Falls Church News-Press 11-2-2023

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Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free

November 2 - 8, 2023 Founded 1991 • V o l . X X X III N o . 38

The City of Falls Church’s Independent, Locally-Owned Newspaper of Record, Serving N. Virginia

F.C. Council Election Up For Grabs On Tuesday

COSTUMED REVELERS ON BIKES

Polls Open 6 a.m to 7 p.m. At 3 Falls Church Precincts by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

A long and hard-fought City Council race in the City of Falls Church culminates next Tuesday, Nov. 7, when three seats on the seven–member Council will be filled by three of the four candidates with the most votes. Turnout among those voting early has been somewhat less than some have expected but not for any lack of important issues and campaigns being involved. There are four candidates but essentially two sides represented by the contenders. One side, with three candidates, is led by incumbent Vice Mayor Letty Hardi, seeking a third four-year term, and includes first time Council candidates Tim Stevens and Justine Underhill, all of whom were endorsed by the regional Sierra Club chapter. On the other side is Erin Flynn, a relative newcomer to the City who has been critical of recent actions by the Council, in particular to its 5-2 vote to modify zoning in the City’s transitional zones. It has developed into a faceoff between Hardi, who has spearheaded the past decades’ extraordinary achievements of a new $120 million high school, renovated City Hall and Library and substantial improvements in sidewalks and residential neighborhoods while lowering the real estate tax rate by 13 cents, and Flynn, who took the losing side on the zoning change issue.

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LAST SATURDAY, FALLS CHURCH FORWARD hosted its Kidical Mass Halloween Parade Ride. The public was invited to participate on bike, scooter, roller blades, other two-wheelers or in their walking shoes. (Photo: Gary Mester)

Virginia’s Election Tuesday a National Bellwether

by Nicholas F. Benton

Falls Church News-Press

Tuesday’s general election in Virginia has every single state delegate and senator on ballots around the state, given that is the case, the election here is considered a bellwether nationally on what issues matter most to voters going into the 2024 presidential election year. Here, there is no doubt that the issue of abortion and of the rights of women to determine what happens to their own bodies is being seen by Democrats as mattering most in almost every race. With Democrats holding a razor thin lead in the State Senate and just barely

down in the House, they are counting on the abortion issue and Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s backwardness on the issue to tip the balance in their favor. State Del. Marcus Simon, who represents Falls Church in the Richmond legislature, faces only nominal opposition in his race, and he’s been helping other Democrats in the wider region with their efforts. He appeared with a large contingent of his fellow Democratic lawmakers and some challengers hopeful of winning seats at a rally at a home in Alexandria earlier this week that was keynoted by U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete

Buttigieg. On the other side, the main news has been the influx of millions of dollars from Republicans nationwide to help out GOP candidates. Buttigieg told supporters that this Virginia election is being seen as a “canary in the coal mine” nationally, in terms of being an early tipoff of what can be expected to move voters in the coming year. He quipped that in Virginia Republicans are “trying to block, not build,” referring to ongoing efforts to take voters off the rolls. On that score, on Monday Vi rg i n i a ’s Democratic

Congressional delegation sent a follow-up letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland calling on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate the Youngkin Administration’s improper removal of nearly 3,400 eligible voters from the rolls. The letter was signed by U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (Both D-VA), and Representatives Robert C. “Bobby” Scott (VA-03), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Donald Beyer (VA-08), Abigail Spanberger (VA-07), Jennifer Wexton (VA-10) and Jennifer McClellan (VA-04).

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