Partisanship still rules in Fairfax City local elections

by Ken Reid

In Virginia, town, city and school board candidates appear on the ballot without “Ds” and “Rs” next to their names, as do some constitutional officers (i.e. commissioner of the revenue and treasurer). There are some exceptions by each city or town’s charter.

The theory behind holding these as “nonpartisan elections” is that local issues, like trash pickup, school boundaries, zoning and utility rates, are generally not partisan in nature. As such, many towns and cities in the Commonwealth held their elections in May, to remove them from the
partisanship on the November ballot.

But political parties often use the legislative process to gain advantage in elections, notably through redistricting or the timing of elections. In addition, the parties frequently endorse candidates in municipal and school board races and push them on their “sample ballots,” which
are handed to voters as they walk into the polls.

So, in 2021, the Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Ralph Northam (D) decided to mandate that all town, municipal and school board elections be in November. The May option is no longer available.

The chief sponsor, then State Sen. Lionel Spruill (D-Chesapeake) argued that May elections were a “vestige of Jim Crow,” to keep blacks from voting. However, the cities of Norfolk and Newport News, which have majority black councils, and the Virginia Municipal League opposed
his bill.

In reality, springtime council elections were implemented by Progressive Movement advocates to remove local issues and races from the partisan November ballot and thwart the power of city machines. But those facts meant nothing to the Democrats, who pushed the law through – in my
view, to bury non-Democrat-endorsed candidates in the ever-growing fall “Blue Wave.”

I testified against the bill on Zoom, even though I led the charge in 2010-11 to move Leesburg’s council elections from May to November, by referendum, in order to improve turnout, limit the power of a small group of voters to influence town matters (i.e. NIMBYs) and level the playing
field between Democrats who endorsed council candidates – and Republicans, who did not.

At that hearing, I suggested the General Assembly give the municipalities the option, but lowering the requirements for moving elections to November -- such as requiring only 5% of registered voters to sign petitions vs. 10%, which we had to do in Leesburg. No such chance. The bill passed and Gov. Northam signed it.

Vienna and a few towns/cities opted to hold elections in odd-year November cycles, so they would be collocated with state and county races So, in 2023, all Vienna Mayor and Council candidates voluntarily agreed not to take party endorsements, and Purcellville, in Loudoun
County, has chosen to do the same for this November election.

But Fairfax City is completely different. This November, as in 2022, Mayor Catherine Read and her fellow Democrats are pushing the party label really hard; despite saying they will still govern in a “nonpartisan” way.

In an article in “The Patch” last month, Read made this conflicting statement: “What we’re talking about is not partisanship. It’s about what we stand for and what we want you to know about us as candidates. I stand for the values of the Democratic Party.”

In reality, Read knows full well that Democrats dominate in the city by 2-to-1 and in Fairfax County by about 3-to-1, and Republican party units are weak. Drive around Fairfax City and you will see signs for her and Democrat-endorsed Council incumbent Billy Bates together with Democrats Kamala Harris, Sen. Tim Kaine and Rep. Gerry Connolly on the same lawns.

So brazen is the so-called “Party of the People,” that in 2023, the Democrat-endorsed School Board candidates put the word “Democrat” on their yard signs and literature, although legally, they run as nonpartisan – and they all won, too.

Now in Fairfax City, there is a concerted effort by a slate of candidates for Mayor and City Council – some Democrat, some Republican and some purely independent — to buck the partisanship tide.

This slate is backed by former Sen. Chap Peterson, a former Democrat whose family has been a city presence since the 19th Century, and Fairfax County Supervisor Pat Herrity, a Republican.
The City GOP is not endorsing candidates, but generally supports the Peterson/Herrity-backed slate.

Read is opposed by Susan Hartley Kuiler, who apparently is a Democrat, and there are 11 candidates running for six council seats – three endorsed by the Dems and six running on the “independent” slate. (Visit www.IndependentFairfaxCity.com.)

Peterson writes in a recent email: “These outstanding people are taking on a Political Establishment that doesn’t believe anyone can get elected, except with a “D” or an “R” by their name.”

The election is also about payback. Last year, Peterson lost renomination for a fifth State Senate term, to Democrat-Socialist Saddam Salim, a total unknown, who had the backing of Read and other Democrat-endorsed Council members, plus her chief operative, Laura Stokes.

In my view and many City observers, Read helped Salim because Peterson backed her 2022 mayoral opponent, Republican Sang Yi, who came close to beating her. I was the GOP candidate for State Senate in this district (37), and lost to Salim last November.

Peterson also drew the ire of Fairfax County Democrats for helping kill an assault-weapon ban bill and voting to lift the COVID mask mandate.

Not only did Peterson lose his primary, but wound up endorsing Herrity for re-election and a GOP-endorsed county school board candidate. Hence, he is clearly out of favor with local and state Democrats.

Regardless, I am glad there is an independent slate, although I am doubtful of its candidates will win, except perhaps the two slate incumbents, Kate Doyle-Feingold and Jeff Greenfield, who have name recognition. I campaigned a lot in Fairfax City last year and encountered a number of voters dissatisfied with Read’s Leftist agenda to accommodate the homeless, bring more housing density and build a controversial hiker/biker trail.

These are probably the issues voters should be voting on, but since this is a presidential election, with an anticipated 75-80% turnout, probably most voters are showing up to support Harris, Kaine and Connolly, and will just blindly color in the circles for the Democrat city slate.

I regret saying this, but voters in very Blue areas are lemmings and just follow the lead of the
Democratic Party pied piper, regardless of issues like “nonpartisanship” in government.
In addition, these low-information voters will “bullet vote” for just the three Democrat candidates for Council, thereby suppressing the votes of the Independents.

The bottom line here is this – November elections make local and school board races more partisan, and this works to the Democrats’ advantage in Northern Virginia these days. To his credit, Peterson voted “no’ on Spruill’s bill, but the law has not changed. This bodes poorly for Virginia because pure independent nonpartisan candidates have a limited chance of success, even in GOP-dominated areas, and thus elections for local and school board races become more partisan.

The bottom line is this -- the town or city should have the option, and for school board races, I think it should not be legal to call yourself a Democrat or Republican, just Dem or GOP endorsed.

Ken Reid, who lives in Fairfax County, served 10 years combined on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and Leesburg Town Council and has been involved in Virginia politics since 2002. He currently serves on the Virginia FOIA Council and authored the book, “The Six Secrets to Winning Any Local Election” www.kenreid.org