Democrats can vote in caucus July 23 to select sheriff candidate

Mark Sites and Stacey Kincaid speak at a candidates forum July 17 sponsored by the Fairfax County Young Democrats. [Photo by Gregg MacDonald/Fairfax County Times.]

The Fairfax County Democratic Committee is having a caucus July 23 to select a candidate for Fairfax County sheriff. The two candidates are Stacey Kincaid and Mark Sites.

The caucus starts at 6:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Woodson High School, 9525 Main Street, Fairfax.  Anyone who’s registered to vote in Fairfax County or the City of Fairfax and is a Democrat or believes in the principles of the Democratic party can vote in the caucus.

The Fairfax County Republican Committee will also be meeting July 23 in another room at Woodson High School to decide on a nomination process for selecting a GOP candidate for county sheriff.

The committee is expected to select Bill Cooper, who ran for sheriff in 2011 and lost 54 percent to 46 percent to Stan Barry. Cooper is already campaigning and has racked up endorsements from Gov. Bob McDonnell and a long list of other Republican politicians.

Barry had announced plans to retire June 30, so a special election will be held Nov. 5, the same day as the general election, to fill the last two years of his term.

Meanwhile, Sites, who had been the chief deputy sheriff, will serve as Fairfax County sheriff until the special election. Sites has been with the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office since 1995, serving in a number of positions, including chief deputy of administration, confinement division commander, and court services division commander. He has been endorsed by the Fairfax Coalition of Police and state Sen. George Barker (D-39th District).

Kincaid has been with the Sheriff’s Office since 1987 and has worked in all four divisions: correctional services, administrative services, support services, and court services. In 2008, she received the agency’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award.

She has been endorsed by the Fairfax Deputy Sheriffs Union, the Virginia 512 unit of the Service Employees International Union, and Fairfax County Professional Firefighters and Paramedics.

State Sen. Dave Marsden (D-37th District) endorsed Kincaid, as have eight Fairfax County school board members: Chair Ilryong Moon (at large), Tamara Derenak Kaufax (Lee), Ryan McElveen (at large), Ted Velkoff (at large), Megan McLaughlin (Braddock), Jane Strauss (Dranesville) Pat Hynes (Hunter Mill), and Kathy Smith (Sully).

If she is selected as the Democratic candidate, Kincaid would be the first female sheriff of Fairfax County and the only woman on the county-wide ballot on Nov. 5.

Several party activists have warned that Sites is not a solid Democrat, having never voted in a Democratic primary, while political blogger Ben Tribbett noted that Kincaid also doesn’t have a strong Democratic voting record.