County Board Members Running Unopposed in Democratic Primary

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey and Board member Katie Cristol will face no Democratic challengers during this year’s primary.

No additional Democratic challengers have filed for candidacy by yesterday’s registration deadline, and staff with the county’s Office of Elections confirmed to ARLnow that there are no other pending filings.

Most of the all-Democratic cast of incumbents up for re-election this year are running an uncontested primary, including:

• Delegates Mark Levine, Rip Sullivan, and Patrick Hope
• State Senators Adam Ebbin, Janet Howell
• Sheriff Beth Arthur
• Treasurer Carla de la Pava
• Commissioner of Revenue Ingrid Morroy

Only three of the county’s twelve races on the ballot are contested: the race for state Senator from the 31st District, delegate from the 49th District, and Commonwealth’s Attorney.

Arlington’s primary election will welcome voters to the polls on June 11 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Any voters waiting in line by 7 p.m. can vote.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos is being challenged by Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, a former public defender who aims to usher in criminal justice reform and said of Stamos: “We can no longer hope for reform from the very same lifelong prosecutors who’ve spent their careers building this flawed machine.”

Stamos, who has served as prosecutor for the last seven years, has drawn support from 50 county attorneys and says the endorsements demonstrate her “record of competence, fairness and decency.”

Del. Alfonso H. Lopez faces challenge from J.D. Spain, Sr., a Marine Corps veteran who helms the local NAACP chapter and said he wanted to “sharply draw a contrast” on his and Lopez’s take on issues like housing affordability as Amazon’s arrival nears, and the achievement gap between black and white students in APS.

Lopez is the Democratic co-whip in the House of Delegates and hasn’t faced a challenger since his first election in 2011.

The last contested race revolves around incumbent state Senator and former County Board member Barbara Favola.

Favola has said her “strong record of accomplishment” during her three terms in Richmond is strong enough to ward off a challenge from Nicole Merlene, who’s been active in various civc groups, including the Arlington County Civic Federation, her local North Rosslyn Civic Association, and Young Democrats. Merlene says she can take “bold action” to solve the region’s transportation and affordable housing woes.

Dorsey and Cristol will running against repeat candidate Audrey Clement in the General Election on November 5. Clement, an independent, is running on a platform of “tax relief for residents and businesses” as well as improvements to housing programs and the county’s basic services.

There are currently no Republican or independent challengers in the running other than Clement, although there has been some speculation that former independent Board Member John Vihstadt may run again, perhaps for School Board, after losing his seat to Democratic challenger Matt de Ferranti last November.

Republican and independent challengers have until 7 p.m. on June 11 to register their candidacy.

Last year, Matt de Ferranti’s win for the Democratic nomination came amid low primary turnout. Just 7.7 percent of registered Arlington voters, or 11,500 people, turned up to cast their ballots last year.

Residents voting this year must register at least 30 days before the primaries and can do so online, in person at the Office of Elections at 2100 Clarendon Blvd, or by mailing this application to the Office of Elections.

Registered voters receive a precinct number for their polling number which they can check here.

This year’s primaries will also be the last for Arlington’s election chief Linda Lindberg who announced in February she would be retiring this summer after serving for 16 years as the county’s General Registrar.