The Virginia elections are done for this year, and newly elected candidates must now prepare for the tough job of governing.  Most will find that their new job is hard work; it’s not glamorous, it’s not headlines, it’s just a lot of work to address constituent issues and move the Commonwealth and its local jurisdictions forward.  

There were 398 Board of Supervisor seats on the ballot in 2023; 10 of those were in Fairfax County, where eight incumbents were re-elected, and two new members, Andres Jimenez and James Bierman, will represent Mason and Dranesville Districts, respectively.  All 95 Virginia counties had seats up for election; 241 incumbents won re-election and 42 incumbents lost.  Write-in candidates won in Greene, King and Queen, and King William counties.  Winners included 190 Independents (many county candidates do not run with a party identification); 155 Republicans, and 51 Democrats.  

By percentage, the turnover in the Virginia General Assembly was the largest in memory.  A third (34 members) of the House of Delegates will be new.  The Senate will have 17 new members, or nearly half of the chamber.  Ten new Senate members had previous service in the House of Delegates.  The Senate remains under Democratic control (21 Democrats; 19 Republicans, and one race not yet called at press time), and the House flipped, narrowly (51 Democrats and 49 Republicans).  Some shared leadership may be necessary to move legislation desired by either side.

Local ballot questions also provide some insight into the mood of the electorate.  Fairfax County’s $435 million school bond question passed with the usual percentage, more than 65 percent approving.  Loudoun County voters overwhelmingly approved bond referenda totaling more than $578 million for schools, transportation, and public safety projects.  In Gloucester County, however, a $39.6 million bond question for capital improvements — fire and rescue stations, schools, and parks — failed by more than 13 points.  

In other election results, pari-mutuel wagering failed in Manassas Park, and City of Richmond voters voted down, for the second time, authorization for casino gambling.  One very unusual election question was on the ballot in the tiny Town of Hurt, in Pittsylvania County.  Hurt has 1269 residents, and the ballot question asked the Virginia General Assembly to amend the Hurt Town Charter to reduce the number of members on the Town Council from six to four.  In the final count, 85 percent of the voters rejected the proposal.  

These and other election results were presented at the annual Virginia Association of Counties (VACo) Annual Conference in Bath County.   It was the last VACo conference for some attendees, including me, because of retirements following long years of public service.  VACo advocates on behalf of millions of Virginia residents in its 95 counties, and the annual conference is an opportunity for county officials to find that “sweet spot” that enables them to work together, regardless of urban, suburban, or rural makeup.  County issues like public education, transportation, public safety, and mental health treatment largely are shared.  Only the scale is different.  Good stewardship of taxpayer dollars also is a shared responsibility, and many of the newly elected public officials will learn that sooner, rather than later.

Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.