According to one of the many, many online reports about the nature of our universe arising from the successful deployment of the Webb Space Telescope last summer, our own tiny planet earth is now being inundated by a massive “hurricane” of so-called “dark matter” passing over and through it. The problem is that no one has yet quite figured out what “dark matter” is, with its discovery coming only in the last decade or so, even as it constitutes over 90 percent of the universe.

No matter what, such is the context for this month’s highly-critical midterm elections that culminate next Tuesday, Nov. 8. They will determine how much of the stain that the Trump factor has subjected us all to will still be around, or even significantly enlarged. It will set the table for the 2024 presidential election, and the very future of democracy is on the line without a doubt.

Maybe we’ll discover some day that “dark matter” has somehow messed with us to contribute to how the votes are going this time. This newspaper remains optimistic, however, that “dark matter” is not a bad thing, for one thing, and that  voters will turn out in force everywhere to reject, if nothing else, the Trump Supreme Court assault on every woman in America. 

As we’ve reported this year, the critical races are not on the Falls Church ballot. But still, we are eager to express our total endorsement of our talented congressman, Donald S. Beyer, Jr,, for re-election. And for that matter, we’re good with Rep. Jerry Connolly in Fairfax and the three women seeking re-election as incumbent Democrats in the three tight Congressional races of national importance in Virginia – Abigail Spanberger to our south, by Jennifer Wexton to our west and Elaine Luria down in Tidewater.  We adamantly admonish all political activists to do what they can to help in those races key to the overall control of Congress nationally.

Beyer’s race here does not seem close, due to the remarkable gifts he has brought to his incumbency since being first elected in 2013.

In fact, the only race in this area that is seriously contested is the one involving Democratic incumbent Matt deFerranti seeking re-election to the one of five county board seats being contested in neighboring Arlington. We see DeFerranti as solid and reliable, and the best among three candidates in that race. While a housing affordability proponent, he has taken a realistic stance on the so-called “missing middle” housing debate now raging in the county. 

DeFerranti favors introducing alternatives to single family homes in areas currently limited to them in Arlington, but not to the level of six-plexes or higher as advocated by some.

In a realistic assessment of what developers are likely to judge can be reasonably financed, and in deference to the major, if unfounded concerns of single-family homeowners, he has suggested capping multi-unit projects at the four-plex level.