The first face-to-face candidate forum of this fall’s Falls Church City Council race is slated to be held tonight (Thursday, Sept. 25) at 7 p.m. at the American Legion Post, 400 N. Oak Street, hosted by the Village Preservation and Improvement Society (VPIS) and the Falls Church League of Women Voters (LWV).
There are six candidates running for four of the seven seats on the City Council this fall, with early voting having begun last Friday leading up to Election Day on Nov. 4. State races for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state delegate are also on the ballot. Five local School Board candidates are on the ballot, and the three local “constitutional officer” races on the ballot are all uncontested.
In Falls Church, tonight’s forum will feature all six City Council candidates, incumbents Laura Downs, David Snyder and Marybeth Connelly, and first-time candidates Arthur Agin, Brian Pendleton and James Thompson Jr.
Tonight’s will be the first of four all-Council candidate forums this season, the other three set for October 16, 21 and 22 hosted by different civic groups. The F.C. LWV will publish a Voter Guide in next week’s News-Press that will include candidate responses to a range of issues. City Council and School board responses to questions from the Falls Church Climate Action Network are now accessible through that group’s website and the News-Press last week endorsed the three Council incumbents and Agin.
This voting season was kicked off by a heavily-attended annual Falls Church City Democratic Committee potluck held at the F.C. Community Center last Sunday. The homey ambiance of the event, with a plentiful array of home-cooked potluck choices a welcome substitute for the “rubber chicken” fare at countless other political events, was noted by keynote speaker U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, Falls Church’s Native Son, as was the robust a-cappella singing of the national anthem that kicked off the night.
A contingent of Young Democrats from the Meridian High School Democratic Club filled a table and youth was in force making a couple of the speaker introductions, as well.
The event was highlighted right off the bat by uncommonly heartfelt remarks from Mayor Letty Hardi. She said the potluck is “a great metaphor for our growing city: the more people come, the better it gets. The more diversity in choices of food. The more fun our conversations are. The fabric of our community truly becomes richer with every new dish and neighbor.”
She then said, “We’re coming together tonight not just for food and metaphors, but for something more urgent: to recommit ourselves to protecting and strengthening our democracy. We know that voting is the foundation of that democracy and all eyes are on Virginia, not only in the U.S., but across the world, in November.
“Voting is the most basic, powerful tool we have as citizens. And yet, we’ve seen real threats, disinformation, erosion of civil liberties, masked men kidnapping people on the street because of the color of their skin, attacks on freedom of speech, and even violence—that are meant to weaken faith in our system.
“For me, this work is deeply personal. I’m the daughter of immigrants who came here in search of opportunity and a better future for their kids. As a first-generation American who was naturalized as a teenager, I grew up understanding that the right to vote is not something to take for granted—it’s something people around the world fight for.
“Voting has always been honoring my family’s sacrifices, fulfilling their hopes, and electing people who live and promote all the ideals and policies that make my family’s story possible. And that is still what shapes my own work on the City Council.
“Before my dad died this summer, he reminded me how proud he was to see his children thrive in this country and how he leaves the world with no regrets because of what became possible here.
“As someone whose first language wasn’t English and therefore spent kindergarten and first grade in ESL classes, whose first home in the U.S. was an accessory dwelling in San Francisco (that wouldn’t even be legal here in Falls Church up until last spring), who was the latch key kid who became the first in my family to go to college, thanks to Pell grants, scholarships, and some student loans, my American story is now under threat.”
She was followed by Beyer, who focused his remarks on three themes, community, healing and hope and change. He recounted the founding and growth of his father’s Volvo dealership in Falls Church, which started with 12 employees in 1973. “Falls Church has been a great blessing,” he said, “With generations of great governance here.”
He noted that Mayor Hardi joined him in an event earlier that weekend at the Paragon Theater in F.C. that helped over 200 displaced federal workers find resources to deal with having been laid off by Trump.
He said it is critical to fight back against Trump’s moves, from globally to locally. “We do it by making our communities as strong as possible and by taking care of our neighbors.
“Healing comes by overcoming our divisions in the context of less-certain lives that are fueled by ‘conflict entrepreneurs,’” he said. “We can’t heal by hating the ‘other.’” On hope and change, he cited the Barbara Tuchman historical account of the Black Plague-riddled 13th century in her ‘Distant Mirror’ work. As bad as that century was, with the 100 Years War and disease and average life expectancy of 19 or 20, it gave way to the end of feudalism and the unleashing of the Renaissance.
“Look for the good in everything,” he advised.
Other stirring remarks were delivered by State Sen. Saddam Salim and State Del. Marcus Simon, who was the only person present actually on the ballot this November in a contested race.
