaffiliated and cooperating with candidates who are unaffiliated
Please identify any party endorsements or candidate groups referenced in your previous answer. How would these relationships affect your service as mayor of Fairfax City?
I have no political party endorsements or formal affiliations, and no obligations associated with them. I work openly with others who share an interest in focusing on local issues, finding common ground, and doing what is best for the people of Fairfax.
How would you work with City Council members and residents whose political views differ from yours?
I welcome different perspectives. Much of my 44-year career has involved bringing together people with very different—and sometimes contentious—political views, economic interests, institutional responsibilities and priorities to find common ground and reach practical agreements.
That experience has taught me that diversity of perspective, when properly facilitated, can produce better decisions. People see problems differently, bring different information to the table and identify different risks and opportunities. My job as a facilitator has been to turn those differences into a creative problem-solving process that produces clear, actionable solutions addressing multiple objectives.
I bring that same approach to City Council and would bring it to serving as Mayor. I will work with everyone. Their political affiliation or economic interest doesn't determine whether their views deserve to be heard. What matters is listening carefully, understanding the interests behind different positions, establishing the facts, and finding areas of agreement.
In the City of Fairfax, I believe we share an important starting point: we care about our community and want it to succeed. We may disagree about how to get there, but those differences don't have to divide us. With good leadership, they can help us reach better solutions.
That's the kind of Mayor I would be—one who listens, brings people together, finds common ground and helps turn it into action.
Family
Melissa, wife; Claire, daughter
Does anyone in your family work in politics or government?
No
Education
MBA UT-Austin, MS/MEM Duke University (economics and policy), BS William & Mary (biology)
Occupation
President and CEO, The Center for Climate Strategies, Inc. since 2004; 44 years total professional experience in government, business, nonprofit, and academia.
Previous or Current Elected or Appointed Political Office
City Council Member, Chair City of Fairfax Environmental Sustainability Committee
Why are you running for mayor of Fairfax City?
I'm running for Mayor because I love the City of Fairfax, care deeply about our community, and believe the decisions we make now will shape our community for decades to come.
After 24 years as a City resident and my experience serving on City Council, I understand both what makes the City special and the difficult choices we face about cost of living, development, taxes, infrastructure, public safety, schools, the environment and our quality of life.
I believe our city needs strongly experienced, proven, collaborative leadership that keeps the interests of the community at the center of those decisions and helps people with different perspectives find common ground. My 44 years of professional experience, combined with my direct experience as an elected Council member, have prepared me to provide that leadership.
I want to help Fairfax move forward while protecting the qualities that have made it such a special place to live—and to make sure our residents have a meaningful voice in shaping that future.
What do you see as the primary role of the Mayor? How will you achieve that goal?
I understand clearly that under our system of government, the Mayor's central responsibility is to preside over the City Council and help it function effectively. The Mayor is also a principal representative of Fairfax in the region and a public representative of our City and community.
I would approach the Council role as an active, informed, collaborative facilitator—helping members work through difficult issues, encouraging different perspectives, finding common ground and moving toward clear decisions, while keeping the interests of the community foremost.
Just as importantly, I believe the Mayor should help build a strong bridge among residents, Council and City staff. Community participation should occur early enough to influence decisions, with meaningful choices and alternatives available. Our citizens shouldn't simply be informed about their future; they should have an active role in shaping it.
I also understand the importance of representing Fairfax beyond our borders. I currently serve on eight regional boards and commissions for the City and have seen firsthand the opportunities that effective regional relationships can create for our City.
Finally, the Mayor helps set the tone for the community. I would provide a positive, constructive and collaborative presence as part of facilitating the Council and working with the community—one that encourages civility, builds trust and helps bring people together around what is best for Fairfax.
The single most pressing issue facing voters is _______, and this is what I intend to do about it.
Cost of living, economic security and fiscal responsibility.
This is a difficult time for many Fairfax households and businesses. High housing, energy, tax, transportation and everyday costs are putting real pressure on family budgets, while businesses face many of the same rising costs. For some residents, these aren't abstract economic concerns—they affect their ability to meet basic needs and feel secure about the future.
City government can't control all of these costs, but we should do what we can to help. That means managing City resources responsibly, carefully scrutinizing spending and major investments, avoiding excessive debt and unnecessary tax increases, and finding more cost-effective ways to meet our needs.
But fiscal responsibility isn't simply about spending less. It also means maintaining strong essential services and ensuring that the City has the capacity to respond to the economic and other support needs of residents and businesses, particularly as those needs grow.
Housing at different income levels is an important part of this challenge, as are transportation, energy and other household costs. I want the City to look for practical ways to reduce unnecessary cost pressures and strengthen economic security wherever we reasonably can.
Our goal should be both a financially responsible City government and a community in which people can afford to live, work, raise a family, operate a business and build a secure future.
What are the critical differences between you and the other candidate seeking this post?
My campaign is focused solely on the City of Fairfax—listening to our residents, understanding their needs and concerns, and bringing people together to find practical solutions that serve the entire community. That's the kind of leadership I would bring to the Mayor's office.
What has the current mayor and City Council done well, and what would you change? Please give specific examples.
