Former state and federal prosecutor Brittany Dunn-Pirio announced today that she will challenge Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano for the Democratic nomination in the June 2027 primary election.
Dunn-Pirio, a resident of the Vienna area, says she’s a “lifelong Democrat” who wants to reform the office. According to her website, her platform “centers on standing up for seniors and survivors, expanding access to treatment, protecting the right to a fair trial, and above all, restoring competence Fairfax can trust.”
Descano elected to his first term in 2019 on a platform promising progressive reforms like an end to the use of cash bail. Though he survived a challenge for the Democratic nomination in his first reelection bid in 2023, the county’s top prosecutor has come under increasing political pressure of late.
Following a hearing on immigration-related matters in May, the House Judiciary Committee notified Descano earlier this month that it intends to issue a subpoena expanding its inquiry to his office’s prosecutorial decision-making. The DOJ has also announced an investigation into the office’s handling of cases involving undocumented immigrants.
In a press release announcing her run for Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Dunn-Pirio said she was campaigning for the office out of frustration over “botched sexual assault cases, prosecutors missing deadlines, and victims not being spoken to.”
“We need a Commonwealth’s Attorney who can make this office work,” Dunn-Pirio said. “Every person in Fairfax should feel safe, and every person in Fairfax should be able to trust the office that’s supposed to protect them.”
Descano’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the criticism.
Most recently an associate at the civil litigation firm Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, Dunn-Pirio served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Kentucky for two years until she resigned in November 2025. In the Department of Justice, she had specialized in Covid relief fraud and public corruption cases, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“I have spent my career fighting for the most vulnerable people in our community – victims of domestic violence, sexual assault, and child sex abuse – at every level of Virginia’s court system,” Dunn-Pirio said.
“Most recently I was a federal prosecutor, and I resigned from the Justice Department because I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct.”
Before becoming a federal prosecutor in 2023, Dunn-Pirio was an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Frederick County, assistant attorney general in the state criminal appeals courts, and a law clerk to Judge Randy Bellows in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
According to her campaign announcement, she has also done pro bono work for victims of domestic violence and is vice chair of membership for the Hunter Mill Democrats.
“The way I’ve always worked is simple,” Dun-Pirio said. “Listen to the victim. Listen to the witnesses. Listen to the defense attorney. Try to figure out the truth and do the right thing in every case. And know the difference between someone who deserves a second chance and someone who needs to be held accountable, because that judgment is most of this job.”
Correction: The headline of this story initially identified Brittany Dunn-Pirio as a former Fairfax prosecutor. Her previous work as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney was for Frederick County’s office, not Fairfax County.
