A new third-party candidate has announced a bid for Arlington County Board.
Madison Granger, a fitness professional and entrepreneur, is running with the endorsement of the Forward Party. She joins Democratic nominee JD Spain Sr., Republican candidate Juan Carlos Fierro and independent candidate Audrey Clement in the race for a single County Board seat in the Nov. 5 general election.
Priorities listed on Granger’s website include “promoting civic engagement and civil discourse,” “encouraging small businesses” and “making smart, proactive investments.”
“I’m passionate about ensuring we have a healthy democracy — at the national, state, and local levels,” her website says. “I believe any democracy is healthier when it has a robust and competitive marketplace of ideas, which to me means having more than two parties with a seat at the table. As a moderate and someone with loved ones on both sides of the aisle, I also believe we need effective leaders who bring us together to find effective, common ground solutions.”
A resident of Green Valley who has lived in Arlington since 2021, Granger promises to offer an alternative to “voices on the extremes of issues” and “give voice to that majority in the middle.”
Granger has been on the Forward Party’s state leadership team since 2023.
Also running with the blessing of that party, which former presidential candidate Andrew Yang founded in 2021, is three-time Arlington School Board hopeful James “Vell” Rives. Rives is running against Democratic candidates Zuraya Tapia-Hadley and Kathleen Clark, as well as independent candidate Paul Weiss, for two open School Board seats.