I believe the Mayor and Council have made important progress on a number of difficult issues. We adopted budgets that substantially reduced proposed tax rates while protecting critical services and infrastructure, hired a highly qualified new City Manager, reduced the taxpayer cost of the Willard-Sherwood Center by more than 55%, advanced an alternative sales-tax option to help fund major school capital needs, and addressed important public-safety issues—including banning firearms at City events and strengthening the City's crime-analysis and behavioral-threat-management capabilities. We have also worked through a number of difficult issues inherited from the previous Council.
Where I would improve our approach is in earlier and more rigorous evaluation of major spending and development decisions, stronger consideration of alternatives, and more meaningful public participation before key choices have effectively been made. I believe we can build on the progress we've made while making City government more fiscally disciplined, collaborative and responsive to the community.
Describe the other issues that define your campaign platform.
My campaign is focused on the issues that most directly affect the lives and quality of life of people in Fairfax: cost of living, economic security and fiscal responsibility; excellent schools; public safety and strong City services; transportation and infrastructure; economic opportunity and local businesses; environmental stewardship and community health; and open, accountable government.
I am also particularly focused on carefully balanced growth. Fairfax should continue to evolve and prosper, but we need to make sure growth responds to the needs of our community, considers its full impacts, and strengthens our city without overwhelming it.
These issues are closely connected, and we need to manage them together—finding practical solutions, protecting what people value about Fairfax, and giving residents a meaningful role in shaping our city's future.
What approach should Fairfax City take to new development and redevelopment? What types of projects would you support or oppose, and how would you balance housing needs and economic growth with concerns about traffic, infrastructure and neighborhood character?
Fairfax needs a more carefully balanced approach to growth and redevelopment. I support redevelopment that strengthens our commercial tax base, provides housing that responds to demonstrated needs at different income levels, improves underused properties, and enhances our community and quality of life. But I have significant concerns about the height, density, scale, appearance and pace of some recent proposals and the cumulative amount of residential growth being contemplated.
Our four Small Area Plans include benchmarks totaling approximately 4,700 additional housing units—equivalent to nearly 45% of our current housing stock if fully realized. Before development at anything approaching that scale is enabled through zoning, we need current and complete analysis of housing and commercial needs, transportation and traffic, infrastructure, schools, City finances, public safety, environmental impacts and neighborhood character.
Adding housing units is not the same as having a housing strategy. We should ask what kinds of housing we need, at what price points, for whom and where. We also need much greater attention to commercial development and our tax base. Mixed-use development can be valuable, but high-density residential mixed use should not be the default answer for every redevelopment opportunity.
I would support well-designed residential, commercial and genuinely mixed-use projects that meet identified needs, fit their locations and provide clear community benefits. I would oppose or seek significant changes to projects whose excessive height, density, scale, traffic impacts or design outweigh their benefits and do not match community interests.
The choice isn't between growth and no growth. The purpose of redevelopment is to strengthen our city, not overwhelm it. The goal should not be to build as little as possible or as much as possible, but to build what makes Fairfax better—with residents having a meaningful role in choosing our future.
What accomplishments in your past would you cite as evidence you can handle this job?
My most relevant experience is serving now as an elected member of the Fairfax City Council. There is no substitute for having directly faced the responsibilities of elected office—listening to residents, weighing competing priorities, making difficult decisions in public, casting votes, and being accountable for the results. Before joining Council, I also served on the City's Environmental Sustainability Committee, including most of that time as its chair.
I also bring a long-term perspective on the City of Fairfax and Fairfax County. My family and I have lived in the City for 24 years, and I am a native of Fairfax County. I've seen firsthand how Fairfax and Northern Virginia have changed over many decades. That gives me both a deep familiarity with our community and an appreciation for the historical context of the choices we face today—and how the decisions we make now will shape the City we leave to future generations.
My 44-year career has also prepared me extensively for the consensus-building leadership a mayor needs. This has included successful development of over 20 stakeholder based, comprehensive climate, energy, and economic policy plans and assessments for US states developed in cooperation with governors and legislative bodies. These have helped catalyze many major improvements and investments across the US and led to similar work in other nations based on their collaborative success.
I have served in high-level assignments at the White House and U.S. Senate, spent 10 years at EPA as an economist and policy official, and served as a division chief for a state conservation agency. My education includes degrees from William & Mary, Duke University and the University of Texas at Austin, including two advanced graduate degrees.
For more than two decades, I have led teams working with local, state and national governments in the United States and other countries to bring together high-level officials and diverse stakeholders to develop and implement climate, energy and economic strategies. I am an experienced technical and policy facilitator, have taught these methods at the university level, and have helped form and facilitate voting bodies in which people with very different interests and responsibilities must reach clear, actionable agreements that address multiple goals.
That combination—direct elected experience in Fairfax, decades of perspective on our community, advanced education, and a career spent bringing people with diverse interests together to solve complex problems—is the experience I would bring to serving as Mayor.
The best advice ever shared with me was:
Listen carefully and follow the Golden Rule.
What else would you like voters to know about yourself and your positions?
There are a number of important issues we need to address together as a community. These include cost of living, economic security and fiscal responsibility; carefully balanced growth; excellent schools; public safety; transportation and infrastructure; strong City services; economic opportunity and support for local businesses; environmental stewardship; and open and accountable government.
I don't see these as separate issues. They all affect the quality of life we value in Fairfax and our ability to remain a strong, healthy, safe and affordable community. My focus is on finding practical ways to meet these needs together, while listening carefully to our residents and making sure they have a meaningful role in shaping the future of our city.
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