The Trump administration’s sweeping efforts to whittle down the federal workforce have found favor with at least one Fairfax County elected official.
Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, the only Republican on the county board, revealed earlier this week that he “fully” agrees that the federal government’s “size and scope” needs to be reduced, claiming that there’s a “broad consensus across America” in support of a downsizing.
The Trump administration’s freeze on federal grants and loans has left early childhood education programs like Higher Horizons in Bailey’s Crossroads facing financial uncertainty, even after a court ruled the funding must resume.
On Friday (Feb. 7), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) met with staff and educators at the nonprofit Head Start provider to discuss the lingering effects of the freeze, which was triggered by a White House directive pausing federal aid while the administration reviewed how the funds align with its policy goals.
Update: A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s order freezing federal grants and loans minutes before it was set to take effect at 5 p.m.
Earlier: Fairfax County officials are scrambling to assess how a new federal directive halting financial aid programs might impact local services and capital projects.
Inauguration Day is less than a week away, inviting either celebration or terror, depending on your political leanings.
The latter emotion is likely more prevalent in Fairfax County, where voters in all but two precincts favored Democratic nominee and current Vice President Kamala Harris even as a rightward shift in Virginia overall helped secure the 2024 election for former and incoming president Donald Trump.
Fairfax County’s top Republican policymaker is entering the race for lieutenant governor.
Pat Herrity, who has represented the Springfield District on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for more than 15 years, formally announced his candidacy for the office this morning (Friday).
Fairfax County’s most prominent Republican policymaker is mulling a run for statewide office.
Pat Herrity, the lone conservative voice on the county’s Board of Supervisors, will announce within the next two months whether or not he will seek the office of lieutenant governor next year, he told FFXnow.
Activists calling for Fairfax County leaders to take a stance on the violence currently devastating the Middle East have again found themselves met with silence.
At the Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday (Tuesday), resident Rob Bradley used the public-comment period to urge local leaders to pass a resolution calling for an unconditional ceasefire between Israel, Hamas, which governs Gaza, and Hezbollah, the paramilitary group in Lebanon.
Fairfax County supervisors want to ensure the county government isn’t caught flat-footed by public policy revisions undertaken by the incoming Trump administration and Republican Congress.
Supervisors voted 9-1 along party lines yesterday (Tuesday) to direct County Executive Bryan Hill and staff to analyze potential impacts on everything from federal government employment and commercial real estate to transportation and climate change.
After reporting record turnout levels in 2016 and 2020, Fairfax County saw a noticeable dip in voter participation for this year’s general election.
The county reported a voter turnout of 68.35%, with 561,368 of its 821,347 registered voters casting a ballot either on Tuesday (Nov. 5) or during the 45-day early voting period, according to unofficial results that will be certified after noon tomorrow (Friday), the deadline for the county’s elections office to receive mail-in ballots.
In the wake of Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 presidential election, Fairfax County Democrats are confronting a more competitive Virginia, where heightened Republican mobilization has raised alarms about their hold on power in the purple state.
While Vice President Kamala Harris won Virginia by more than 5 percentage points, her margin was notably lower than President Joe Biden’s in 2020, when he won the state by over 10 points. Similarly, in Fairfax County, Harris captured 65.44% of the vote, down from Biden’s 69.85%.
