Fairfax County, Virginia - Government and Politics

Government and Politics

The county is governed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, composed of nine members elected from single-member districts and a chairman elected at-large. The districts are named Braddock, Dranesville, Hunter Mill, Lee, Mason, Mount Vernon, Providence, Springfield, and Sully.

The Fairfax County Government Center is west of the city of Fairfax in an unincorporated area. Fairfax County contains an exclave unincorporated area located in the central business district of the City of Fairfax, in which many county facilities (including the courthouses and jail) are located.

Fairfax County was once considered a Republican bastion. However, in recent years Democrats have made significant inroads, gaining control of the Board of Supervisors and the School Board (officially nonpartisan) as well as the offices of Sheriff and Commonwealth Attorney. Democrats also control the majority of Fairfax seats in the Virginia House of Delegates and Senate.

Fairfax County encompasses portions of three congressional districts, the 8th District, the 10th District, and the 11th District. Republican Frank Wolf represents the 10th District, while Democrat Jim Moran represents the 8th District and Democrat Gerry Connolly represents the 11th District.

Communities closer to Washington, D.C. generally favor Democrats by a larger margin than do the outlying communities. In elections in 2000, 2001, and 2005, Fairfax County supported Democrats for U.S. Senate and governor. In 2004, John Kerry won the county, becoming the first Democrat to do so since Lyndon B. Johnson in his 1964 landslide (the last time Democrats carried the state until 2008). Kerry defeated George W. Bush in the county 53% to 46%.

Democratic Governor Tim Kaine carried Fairfax County with over 60% of the vote in 2005, leading him to win 51.7% of votes statewide. On November 7, 2006, U.S. Senate candidate Jim Webb (D) carried the county with about 58.9% of the votes.

In the state and local elections of November 2007, Fairfax Democrats picked up one seat in the House of Delegates, two seats in the Senate, and one seat on the Board of Supervisors, making their majority there 8-2.

On November 4, 2008, Fairfax County continued its shift towards the Democrats, with Barack Obama and Mark Warner each garnering over 60% of the vote for president and U.S. Senate, respectively. Also, the Fairfax-anchored 11th District United States House of Representatives seat held by Thomas M. Davis for 14 years was won by Gerry Connolly, the Democratic Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Braddock supervisor Sharon Bulova won a special election on February 3, 2009 to succeed Gerry Connolly as chairman of the Board of Supervisors, continuing a Democratic hold on the office of chairman that dates back to 1995. Delegate David Marsden won a special election on January 12, 2010 to succeed Ken Cuccinelli in the 37th State Senate district. Following this election, Fairfax County is now represented in the Virginia State Senate by an all-Democratic delegation.

The Democratic trend did not continue in November 2009, however, as Republican gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell won Fairfax County with 51% of the vote on his way to statewide victory.

In the 2010 congressional elections, Republican challenger Keith Fimian nearly defeated Democratic incumbent Gerry Connolly in the election for the 11th District seat, but Connolly won by 981 votes out of over 225,000 cast (a margin of 0.4%). Jim Moran and Frank Wolf were re-elected by margins of 61%-37% and 63%-35%, respectively.