Frisch and Siebold running for the General Assembly
Fairfax County School Board member Karl Frisch (Providence) and Holly Seibold, an advocate for women’s issues, are seeking the Democratic nomination for the House of Delegates in the 35th district.
That seat has been held by Mark Keam since 2010. On Sept. 4, Keam announced his departure from the General Assembly to take a position as deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce where he will run the National Travel and Tourism Office.
There will be a special election on a date not yet determined.
The 35th District covers Dunn Loring, Tysons, Vienna, and Oakton. The district has been represented by a Democrat since 2003.
Frisch was first elected to the school board in 2019. He is the first openly LGBRQ+ person elected to local office in Fairfax County.
If elected to the House of Delegates, he promised to fight for “a future where no Virginian is left behind” and “stand up to Gov. Youngkin and the far-right.”
Frisch said he will work to “protect our world-class public schools, defend reproductive freedom, build an economy that works for everyone, prevent gun violence, heal our planet, and preserve our democracy.”
He is the former executive of Allied Progress, a consumer watchdog organization that fought against predatory lenders, shady student loan processors, and financial scammers.
Frisch has already lined up a long list of endorsements, from Rep. Don Beyer; Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chair Jeffrey McKay; Supervisor Penny Gross (Mason), school board member Ricardy Anderson (Mason), and other supervisors, school board members, state delegates, and others.
Siebold founded BRAWS (Bringing Resources to Aid Women’s Shelters) in 2015. BRAWS provides free menstrual supplies and underwear to women and girls in schools, shelters, and jails.
Related story: Youngkin attacks public schools
She taught fourth grade at Vienna Elementary School and launched an education consulting company in 2010 focusing on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).
Former Gov. Ralph Northam appointed Siebold to the Virginia Council on Women. She was named the 2017 Emerging Influential Leader of the Year by the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce and the Rising Star Heroine of the 2017 Heroines of Washington Awards.
She has also served as an escort on the Washington Area Clinic Defense Task Force, an all-volunteer group dedicated to safe access to reproductive health clinics.
Her priorities include protecting women’s healthcare, fighting for abortion access, investing in public schools, keeping kids safe from gun violence, and supporting small businesses and workforce development.
In other political news, Annandale resident Chris Falcon is running for clerk of the Fairfax County Circuit Court. That election will be in November 2023.
Frisch was a core member of the Fairfax County School Board that failed students at every possible turn during the COVID pandemic, keeping kids locked out of school when other countries had shown it was safe to reopen. His failure, and that of his colleagues, led to massive learning loss, especially among the most vulnerable students in the county. And based on that track record of failure, and refusal to take accountability for it, he thinks he deserves a promotion to the Assembly? Happy to support Siebold (and just about anyone else).
In addition to the above comment, Karl raised money for Republicans like McCain for a decade. I don’t trust him. He doesn’t even know the members of this community.