The three candidates vying for the Samuel Miller BoS seat held a debate last night, Brandon Shulleeta writes in today’s Progress. (Or, at least, I assume that it was a debate and it was last night. Due to what I assume is some unfortunate editing, the articles makes no mention of how these three candidates came to be interacting or when they did so. So I’m going with a debate, last night.) Republican Duane Snow, Democrat Madison Cummings, and independent John Lowry are all looking to replace Democrat Sally Thomas, who is retiring. Lowry argued that millions of dollars could be added to county coffers not by raising taxes, but by encouraging new businesses to start in the area. Boldly defeating a strawman, Lowry disagreed with “the no-growth people don’t want to have business in the growth area.” (Who are these people? I want names.) He also criticized Snow for supporting keeping open the three elementary schools in the county facing consolidation, saying it was “entirely inappropriate” for Snow to state his opinion prior to the superintendent’s recommendation that they be kept open. Snow advocated zero-based budgeting—a popular proposal among state and local candidates of all political stripes—and said that education is his highest priority. Cummings, a two-term school board veteran, wants to increase school funding, wants to reemphasize physical fitness in the schools, and thinks the county needs a rainy day fund.
This race has been incredibly scattered, and it’s tough to know how it’ll turn out. Lowry has proved to be far and away the best fundraiser, taking in $14.5k without benefit of a party to back him. Cummings has the second-largest total, $10k, but that includes the $5k that he’s donated to himself. Snow has taken in $8k, including $2,500 from the Virginia Association of Realtors. Cummings has $7.5k cash on hand, or about half again as much as his opponents. No issue has come to the fore as one that will dominate the race, and Lowry is running a strong enough race that one can’t simply assume that Cummings will win by virtue of being a Democrat.
The candidates for the Rio BoS seat held a debate last night, Bryan McKenzie writes in today’s Progress, with the two candidates highlighting a sharp difference in their philosophies of leadership. On the question of how a supervisor should figure out what side to support in dealing with hot-button issues, incumbent Democrat David Slutzky says that public wishes should be considered along with the supervisor’s own knowledge of the facts, recommendations of staff, and the results of research. The challenger, Republican Rodney Thomas, says that the best decision for the people is the one that most people want—majority rules—and he views it as his job to vote based on their wishes. The two also discussed additional taxes, what to do abut the reservoirs, Places29, and land use planning.
For my money, this is the most interesting local race this year, with two sharply contrasting candidates campaigning on opposites sides of some of the most important and interesting topics facing the county today. The outcome of this race will be fodder for weeks of analysis in an effort to divine the wishes of county residents on the topics of growth, planning, water supply, and transportation.
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