By Brian Trompeter
Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay (D) defeated challenger Lisa Downing in the June 20 Democratic primary.
Results will not be official for several more days, but as of 9:55 p.m. on Election Day, McKay had a solid lead – albeit perhaps an unspectacular one for an incumbent – over Downing. With 128 of 266 precincts reporting, McKay had earned 32,284 votes (56.7 percent) to Downing’s 24,652 (43.3 percent).
Downing, a District of Columbia native and retired Central Intelligence Agency employee who now lives in Dunn Loring, campaigned on a platform seeking equity, excellent schools, affordable housing and competitive pay for first-responders.
McKay, who served for 12 years as chief of staff to former Lee (now Franconia) District Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D) before succeeding him in 2007, was elected Board of Supervisors chairman in 2019.
During McKay’s tenure as chairman, the Board of Supervisors has weathered the pandemic, sought to increase affordable housing options, removed some Confederate monuments and roadway names, and passed (twice, because of a Virginia Supreme Court decision) the county’s Modernized Zoning Ordinance.
McKay will face Republican challenger Arthur Purves in the Nov. 7 election. Purves, who is president of the Fairfax County Taxpayers Alliance, has run for multiple offices in the past, including a 2015 bid for Board of Supervisors chairman.
A lifelong Fairfax County resident, McKay grew up in the Route 1 corridor and attended Woodlawn Elementary and Walt Whitman Middle schools before graduating from Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria.
In addition to chairing the Board of Supervisors’ Budget Committee, McKay serves on the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority and Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and is chairman of the Dulles Corridor Advisory Committee.
