Republican candidate enters race for Reston’s House District 7 seat

Defending civil liberties and advancing childhood education are among the top priorities cited by the Republican candidate for the District 7 state delegate seat.

Luellen Hoffman Maskeny, a Reston resident and educator, is the official GOP nominee for the seat, which will mostly represent the area currently held by retiring Del. Ken Plum. She will face Democratic nominee Karen Keys-Gamarra in the Nov. 7 general election.

Hoffman Maskeny says she was compelled to seek candidacy after she saw “political changes that should not have been made” during the pandemic.

“The schools never needed to close and that was a big mistake,” Hoffman Maskeny told FFXnow in a statement. “Now the children are 2 1/2 years behind in their studies, which is not good, but I have a plan to help them catch up.”

Born in Portsmouth, Hoffman Maskeny says she grew up in Northern Virginia, and when she got married, she moved to Reston, where she stayed until relocating to Fairfax in 2003. She moved back to Reston in June 2022.

With a professional background in sales and recruiting, she graduated from George Mason University, where she previously worked as an adjunct professor. She has a master’s degree in communications from George Washington University, according to her LinkedIn page.

She is the mother of two sons. Her husband died of respiratory failures and complications related to surgery in 1994. She also wrote the book “Special Dream,” which features more than 80 stories of individuals who lost a loved one.

“I know how hard it is being a single parent, and the challenges all parents face today, but I have hope that we can work together to do better for the children’s sake and see real improvements,” she said.

She describes her legislative priorities as “defending civil liberties” and “protecting women’s sports,” presumably referring to efforts to ban transgender people from participating in sports based on their gender identity. However, Hoffman Maskeny didn’t elaborate on either priority when asked by FFXnow.

“These girls have worked too hard for too long in reaching their achievements, only to have it taken away from them,” she said.

Maskeny says she also wants to ensure that parents are involved in public schools, in addition to ensuring pornography in books is kept out of public schools.

Fairfax County Public Schools removed two books centered on LGBTQ characters from high school library shelves in 2021 after a parent complained that they had graphic sexual content not suitable for children. The books were later restored after a review.

“It is important to keep our schools safe with extra security measures. There is no need for our children to be ‘sitting ducks’ if there is an active shooter on the school grounds or for girls to be raped in the bathrooms,” she said.

According to her LinkedIn page, Maskeny was the director of exhibits for the National Defense Industrial Association from 2006 through 2017. She has worked as a director of sales at a South Carolina-based IT company for the last six years.

Maskeny’s campaign website is currently under construction.