Arlington Democrats have approved rules for the party’s 2026 School Board caucus, though whether it will be held remains to be seen.
Arlington County Democratic Committee on Wednesday nearly unanimously set in place rules for a springtime caucus that will only be required if more than one candidate files for the lone position on the ballot next year.
School Board Chair Bethany Zecher Sutton has not formally announced plans to seek a second four-year term, but is publicizing a Jan. 11 campaign launch and is accepting donations.
“Come celebrate her leadership over the past three years and help build momentum for her progressive vision for Arlington’s children and youth,” said a campaign flier distributed at the Dec. 3 meeting.
If Zecher Sutton picks up any challengers within the Democratic fold, the party will move forward with the caucus in May. If the race attracts three or more candidates, it will be conducted in a ranked-choice format.
If no challengers file, the party will hold an up-or-down vote on endorsing Zecher Sutton in March.
Under Virginia law, School Board posts officially are nonpartisan. Political parties get around that restriction by endorsing, rather than formally nominating, candidates.
The last School Board member to win election without the Democratic endorsement in Arlington was David Foster, a Republican-leaning independent who defeated Democratic candidates in 1999 and 2003.
Some key dates in the 2026 caucus process:
- Candidate filing opens Jan. 4 and closes Feb. 27
- Early voting runs May 2-23
- In-person voting will be held on May 17 and 23 at locations to be confirmed
While School Board caucuses typically have seen voters drawn to in-person sites, that is changing, party chair Steve Baker said.
“A lot of people now are voting remotely,” he said.
Before casting ballots in the potential 2026 caucus, voters will have to sign a pledge agreeing they will not support any candidate in the general election opposing a Democrat. The pledge covers all races, not just the School Board contest.
The pledge has drawn criticism for decades, but when Arlington Democrats attempted to remove it as a requirement, the Democratic Party of Virginia shot down the effort.
The Dec. 3 vote to approve the caucus rules picked up one voice in opposition. Michael Beer, a Democratic activist, cast the lone “no” vote.
Beer, who is also active in education issues with the Arlington County Civic Federation, opposes partisan politics in School Board races and has consistently voted against the caucus rules when they come up each year.
In 2022, the Democratic Committee voted 117-22 to continue using the caucus process, despite calls from the Arlington NAACP and Arlington Parents for Education to eliminate it.
The winner of next year’s caucus will move on to the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. Candidates running for School Board without going through the Democratic gatekeeping process have until mid-June to file paperwork with county election officials.
In 2022, Zecher Sutton defeated James “Vell” Rives IV in the general election. She received about 68% of the vote.
Arlington School Board races tend to be relatively low-cost affairs. According to the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), Zecher Sutton spent $22,133 on the 2022 race, while Rives spent $37,494.
In contrast, Democrat Matt de Ferranti spent nearly $200,000 that year to win re-election to the County Board over two independents, according to VPAP figures.
De Ferranti, who first was elected in 2018 and won re-election in 2022, has informally indicated plans to seek a third term.
This July, Zecher Sutton was chosen by her colleagues to chair the School Board for the 2025-26 school year. It is a position that typically rotates annually among Board members, although there have been exceptions to that informal rule.
