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| Mollie Loeffler addresses supporters. |
Mason District voters elected Penny Gross to a sixth term on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Nov. 3 with 57.2 percent of the vote. Mollie Loeffler, a community activist running as an independent, got 42.2 percent of the vote.
Loeffler won in four precincts: Barcroft (60.9 percent), Ravenwood (57.5 percent), Sleepy Hollow (53.3 percent), and Poe (52.8 percent).
Loeffler managed to raise $40,000, nearly all of it in small contributions from local residents, along with a $2,000 donation from former supervisor Tom Davis, while the Gross campaign spent over $246,000.
“It was a tremendous grassroots effort,” said Loeffler’s campaign manager Debbie Smith. “We’re proud to have run a positive and classy campaign with integrity and stayed focused on the issues – land use, schools, and Seven Corners.”
“We didn’t resort to smear tactics or manipulate the facts,” Smith said. She was referring to the misleading flyers sent to voters by the Gross campaign accusing Loeffler, falsely, of being connected with the Tea Party and claiming an endorsement by the Washington Post. The Post had endorsed Gross in the primary, but not in the general election.
Roger Morse, a consultant to the Loeffler campaign, blamed the loss on apathy. Noting that Gross was elected by less than 16 percent of registered voters in Mason, Morse said, “if more people cared enough to vote, they could have made a difference.” Total voter turnout in Mason was 29 percent. [The Annandale Blogger would have liked to have had the opportunity to cover Penny Gross’s election night statement, but was barred from the Gross campaign headquarters, despite being a member of the Mason Democratic Committee.]
In other election results, school board candidate Dalia Palchik beat incumbent Patty Reed in the Providence District, which includes part of the Falls Church High School area, with 58.2 percent of the vote. Reed, who was endorsed by the Republican Committee, had also been endorsed by an extremist anti-gay group, the Traditional Values Coalition, for her failure to vote for a school board policy to protect the rights of transgendered students. [School board positions are considered non-partisan, but candidates are endorsed by a party.]
In the Braddock District supervisor race, the Republican incumbent, John Cook, was re-elected, beating Democratic challenger Janet Oleszek 51.6 percent to 45.6 percent.
Other supervisors re-elected include Democrats John Foust (Dranesville), Catherine Hudgins (Hunter Mill), Jeff McKay (Lee), and Linda Smyth (Providence) and Republican Pat Herrity (Springfield).
Two Democrats were elected to open seats on the BoS: Dan Storck (Mount Vernon) and Cathy Smith (Sully). Both are currently on the school board.
Board chair Sharon Bulova (D) was re-elected with 59.8 percent, beating Republican Arthur Purves (34 percent) and Glenda Parker (Independent Green Party) with 5.9 percent.
Mason school board member Sandy Evans, who was unopposed, was re-elected. Two of the three at-large school board members were re-elected: Ryan McElveen and Ilryong Moon. At-large member Ted Velkoff lost his seat to Jeanette Hough.
Incumbents re-elected to the school board include Megan McLaughlin (Braddock), Jane Strauss (Dranesville), Pat Hynes (Hunter Mill), Tamara Kaufax (Lee), and Elizabeth Schultz (Springfield).
Karen Corbett Sanders won an open seat on the school board in Mount Vernon and Thomas Wilson won the open spot in Sully.
All but three of those elected to the school board Nov. 3 were endorsed by the Democratic Committee. Schultz, Hough, and Wilson were endorsed by the Republican Committee.
With regard to the General Assembly, all of the incumbents who serve at least a part of Mason District were re-elected, including Sen. Minority Leader Dick Saslaw, Sen. Dave Marsden, Del. Kaye Kory, Del. Vivian Watts, and Del. Alfonso Lopez. All of them are Democrats.
Saslaw got 74.5 percent compared to Terry Modglin (IG) with 24 percent. Marsden beat his Republican opponent David Bergman 55.4 percent to 44.5 percent. Kory beat IG candidate James Leslie 73.9 percent to 25.1 percent. Watts and Lopez were unopposed.
Republicans maintained their majority in both houses, dashing Democrats’ hopes that the Senate could have flipped in their favor.
Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Kincaid (D) held on to her seat with 58 percent of the vote compared to 41.8 percent for challenger Bryan Wolfe (R). Clerk of the Court John Frey (R) was re-elected with 48 percent of the vote, beating Bettina Lawton (D) who got 46.1 percent.
Both Fairfax County bond issues – on schools and public safety – passed with more than 73 percent of the vote.