The Arlington County Democratic Committee is planning to conduct straw polls as part of its Saturday, July 11 summer picnic.
One of them will be for the 2028 presidential race. Although party chair Paul Ruiz acknowledged it was “way too early” to be focusing that, he said adding the straw poll will be a worthwhile addition to the summer gathering.
The event, to be held at Bon Air Park from 1-3:30 p.m., also will include straw polls in advance of the Aug. 4 Democratic primaries for County Board and 8th District U.S. House of Representatives.
The cost to attend the picnic is $20. Members of the party’s Roosevelt-Obama Society are admitted free.
The field for president in both parties is not likely to firm up until after the midterm elections on Nov. 3. But those using the online platform Polymarket are lining up to place their bets.
As of July 2, Polymarket’s 10 top Democratic contenders for the nomination, in order of likelihood, were Gavin Newsom, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jon Ossoff, Kamala Harris, Josh Shapiro, Pete Buttigieg, Andy Beshear, Jon Stewart, Rahm Emanuel and Ro Khanna.
Rounding out the top 20 were James Talarico, Mark Kelly, Wes Moore, Michelle Obama, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Graham Platner, Stephen A. Smith, J.B. Pritzker, Mark Cuban and Roy Cooper.
Democrats back constitutional amendments
The Arlington County Democratic Committee on July 1 voted to formally support the three statewide constitutional amendments on the Nov. 3 ballot.
The measures related to abortion rights/reproductive health, voting rights and marriage equality. The Arlington County Republican Committee recently voted to oppose all three, with both parties expected to place their positions on sample ballots handed out in advance of the election.
Voting among Democrats was open to party leaders and precinct captains. It was conducted in an online format at the meeting.
Clement gets early, but legal, start on signage
She won’t be on the ballot until the fall, but signage for independent County Board candidate Audrey Clement has sprouted up on local medians in recent days.
Despite some grumbling from county Democrats, it appears she’s well within her rights.
There were some complaints privately raised at the July 1 Arlington County Democratic Committee meeting that Clement is skirting the county’s zoning ordinance by placing her signs in advance of an election she is not running in.
Signage is permitted 45 days before an election, in this case the Aug. 4 Democratic primary for County Board and House of Representatives and the Republican primary for U.S. Senate.
Clement is not running in any of those races, but the current zoning ordinance does not require her to be. It only states that to qualify for the 45-day placement rule, signage must be connected to “any candidate, political issue or ticket or other entity.”
Based on those rules, any candidates can put their signs in medians now, but must remove them within five days of the upcoming election. Signage again will be permitted to be placed in medians in mid-September.
County Board members earlier this year amended campaign signage rules to limit the time period signs can be displayed on medians, and reduced from two to one per candidate or issue the number that can be placed in any given median.
Board members potentially could have limited signage to those on the ballot for the specific race when making the changes, but opted not to do so.
County Democrats head to Ohio
Members of the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s “Beyond Arlington” initiative will be driving to Ohio in late summer, hoping to help the party’s fortunes in the Buckeye State.
The effort will be focused on a special election for U.S. Senate, where Democrat Sherrod Brown is taking on Republican Sen. Jon Husted.
Husted in 2025 was appointed by the state’s Republican governor to succeed J.D. Vance in the Senate. The winner of the Nov. 3 race will serve the remaining two years of the term of Vance, now U.S. vice president.
Brown served in the U.S. Senate from 2007 until being defeated by Republican Bernie Moreno in 2024.
Beyond the Senate race, Ohioans will be voting for governor, state legislature, U.S. House of Representatives and the state Supreme Court. There also is a constitutional amendment on whether to require voters to provide photo identification in order to cast ballots.
Local Democrats plan to be road-tripping to Ohio from Aug. 28-30. In addition, the party will operate phone banks and provide other support to the party there.
The Beyond Arlington effort also is focusing on Texas, but at the moment there are no plans for road trips, said Kip Malinosky, who leads the initiative for Arlington Democrats.
