Democrats win big on Election Day
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| Newly elected Board of Supervisors chair Jeff McKay speaks to supporters, while other winning candidates look on. |
Democrats had a lot to celebrate last night, as they secured majorities in the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates, along with solid victories on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and School Board.
In Mason District, long-time Democratic supervisor Penny Gross got 63.6 percent of the vote, handily beating Republican challenger Gary Aiken, with 35.9 percent.
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| From the left: Hal Gross, Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, and at-large school board member Karen Keys-Gamarra. |
In the race for the open school board seat in Mason District, Ricardy Anderson a former principal and teacher who was endorsed by the Democrats, got 76.9 percent of the vote, while Tom Pafford, whose campaign focused on opposing rights for transgender people, got 21.2 percent.
Voter participation was particularly high in this election, with some Mason District precincts reporting turnover exceeding 45 percent of registered voters.
Democratic Supervisor Jeff McKay (Lee) got 66 percent of the vote, easily beating Republican challenger Joe Galdo to succeed the retiring Sharon Bulova as chair of the Board of Supervisors.
McKay told supporters at an Election Night Watch Party that “voters rejected hate, they rejected negative campaigning, they rejected Donald Trump.”
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| Newly elected Mason school board member Ricardy Anderson (center) with supporters. |
“We embrace everyone in this this community, and we believe everyone can succeed,” McKay said. “That’s what this campaign is about.”
Democrat Steve Descano was elected Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney in a race that drew national attention. Descano got 60.9 percent of the vote, compared to John Fahey, a Republican who ran as an independent, with 38.8 percent.
Descano, who supports progressive reforms, told supporters: Voters “understood that we don’t have to choose between safety and justice. We can have both. We can have a criminal justice system that treats every person fairly regardless of the color of their skin or where they live.”
The Republicans hold a 51-49 majority in the House of Delegates and a 21-19 majority in the Senate.
While some of the election results are still not finalized, it appears the Democrats picked up at least five seats in the House of Delegates and at least two in the Senate.
The entire Northern Virginia region will now be represented by Democrats, as the last GOP holdout, Del. Tim Hugo, was defeated by Dan Helmer.
All of the Democratic incumbents representing the Annandale/Mason District in Richmond were unopposed – Sen. Dick Saslaw, Sen. Dave Marsden, and Del. Kaye Kory – or beat their challengers by wide margins – Del. Vivian Watts and Del. Alfonso Lopez.
The Democratic sweep of the state legislature gives hope to advocates pushing for reasonable gun safety legislation, reproductive rights, and ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment.
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| Del. Ibaheem Sameer (left) and James Walkinshaw, who will represent the Braddock District on the Board of Supervisors. |
In other crucial election results, far-right Fairfax County School Board member Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield) lost her seat to Laura Jane Cohen, who was endorsed by the Democrats and got 50.5 percent of the vote. Another candidate endorsed by the Democrats, Stella Pekarsky, beat GOP-endorsed incumbent Tom Wilson (Sully) by a 58.4 percent margin.
All three of the at-large school board candidates endorsed by the Democrats – Karen Keys-Gamarra, Abrar Omeish, and Rachna Sizemore Heizer – were elected.
In addition to Anderson’s win in Mason District, voters elected all of the other school board candidates endorsed by the Democrats, including new members Elaine Tholen (Dranesville), Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill), and Karl Frisch (Providence), and incumbents Megan McLaughlin (Braddock), Tamara Derenak Kaufax (Lee), and Karen Corbett Sanders (Mount Vernon).
In the only disappointment for the Fairfax County Democrats, Linda Sperling failed to unseat Pat Herrity (Springfield), who will be the sole Republican on the Board of Supervisors.
Newly elected members of the Board of Supervisors include James Walkinshaw (Braddock), Walter Alcorn (Hunter Mill), Rodney Lusk (Lee), and Dalia Palchick (Providence). In addition to Gross, incumbents John Foust (Dranesville), Dan Storck (Mount Vernon), and Kathy Smith (Sully) were re-elected by wide margins.
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacy Kincaid was re-elected with 78 percent of the vote. The Fairfax County school bond was passed by a 77.4 percent margin.
24 responses to “Democrats win big on Election Day”
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It feels good. It's nice to go outside today and experience a sunny clear cold Fall day.
Annandale has the best location in all of the Washington D.C. metro area. We are 10 minutes to Old Town, downtown D.C. and Tysons. Yet we are mired with blighted developments, low home values and no momentum. Penny Gross has done NOTHING for our district yet we continue to vote her into office. What is wrong with this district ??? IDIOTS !
Low home values? Speak for yourself. There are $1m+ homes across Annandale.
Mine has nearly tripled.
You must both be Penny Gross sympathizers. Check out Zillo; Do some research! Annandale homes don't come near the prices coming from the likes Vienna, Falls Church, Chantilly, Alexandria, etc. You're all delusional! Mason District is a joke compared to what it could be. Nothing visionary here for the past 24 years; Penny Gross is a low-energy, bureaucratic figurehead for the Democratic Party – nothing more. Sadly, Mason District is in a quagmire that's going to remain there for another 4 years. Gary Aiken had vision AND energy; Mason District residents are nothing more than blue district lemmings! Stop voting the party lines and vote for people that will actually benefit your community. Yeeeeesh !
