The two-month sprint to Election Day in Arlington begins next Tuesday as the Arlington County Civic Federation holds its annual candidate forum.
The Civic Federation is typically the first organization to hold a fall election-themed forum. This year, the event will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 2 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Hazel Auditorium at VHC Health.
Arlington voters will be able to select up to three County Board contenders, but no more, through ranked-choice voting this election season.
County elections director Gretchen Reinemeyer confirmed at an Electoral Board meeting on Tuesday that three will be the maximum number available to voters.
Arlington’s local elected officials are flexing their fundraising muscles as the sprint to Election Day begins.
Teams of two have paired up to sell the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s “Gold Card,” which provides access to upcoming party events while raising funds needed for get-out-the-vote initiatives.
A new bill with the backing of U.S. Rep. Don Beyer is seeking to redraw congressional lines to combat gerrymandering and improve representation.
The measure, called the Fair Representation Act, was introduced by Beyer and Maryland Democrat Jamie Raskin on July 23. It would involve creating larger congressional districts with multiple representatives, elected through ranked-choice voting.
Falls Church is considering changes to trash and recycling services, but city leaders say a voter referendum is unlikely.
The changes could decrease the financial burden on some property owners while increasing fees for single-family homeowners.
New data showing a continued increase in Virginia’s unemployment claims is providing ammunition to Arlington’s Democratic leaders at both the state and national level.
Rep. Don Beyer (D-8) pounced on figures that the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics released on Friday, which showed that Virginia was the only state to record a statistically significant increase in its jobless rate from May to June.
Arlington’s two Republican members of the Electoral Board appear at loggerheads over how long early-voting dropboxes should be available before Election Day.
Richard Samp, the senior Republican on the three-member panel and its vice chair, used the July 8 board meeting to press for a reduction from more than 40 days of use to just 10. Not everyone was in favor.
For Arlington Democrats, the number to beat on Nov. 4 is 51,465.
That’s the difference between the number of votes cast in the county, in 2021, for Democrat Terry McAuliffe (73,013) over Republican Glenn Youngkin (21,548). McAuliffe lost that race, falling short by about 64,000 votes statewide.
The Arlington County Democratic Committee has abandoned a proposal to place major restrictions on who can vote for top leadership positions.
Just a month after the Democratic steering committee floated the idea, party leaders announced at a party meeting yesterday (Wednesday) that they were pulling it from consideration.
Arlington Republicans introduced two candidates for the House of Delegates and one County Board challenger at a Monday meeting.
The party acknowledges that, as always, November will be an uphill battle in Arlington. However, the goal is to put forward “candidates who are well-versed in what’s happening locally” as part of a five-year strategy, party chair Matthew Hurtt said.
Rep. Don Beyer is pursuing another term in office, promising to keep fighting “abuses of power” while his party plots strategies to take back Congress.
The Democrat representing Virginia’s 8th Congressional District, which includes all of Arlington, acknowledged to ARLnow that his party has struggled to resist dramatic policy changes under President Donald Trump while Republicans control the legislature.
Some of Arlington’s non-Democrat candidates for County Board see potential opportunities in the county’s ranked-choice voting system this November.
But so does incumbent County Board Chair Takis Karantonis.
