The prospect of a Donald Trump presidential-election victory could bring Falls Church leaders back to the drawing board when it comes to developing their 2025 legislative priorities.
But they will have a small window of opportunity: Election Day is Nov. 5 and the City Council is expected to review its draft 2025 legislative package on Nov. 11.
It’s not a new phenomenon, but there have been more reports of stolen political signs in Arlington amid a brighter spotlight on such thefts.
The latest incidents happened in the county’s northern reaches and involve signs for both of the major party presidential candidates.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took the debate stage for the first time together last night in Philadelphia.
The debate quickly turned contentious. As reported by the Associated Press:
Sparring on politics and personality, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump showcased their starkly different visions for the country on abortion, immigration and American democracy as they met for the first time Tuesday for perhaps their only debate before November’s presidential election.
The Democratic vice president moved repeatedly to get under the skin of the former Republican president, provoking him with reminders about the 2020 election loss that he still denies and derisive asides at his other false claims.
Harris not only tried to make the case that Trump is unfit for office but tried to use her answers in a way that seemed designed to provoke him into launching into one of the personal attacks that his advisers and supporters have tried to steer him away from.
Arlington, as a place well within the Beltway, is likely to have a higher than average proportion of viewership for the debate. But just how high was it — and did the debate change any minds here that were not already made up?
That’s what we are asking in this morning’s poll.
Both Arlington Democrats and the Arlington GOP plan to have a presence at the Hispanic Heritage Community Festival this weekend.
Members of the Trump campaign, which has been pushing for voter turnout in Northern Virginia, also reportedly plan to attend.
BY OLIVIA DIAZ and BRIAN WITTE Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Worries of being uprooted from their jobs have returned for Laura Dodson and other federal workers, who have long been the economic backbone of the nation’s capital and its suburbs.
A GOP-led training on spotting potential voter fraud in the November election took place in Clarendon last night (Monday).
The event co-hosted by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee was part of a tour of the “Protect the Vote” campaign, which seeks to recruit a total of 100,000 volunteers in battleground states. RNC Chairman Michael Whatley tied this to efforts around the country to add voter ID requirements and strengthen other guardrails against illegal voting.
Former President Donald Trump attended a wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery and made a campaign stop in Falls Church earlier today (Monday).
Trump visited the cemetery to mark the three-year anniversary of a suicide bombing that killed 13 U.S. service members. He then made an appearance at Truong Tien Restaurant at the Eden Center, alongside Vietnamese-American U.S. Senate candidate Hung Cao (R).
In the face of growing election doubts within the Democratic Party, Arlington progressives are planning a push for voter turnout in what is historically a Democratic stronghold.
Arlington tends to heavily favor Democrat in presidential elections. President Joe Biden received 80.7% of Arlington votes in 2020, while Hillary Clinton carried 75.8% of the county’s votes in 2016.
President Joe Biden and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley won the majority of votes in Arlington in yesterday’s Virginia presidential primary.
However, the low voter turnout in both primaries might serve as a warning sign for both Biden and the now clear Republican frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, of a lack of voter enthusiasm.
On the eve of Super Tuesday, local party leaders, political consults and pundits on both sides of the aisle have already agreed on who the Republican and Democratic nominees for president will be.
One question lingering in the minds of many is whether the D.C. suburbs, including Arlington, can offer any indication of whether candidates are gaining or losing sufficient suburban voters to impact the general election.
Young Arlington politicos across the partisan divide are closely watching Donald Trump’s presidential bid and its potential effect on voter turnout this cycle.
Whereas Arlington Young Democrats (AYD) is using the prospect of a second Trump presidency to mobilize the party’s base, Arlington-Falls Church Young Republicans (AFCYR) is threading the needle of supporting the likely GOP frontrunner without estranging members of their party.
Update at 10:45 a.m. — “At this time, ACPD is not aware of any large events in Arlington being planned between now and next Tuesday,” Arlington County Police Department spokeswoman Ashley Savage said Thursday morning, in response to an inquiry from ARLnow.
Earlier: President Biden reportedly repeated Donald Trump’s name 24 times during his gubernatorial campaign stop in Arlington last night, and it might have summoned the former president to come back for a visit.