Mr. Albright, people are speaking for themselves. Those of us in communities without HOAs do not see the same increases in home valuations due to neighbors commiting repeated code compliance violations, that the county takes little action against. Ms. Gross has had 24 years to address the issue and help our communities find solutions to this issue which impacts our quality of life. Instead our pleas have been ignored and we have been called intolerant by many who are protected by HOAs.
If you think HOAs are the answer to anything, you're an idiot.
Speaking for myself and for my neighborhood who has had similar home valuation changes, my home value has risen just over 20% over the past 5 years.
Considering this is where I could afford, and this is also where I prefer to live given the proximity to everything, I'm pretty satisfied.
Guess we'll see how one party rule goes in NoVa.
Low home values? Redfin and Zillow say the exact opposite.
Clearly, voters like yourself, who are completely unable to evaluate the data that Redfin and Zillow provides, are a primary reason why Mason District has no chance in voting in fresh blood… My goodness…we're talking "in comparison to".
Virginia will soon be a smaller version of California. Having one party rule all is bad for any state.
Perhaps someday the current GOP will be replaced by a non-racist, non-xenophobic, non-Trumpist party, and then the Dems will face some competition. You should focus on making that happen if you really are concerned about the "bad" effects of "one-party rule."
Anonymous @ 3:46: Agree 100%. The current state of the Republican party is absolutely distasteful, and the elections were clearly a result of that.
Party affiliation should have NO bearing at the Mason District Supervisor level. Sadly, it obviously does. It's all about the INDIVIDUAL at this level. Penny Gross doesn't even come close to the energy level, the ideas, the vision, the dedication and commitment that Gary Aiken would have brought to this community. Yet she gets twice as many votes based solely on her being on the blue ticket. People are So So SO overrated. How demoralizing…
Party affiliation absolutely matters, at all levels. How do you think republicans control everything in the country even though they are in the minority? By focusing on races on all levels, from the smallest board seat up on to president.
I think a book needs to be written, I would call it "Dummies for Democrats." Neither party represents the center, just their own interests for staying in power. Our local and federal governments have become autocratic and impotent.
Lets hope some aliens invade us from outer space to refocus those in leadership to do the right things that matter. Or maybe beam them up to another planet where they may be more successful!
Gross has just been given a mandate to plop that new Social Services Palace at Baileys. Social engineering at its worst.
Gary Aiken lost a democratically conducted election. 2/3rds of the voters rejected his positions. I think he ran a decent campaign and did try to draw distinctions, but it didn't fly. As Jeff Longo notes above, maybe the current positions of the Republican Party are anathema to the majority of Mason voters. Values matter.
What a friggin hoot. The reputations and antics of the current Virginia Governor and Lt. Governor should then be an anathema to democrats statewide. Strangely, values don't seem to matter to democrat voters when it comes to unscrupulous behavior of candidates of their own party.
I do believe that Annandale is an amazing community. I have lived here for almost 40 years. But there are some valid arguments here. First, calling the current administration a Republican one is not accurate. I do not believe the party truly backs him but they are so limited that they feel that they have to. For all intents and purposes he was an independent who hijacked a party and the party kept him so that they could win. Now they are paying the price. This local election is part of that price. The voter turnout was abysmal. And those that voted were not educated voters – they voted party line straight. Anyone who does that is not what we want since regardless of party there are people that are probably more in line what you personally believe if you looked at what they say without the red or blue tag attached. But, since voters do not educate themselves they vote a color. I imagine 95% of the voters could not tell you the names of the individuals that they voted for on Tuesday. That is a problem.
Second, Annandale is in sorry shape compared to the neighboring districts. Our schools are suffering, our real estate prices are not commiserate with our neighbors, and newer families choose to live further out because of the schools and public transportation options are better. We do have lack of code enforcement. We have cars parked in yards, we certainly have homes that are serving as apartment buildings, we have neighbors that do not cut their grass or maintain their property. These things cannot be denied. Look at similar propertied in Falls Church City and you will see a $600,000 home in Annandale will be a $1 million dollar home there – they have the schools and transportation – and they are vigilant at keeping their community in compliance. So to say we have not suffered is not true.
Penny Gross has been in office entirely too long. She does not care about the community – she cares about lining her pockets with developers deals at the expense of her constituents. She lacks vision because she is past her prime. She is representative of both parties. They put forth candidates as being "fresh" that are in their seventies. Think about that. When was the last time they had a child in school? Do they even understand technology or how it is used today? They grew up in a different era and times have changed. Stagnation is occurring because both parties do not feel the need to put forth new candidates and the population keeps voting both sides in with the same old same old.
Sorry bud, but the Republican party is the party of Trump whether you like it or not. Trump is a symptom, NOT the cause. The party needs to be brunt to the ground and rebuilt.
Mollie L was savaged in this space four years ago for alleged right wing leanings, yet she did a lot better than Gary. Energetic? No. You can see the difference between he and Penny at the Taste of Annandale. She was energetic, he was not.
Trump builds appealing properties and presides over record economic improvement. In that sense, posters are correct– Mason District absolutely rejected Trumpism.
Nah, actually, Nancy Pelosi was right when she said that in solidly democratic districts, a glass of water would win if there was a "D" next to its name.