Josif Ezekilov originally arrived in Herndon about two years ago as a community organizer for the New Virginia Majority, tasked by the civic engagement group with amplifying the voices of the town’s Latino residents.
After falling in love with the small town and moving there with his wife, Ezekilov now hopes to bring that same activist energy and focus on the needs of immigrants and the working class to the Herndon Town Council.
“The town I want to push and work for is a town where my wife and I, who make about the median income, can afford to live here, build a house, and raise our kids in,” he told FFXnow in a recent interview. “That’s my hope and what I will be working toward if elected to council.”
One of 12 people campaigning for the council’s six seats in the upcoming Nov. 3 election, Ezekilov says he was encouraged to run by the New Virginia Majority, which was established in 2007 by veteran Tenants and Workers United organizers in Alexandria with the goal of mobilizing voters around progressive issues.
Initially spurred by frustration with a lack of federal action on immigration reform, the nonprofit has since expanded its reach statewide and champions a variety of policies related to criminal, economic and environmental justice, including stronger worker protections, affordable housing and an end to privatization in Virginia’s prison system.
An immigrant who came to D.C. from Bulgaria as a child, Ezekilov can relate to many of the residents he has worked with through the New Virginia Majority. He too carried the responsibility of caring for his younger sister while their mother worked long hours, and he got his first job at 13 so he could help support the family.
Earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in international development from George Washington University, Ezekilov says he “wanted to support folks like my mom and family, all over the world that go through a lot of the same struggles due to various forms of oppression.”
That goal led him to consulting work with various international agencies, from the Peruvian nonprofit Sayariy Resurgendo to the D.C.-based National Democratic Institute. He also became a contributing journalist for Rantt Media, covering issues like U.S. foreign policy, protests and “right-wing disinformation,” he says.
Ezekilov was first contracted by New Virginia Majority about three years ago as a canvasser, his desire to work in the local community spurred in part by President Donald Trump’s reelection.
Since then, he has been involved in campaigns to protect tenants from scams, junk fees and excessive rent hikes; establish a “solidarity network” to monitor U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity and provide resources to those who are detained and their families; and advocate for affordable housing, leading the Herndon Town Council to direct staff earlier this year to create an affordable housing policy.
“All those activities over the last two years have given me a sense that we need folks on council that really focus on our immigrant community and our working class here in Herndon,” Ezekilov said.
Pledge to end Flock contract ‘on day one’
One way to support the immigrants who make up an estimated 42% of Herndon’s population would be for the town to end its contract with Flock Safety, Ezekilov says, calling the partnership “an egregious mistake.”
According to the Herndon Police Department’s transparency portal, it currently has 10 Flock cameras that can detect vehicles and license plates — data stored for 21 days, as dictated by department policy. The cameras don’t include facial recognition capabilities or identify individuals by race or gender, and immigration enforcement is among the program’s prohibited uses.
The HPD says it owns the data collected by its license plate readers and doesn’t sell it to third parties, and Flock says ICE has no direct access to its data after pilot projects with federal immigration authorities ended last year.
However, reports of state and local police using Flock’s database to assist with immigration enforcement or harass partners, along with more general privacy and surveillance concerns, have led many localities — including Arlington County — to cancel their partnerships in recent weeks.
Last month, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors suspended new installations for now, though none were immediately planned, and the school board unanimously voted to ban license plate readers from Fairfax County Public Schools property.
Herndon Police budgeted $38,000 for the current fiscal year 2027 for its Flock license plate readers, which are included under a computer maintenance line item, the department’s FOIA specialist says.
The Town of Herndon obtained its Flock equipment through a cooperative contract led by Henrico County, starting with an initial $15,000 payment for the readers’ installation and implementation on Oct. 16, 2023, according to documents obtained by FFXnow.
Henrico County police terminated its contract with Flock Safety this week in response to resident concerns. Though local leaders expressed confidence that their police were using the system for legitimate purposes, they could not “ignore the potential for misuse of system data by others,” the county’s Board of Supervisors chair announced.
The move doesn’t appear to have any immediate impact on Herndon’s Flock program. HPD spokesperson Lisa Herndon said only that the department takes its “direction from [the] Herndon Town Council.”
“If I’m elected to town council, I would push for us to terminate our contract with Flock on day one,” Ezekilov said. “I believe that this would make our community safer, and just hearing the concerns of our community members — not even immigrant communities, but really, all the residents of Herndon are opposing our Flock cameras in our town.”
The community organizer believes the town could also improve its service coordination with Fairfax County and provide more resources to those targeted by ICE, pointing to a program created by Arlington County to provide grant funding to families whose main wage earner has been detained.
Affordable housing, labor center among priorities
Other priorities for Ezekilov include affordable housing and workforce development.
Nearly two decades after Herndon closed a short-lived day labor center rather than allow it to continue serving undocumented immigrants, as ordered by a judge, Ezekilov envisions the town establishing a workforce development center that would give workers a place to gather, coordinate employment opportunities with unions and businesses, and offer training, literacy classes and other resources.
When it comes to affordable housing, he says he would specifically advocate for units serving the lowest end of the income spectrum — those earning 40% of the area median income (AMI) or below. As calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Fairfax County’s AMI for a household of four is $166,100, making 40% AMI around $66,000.
“Those are the folks in Herndon that are providing the lifeblood of our economy. They are the folks working in our restaurants, in our stores. They are oftentimes our teachers and school officials and our firefighters,” Ezekilov said. “So, I believe that if you are a worker in Herndon, somebody providing an essential service for Herndon … or otherwise making this town great, then you should be able to afford to live here.”
While campaigning, Ezekilov says he found that his vision was shared by other first-time candidates, particularly U.S. Space Force veteran Sabrina Bruce, county government worker Yasmin Shafiq, and Herndon Planning Commission Vice Chair Meron Yohannes. The quartet have formed a progressive slate focused on issues of inclusion and affordability.
“They are all amazing candidates in their own right, and I think together we could do something truly special for Herndon,” Ezekilov said.
Other candidates on the ballot include five incumbents — Cesar del Aguila, Kelvin Garcia, Vice Mayor Clark Hedrick, Alex Reyes and Michael Lloyd — as well as nurse Doug Mejia, information technology professional Stevan Michael Porter, and local business owner Justin Britt.
In the town’s mayoral race, current Mayor Keven LeBlanc is running unopposed for a second term.
Early in-person and mail voting is underway for the Nov. 3 general election, which will also determine Fairfax County’s next Congressional representatives, a Virginia senator, Fairfax City’s next mayor and city council, bond funding for capital projects, and whether the state will amend its constitution to restore voting rights for felons, repeal a ban on same-sex marriage and protect reproductive rights.
