FINISH LINE: Prince William County runners like Forest Park’s Kyle Easton hope to peak at Saturday’s state meet. Page 14
November 7, 2018 | Vol. 17, No. 45 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Wexton flips 10th District, Wittman holds onto 1st By James Ivancic and Karen Chaffraix Times Staff Writers
Kaine wins big in Virginia
Republican Rob Wittman held his seat in Congress while Republican Barbara Comstock lost hers Tuesday in two races impacting Prince William County. Challenger Jennifer Wexton beat incumbent Comstock, according to unofficial results, in the race for the 10th District seat in Congress, which includes part of Prince William County and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. Wittman beat Democratic challenger Vangie Williams in the 1st District, which includes part of Prince William and a sliver of Fauquier County as well as part or all of 19 other counties plus the city of Fredericksburg.
Democrat incumbent wins 56 percent of vote to dismiss Republican Stewart
See CONGRESS, page 3
PHOTO BY RANDY LITZINGER Sen. Tim Kaine greets the crowd at the “Blue Wave Rally” at Prince William fairgrounds on Sunday, Nov. 4.
By Jill Palermo
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Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine was declared the early winner of his race against Republican Corey Stewart. Major news organizations called the race soon after the polls closed at 7 p.m., even as thousands remained in line at polling places across the state. Kaine, 60, campaigned vigorously across the state until the last days of the campaign. He made a point of making numerous joint appearances with Democratic candidates for Congress in Virginia, his name appearing on campaign signs more commonly with other candidates’ than by itself.
2018 Visit PrinceWilliamTimes.com for the latest election coverage In a statement Tuesday, Kaine called the race “a really special campaign” and quite a contrast to two years ago, in 2016, when he lost his bid for the vice presidency; he was on the ballot with Democrat Hilary Clinton. Kaine noted that things brightened for the Democrats with big wins INSIDE Business ..............................................9 Classified............................................20 Calendar.............................................16 Education.............................................4
in Virginia in 2017. “Now, another year later, we’ve turned that flicker into a bright shining beacon of hope,” Kaine added, thanking his supporters across the state. Kaine drew a crowd of more than 300 to the Prince William County fairgrounds for a “blue wave rally” Sunday. He called for not only a blue wave across Virginia but a wave of “character, compassion, community and love” across the country. He called for the need to counter the sharp campaign rhetoric that critics of President Donald Trump say sparked a wave of domestic violence before Tuesday’s election.
See KAINE, page 3
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JAMES IVANCIC Jennifer Wexton meets voters outside Tyler Elementary School in Gainesville Tuesday morning.
Opinion ..............................................11 Obituaries ..........................................19 Puzzle Page .......................................12 Real Estate .........................................18 Sports ................................................13
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Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | November 7, 2018
Veterans Day parade in Manassas The 10th annual Northern Virginia Veterans Day Parade marched through downtown Manassas Saturday, Nov. 3. The grand marshal for this year’s parade, organized by VetPar, Inc., was Dan Dellinger, past national commander of the American Legion, and the parade honored the American Legion’s 100th anniversary. PHOTOS BY MIKE BEATY
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Prince William Times | www.princewilliamtimes.com | November 7, 2018
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Democrats win control of Manassas City Council for first time By Robin Earl
Contributing Writer
For the first time in City of Manassas history, Democrats have won control of the Manassas City Council by capturing two of three open seats in Tuesday’s election. Incumbent Republican Councilman Marc Aveni lost his bid for re-election Tuesday, while Democratic incumbent Councilman Ken Elston won re-election along with fellow Democrat Michelle Davis-Younger. Republican Theresa Ellis also won a place on the council and will join fellow Republican Councilmember Ian Lovejoy and Mayor Hal Parrish. Still, the balance of power will tip to the Democrats with the council
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now split four to two in the Democrats’ favor, or four to three, counting Parrish, who cannot vote on fiscal matters, such as the budget. Amalfi Arias, a Republican political newcomer, came up short, as did Democrat Rex Parr, who ran unsuccessfully for a council seat in 2016. The City of Manassas school system was a hot topic during this election season. The city’s nine schools are underperforming compared to the larger Prince William County system, and several schools are in need of major renovations and/or replacement.
The city council has been working with members of the city’s school board since last spring to devise a funding plan for the school division for the coming years but has yet to reach an agreement. One education-related question that came up during the candidates’ debate Oct. 30 was the option of ceding responsibility for the city’s schools over to Prince William County. This would require giving up city status; the City of Manassas would become a town instead. All candidates were united in saying they would try to avoid that option.
