Andres Jimenez wins straw poll for Mason District supervisor
Andres Jimenez, one of four candidates running for Mason District supervisor in the Democratic Primary was the big winner in the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s “Pick Your Pony” Straw Poll on March 26 in Chantilly.
According to Blue Virginia, Jimenez got 74.19 percent of the vote, compared to 7.26 percent for Steve Lee, 8.87 percent for Jeremy Allen, and 9.68 percent for Reid Voss.
Bear in mind that those who participated in the straw poll are Democratic activists from all over the county, while a broader group is expected to vote in the primary on June 20.
Jimenez has drawn a slew of endorsements, including Board of Supervisors chair Jeffrey McKay; labor unions representing electrical workers, painters, carpenters, and laborers; state Sen. Dave Marsden; Del. Alfonso Lopez; and school board members Ricardy Anderson (Mason) and Rachna Sizemore Heizer (at large).
At a recent campaign event, Jimenez said he hasn’t decided whether to keep his full-time job if he is elected supervisor. The current supervisor, Penny Gross, does not have another job. After 28 years on the board, Gross is not running for re-election.
Related story: Andres Jimenez launches campaign for Mason supervisor
Jimenez is an at-large member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission and since June 2020 has been the full-time executive director of Green 2.0. He describes Green 2.0 as a national environmental organization “committed to diversifying the environmental sector.”
The organization produces report cards that rate environmental groups on such issues as the number of people of color on staff and in leadership positions and the organization’s practices around equity, diversity, and inclusion. The goal, Jimenez says, is to ensure “communities of color have a voice as they are most affected by environmental issues and climate change.”
According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Voss has raised nearly four times as much money as Jimenez, $45,505 versus $11,638.
Voss told Annandale Today that if he is elected, he will cut back on his work as a real estate agent with Golston Real Estate. He also owns Kingsview Animal Hospital in Alexandria and serves on the Lake Barcroft Association board.
When the community was considering whether to change the name of Jeb Stuart High School, Voss was one of the leaders of a group of advocates for keeping the name. [The school board voted in July 2017 to change the name, and later renamed the school Justice High School.]
If the issue came up now, “I wouldn’t support keeping the name Jeb Stuart,” Voss told Annandale Today at a campaign event last month.
He said he was approached by the alumni association to oppose the name change and he agreed because he wanted “to defend the melting pot that the school is” and “there was a fear that changing the name would divide our community.” He acknowledges, “It ended up not being that divisive” or as expensive as expected.
The other two candidates for Mason Supervisor have been slower in getting their campaigns off the ground.
Steve Lee’s campaign kickoff event on March 20 drew a crowd mostly from the Korean community. Lee has a long involvement with Annandale as the owner of two real estate investment and management companies and as president of the Korean American Association of Greater Washington.
Jeremy Allen has been meeting with community groups and is hosting a community chat at George Mason Regional Library, on April 1, 2-3:30 p.m. Allen works for Rep. Don Beyer’s local office where he focuses on constituent services and outreach.
The straw poll also gauged interest in other contested races, including these races for seats in the Annandale Mason District area:
- In the House of Delegates’ 13th District, two incumbents – Del. Kaye Kory and Del. Marcus Simon – are running in the Democratic Primary due to redistricting. Simon won the straw poll with 80 percent of the vote, while Kory, who hasn’t been actively campaigning, got 20 percent.
- In the 35th Senate District, the incumbent, Sen. Dave Marsden, got 54.23 percent of the vote, while challenger Heidi Drauschak got 44.77 percent.
Six candidates are seeking the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s endorsement for the three at-large seats on the school board. The three candidates who got the most votes in the straw poll after six rounds of voting are Ilyrong Moon, Kyle McDaniel, and Lawrence Webb. The only at-large incumbent, Abrar Omeish was eliminated after the fifth round.
School board races are nonpartisan. The Democratic committee will decide who to endorse for the school board following a period of online voting on May 13-20.
With my limited research, Steve Lee seems like the most qualified and right now has my vote. He’s the only one I’ve seen that has had a direct positive impact in Mason with his investments in central Annandale. Which other candidates have skin in the game like that? Id just like to see Lee do some more organizing as I haven’t seen anything from him beyond what’s been written on this website.
Voss came to my house. Said all the things I wanted to hear about schools and development in central Annandale. I’ll have to look at the others. IMO, we need someone who’s going to help bring change to our community by adding affordable housing, creating an inviting central town center, and more money for our schools. Our schools are the worst funded in the county. Why? The county paid for an improvement survey for Annandale that is now 7 years old and nothing from that plan has been done.
A large concentration of affordable house is already in Mason District, tipping toward Ghetto. As reported here on Annandale Today and Washington Post. – 19% of all Fairfax county’s affordable housing is in Mason District. Current BoS is trying to freeze the amount of affordable housing across the county. If there is to be more affordable housing set aside by fiat (aka government telling people what to do with their property), then it should be in McLane VA area, not in Mason District.
Socio-economic diversity in schools is much more impactful in educational settings that would be aided by more affordable housing in McLane.
Sorry, there’s already plenty of affordable housing in Mason District. Frankly, I’d vote for a candidate who supports zoning enforcement and neighborhood stabilization.
Jimenez, if voted in will replicate David Dinkins term in NYC. He was such a disaster, he was voted out after one term. Mason needs a practical centrist that will attract investors to help rejuvenate our District. I too as noted above like what Voss has to say. We need to improve Mason not take it further back. This District has been spiraling down for so many years, I am not sure it can recover. Always hoping but always disappointed.
I strongly support Andres Jimenez for Supervisor. I have been here for 35 years, and have seen all that Mason has gone through and all that it has to offer. I don’t actually have anything personally against any of the other candidates, but I find these anonymous postings to be pretty typical for campaign season. Rather than go into tit-for-tat detail on these straw-man comments, I find Andres to be strong on issues that I care about. We have talked extensively about the future of Mason District, about the need for new development balanced against preserving what is unique and desirable here. He is deeply committed to the environment, and is very knowledgeable and experienced in that realm. His current service on the Planning Commission is the exact kind of County experience that I personally believe is essential to serve as Supervisor. I am not sure how he would describe himself politically and I don’t speak for him, but for me he is progressive where he needs to be and moderate where he needs to be. Just like Mason District.
What I don’t like about this situation is that, from the minute Andres announced his run I have gotten the impression he was the “chosen one” of the democratic establishment and machine in fairfax county. He almost immediately had endorsements lined up from the establishment before he ever started to articulate his plans and vision for mason.
Voss being against the name change does give me pause, but am open to him if he can articulate a vision for our district and work with folks to make it happen.
Jumping briefly to school board… did anyone else breathe a huge sigh of relief to see that Abrar didn’t make the cut in the straw poll? what a disaster…
Someone ask Steve Lee if he actually lives in the district and someone ask Reid Voss if he’s actually a Republican.
Steve Lee lives in Annandale.
Jimenez – one more reason to leave Virginia –
What would it take to require ballot referendum on all BoS salary decisions? Or at the very least a law that links their salary to criteria like — police and teachers fully staffed first.