McKay, Descano, Kory, and Saslaw win in the Democratic primary

Jeff McKay speaks to supporters after winning the Democratic Primary. He was introduced to the crowd by Rep. Gerry Connolly (left).

Jeff McKay easily won the Democratic primary for chair of the Board of Supervisors June 11, with 42.5 percent of the vote, beating three challengers.

Voters said “experience matters,” McKay, the Lee supervisor for the past 11 years, told a crowd of supporters at an election night gathering at Kilroy’s in Springfield.

Alicia Plerhoples, a professor at Georgetown Law School, came in second with 31.3 percent of the vote. In Mason District, Plerhoples won in 14 of the 28 precincts.

Ryan McElveen, an at-large member of the Fairfax County School Board, got 16.3 percent. Developer Timothy Chapman, who spent $845,000 of his own money on his campaign and targeted McKay in ads accusing him of using his position on the board to benefit from a land deal, got just 9.8 percent of the vote.

“Fairfax County today rejected in the strongest way negative campaigning,” McKay said. “In Fairfax County we build people up. We don’t tear people down.”

Incumbents on the ballot in Fairfax County won every race in the primary except one: Long-time Commonwealth’s Attorney Ray Morrogh was narrowly defeated by a more progressive candidate, Steve Descano, in a close race. Morrogh got 48.96 percent of the vote and Descano got 51.04 percent.

Long-time Virginia Senate member and current minority leader Dick Saslaw won the primary in the 35th District with 48.5 percent of the vote. Yasmine Taeb, a human rights attorney, came pretty close with 45.4 percent, and Karen Torrent was a distant third with 6 percent. Taeb got more votes than Saslaw in 11 Mason District precincts.

In the 38th District in the House of Delegates, incumbent Kaye Kory handily won the primary with 63.2 percent of the vote. Challenger Andres Jimenez, a lobbyist for action on climate change, got 36.8 percent.

In the 49th House District, Del. Alfonso Lopez easily beat challenger JD Spain, 72 percent to 22 percent.

Walkinshaw

There were primary contests for the Board of Supervisors in four districts, where the incumbent is not running for re-election.

In the Braddock District, James Walkinshaw, a former aide to Rep. Gerry Connolly, easily won with 67.2 percent of the vote, beating Irma Corado with 37.8 percent.

In the primary contest for supervisor of the Providence District, school board member Dalia Palchik, won with 39.8 percent of the vote, beating four other candidates.

In the Lee District, where five candidates sought to succeed McKay, Rodney Lusk, national marketing director for the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, won with 46.2 percent of the vote.

Walter Alcorn, a former member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, beat four other candidates to win the primary in the Hunter Mill District with 47.2 percent of the vote.

After McKay won the primary, he told supporters: “Fairfax County is strong for its diversity. Fairfax County is strong because it’s going to defend our most vulnerable people. And we will continue to do that.”

“We want this next Board of Supervisors to work together,” McKay said. “One thing I’ve learned is when you work with your colleagues you can get success.”

“We’re going to build on our success in a collaborative way,” he said. “We will continue to be not only the strongest county in Virginia but the strongest county in the United States of America.”

Walkinshw told the crowd that “voters in the Braddock District are ready to have a progressive supervisor who can move us forward.”

His priorities include “investing in our world-class public schools, making sure we keep the best teachers right here where they belong in Fairfax County,” giving commuters more choices by expanding the VRE and Fairfax Connector buses, and “putting Fairfax County on the path to being carbon neutral.”

The winners of the Democratic Primary will be up against Republican candidates in the general election on Nov. 5.