By Brian Trompeter
Voters have made their selections in the Fairfax County Democratic Committee’s 2023 endorsement caucus, choosing endorsees for the Nov. 7 election for Fairfax County School Board and Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.
In-person and online voting for the caucus occurred between May 13 and 20 and for the first time since the committee began endorsing candidates in 1995 allowed non-member Democratic voters to participate.
More than 3,300 people voted in the caucus to pick the party’s endorsees. While state law does not permit political parties to nominate candidates for non-partisan positions on school boards and local soil-and-water-conservation districts, it does allow them to endorse people.
Democratic voters, using the ranked-choice voting method, endorsed these candidates in competitive races for Fairfax County School Board:
• At-Large seats: Ilryong Moon (1615 votes), Ryan McElveen (1,535) and Kyle McDaniel (1,277). Other candidates running in the race included Lawrence Webb, Hamid Munir and R. Kyle McDaniel.
The Democratic endorsees will compete against Republican-endorsed candidates Cassandra Aucoin, Maureen Brody and Saundra Davis in the Nov. 7 election.
• Hunter Mill District: Incumbent School Board member Melanie Meren received 646 votes, defeating Paul Thomas (396 votes). Meren will square off against GOP-endorsed Harry Jackson in the November election.
• Mount Vernon District: Mateo Dunne earned 438 votes and beat Harold Sims Jr. (179 votes). Dunne will face Republican endorsee Stori Zimmerman in November.
Fairfax County Democrats also are endorsing the following School Board candidates, whose races were not contested:
• Braddock District: Incumbent School Board member Rachna Sizemore Heizer. She will face GOP endorsee Priscilla DeStefano in November.
• Dranesville District: Robyn Lady, whose GOP-endorsed opponent in November will be Paul Bartkowski.
• Franconia District: Marcia St. John-Cunning, who will face off against Republican endorsee Kevin Pinkney in November.
• Mason District: Incumbent School Board member Ricardy Anderson, who will run against GOP-endorsed Kristin Ball in November.
• Providence District: Incumbent School Board member Karl Frisch, whose GOP-endorsed opponent in November will be Tony Sabio.
• Springfield District: Sandy Anderson, who will run against GOP endorsee Debra Tisler in November.
• Sully District: Seema Dixit, whose Republican-endorsed opponent this fall will be Cynthia Walsh.
In addition, Democrats endorsed Dana Barakat, Rhonda Bitterli and Christopher Koerner for at-large seats on the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District race after candidate Mary Paulet withdrew. Koerner currently serves as the body’s secretary/treasurer. The lone GOP endorsee in the race is Deb Maddrell.
“We thank everyone who voted in the endorsement caucus this year,” said Fairfax County Democratic Committee chairman Bryan Graham. “Public education is vitally important to the families of Fairfax County and to the businesses that choose to locate here. We are excited to see our endorsees deliver a strong message and affirmative vision to voters throughout the summer and into the fall.”
For more caucus details, including results of each race, visit fairfaxdemocrats.org/2023endorsement.