Mensing, Banks and Javed win in Manassas Park City Council race
Two newcomers have won election to the Manassas Park City
Council Tuesday along with incumbent Councilman Preston Banks, who won a third term. Four candidates were running for three available seats on the council. Manassas Park School Board member Alanna Mensing was the highest vote-getter, followed by Banks and Hasseb Javed, a realtor. Michael Carrera, who sought to win a second term in office, did not receive enough votes to hold onto his seat. On the City of Manassas School Board, Chairman Sanford Williams and fellow incumbent Tim Demeria retained their seats, while Kenneth Nixon won a place on the board. Incumbent Peter O’Hanlon and newcomer Athene Bell failed to earn enough votes to win.
Wexton flips 10th District, Wittman holds onto 1st CONGRESS from page 1
PHOTO BY DOUG STROUD Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Corey Stewart is interviewed by reporters Monday after his election-eve rally in Haymarket.
Kaine wins big in Virginia KAINE from page 1 Kaine was joined at the rally by four Democratic candidates for Congress. Only one — Vangie Williams — lost her race. Democrats Jennifer Wexton and Reps. Gerald Connolly and Don Beyer cruised to easy victories. Stewart, by contrast, campaigned mostly on his own. Dogged by his past associations with white supremacists during his 2017 campaign for governor, Stewart managed to raise only $2 million for his campaign, compared to Kaine’s more than $20 million. As a result, Stewart had less to spend on the airwaves and relied mostly on social media and radio ads. During an election-eve rally in Haymarket Monday night, Stewart promised to crack down on illegal immigration across the state if elected. He echoed Trump, who repeatedly hit on the need to “build a wall” to keep out the migrant caravan and other illegal border crossers. But Stewart would go on to lose
big in Prince William County, where he has held the top elected post since 2006. In the county, Stewart was about 29 percentage points behind Kaine at 10 p.m., garnering just 34 percent of the vote to Kaine’s 63.8 percent. Kaine’s campaign was largely a polar opposite of Stewart’s, as he spoke often of building “a Virginia that works for all.” Turnout was heavy across the state on Tuesday. In Prince William County, election officials predicted at least 50 to 60 percent of voters turned out to the polls despite the gray and rainy weather. During his concession speech Tuesday, Stewart thanked his supporters and said his loss was a result of “the swamp not giving up yet.” “We always knew the midterm elections were going to be very, very tough,” Stewart said. “But I want to let you know, what happened in 2016 was just the beginning. …Tonight, we hit a speed bump.” Reach Jill Palermo at jpalermo@ fauquier.com
Wittman claimed victory with 56 percent of the vote and earned his seventh term. Williams finished with 43 percent, with 95 percent of precincts counted. Wittman said in a statement that he’ll continue his work supporting veterans, improving education, providing seniors with a secure retirement and ensuring constituents have access to a health care system that offers quality and choice. Williams was vying to be the first black woman to represent Virginia in the U.S. House of Representatives. “Everywhere we’ve gone, we’ve crossed boundaries and Rep. Rob Wittman broken them,” Williams said on Tuesday. On the campaign trail, the strategic planner for a federal contractor, always in her signature red jacket, called health care a “human right” and talked about student loans, broadband access and environmental issues. Tuesday, Williams said turnout there resembled that of 2008, when President Obama was on the ballot for the first time. “That’s amazing,” she said. “It means the 400,000 doors we knocked on made a difference.” In the 10th District race, as of 9:08 p.m. with 92 percent of the vote in, Wexton had about 54 percent of the vote — 164,190 unofficial ballots — to Comstock’s nearly 45 percent — 85,567 unofficial votes. The Democrat carried the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park handily with 60 percent or more of the vote, but lost Prince William County to Republican Comstock
by more than 4 percentage points in unofficial results. The hard-fought race saw each candidate raise more than $5 million to fund their campaigns, and each spent heavily on broadcast ads. In them, Comstock charged that Wexton approved high tolls on Interstate 66 while she was a state senator, a claim Wexton denied. Wexton, in turn, sought to tie Comstock to President Donald Trump, dubbing her “Trumpstock” in ads. Wexton dropped by the Tyler precinct in Gainesville at around noon on Tuesday to greet voters arriving to vote at George G. Tyler Elementary School. “Turnout is high. We’ve seen that across the district,” Wexton said. “We’ve been to several places — in Loudoun, Clarke, Frederick and now Prince William.” Wexton said her game plan for the campaign was to “talk to as many voters as possible and impress upon them the good things that can be done for the district and about my record.” The 10th District stretches from wealthy D.C. suburbs to rural areas close to the West Virginia border. Comstock has held the seat since 2014 and said her internal polling shows a tight race while other external polls showed Wexton ahead. Comstock campaigned as someone who works across the political divide to get things done for her constituents. She was first elected to Congress in 2014. She served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2010 to 2015. Wexton has been serving as a state senator representing the 33rd District, which includes a large part of Loudoun County and western Fairfax County. Reach James Ivancic at jivancic@fauquier.com.