Office buildings in Crystal City (Staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The appointed co-heads of a new “Department of Government Efficiency” are hoping to massively cut the federal workforce.
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy announced their intention to help President-elect Donald Trump nullify thousands federal regulations. That would then allow “mass head-count reductions across the federal bureaucracy.”
2024 Arlington presidential vote (via Virginia Department of Elections)
Things weren’t official until the Electoral Board convened Thursday evening (Nov. 14) to certify it, but Arlington’s vote count for the 2024 election is now complete.
“At this point it’s really just double-checking everything,” county elections director Gretchen Reinemeyer said at the start of a post-election Electoral Board meeting held Wednesday (Nov. 13).
Donald Trump speaks at Truong Tien Restaurant in Falls Church, August 2024 (via C-SPAN)
Add Falls Church to the list of Northern Virginia localities where elected officials are worried about implications of Donald Trump’s victory.
“Things may very well change fairly dramatically,” City Council member David Snyder said last Wednesday (Nov. 6), the day after a national election that swept the former president back into office and saw Republicans potentially controlling both houses of Congress.
County Board member Matt de Ferranti (via Arlington County)
Northern Virginia leaders, including those from Arlington, are in wait-and-see mode on what Republican victories at the national level could mean for local transit and transportation funding.
“I don’t have a crystal ball,” said Kate Mattice, executive director of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC). “It’s just sort of watching the space and seeing what lands.”
Arlington County Democratic Committee chair Steve Baker (staff photo by Scott McCaffrey)
A combination of venting, defiance, group therapy and gearing up for future battles.
That’s how Arlington Democrats were coping Wednesday night (Nov. 6), just 24 hours the night after the party’s devastating losses at the national level.
Arlington voter casts a ballot in the 2024 general election (staff photo by James Jarvis)
Fears of economic disruption, political instability and mass deportations are on the minds of Arlington elected officials following the re-election of Donald Trump.
The local economy’s extensive ties to the federal government leave some local leaders deeply worried about the president elect’s talk of relocating tens of thousands of government jobs.
Donald Trump speaks at Truong Tien Restaurant in Falls Church, August 2024 (via C-SPAN)
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.
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris at the presidential debate on Sept. 10, 2024 (via ABC)
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?
Rosslyn skyline, with Tysons in the background (Flickr pool photo by Kevin Wolf)
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.