November 6 - 12, 2025
Falls Church, Virginia • w w w . fc n p . c o m • Free
Founded 1991 • Vol. XXXV N o . 39
The City of Falls Church’s Independent, Locally-Owned Newspaper of Record, Serving N. Virginia
Incumbents BIG ELECTION SWEEP & Agin Win Big for F.C. Council Incumbents Also Win In School Board Race by Nicholas F. Benton
Falls Church News-Press
Notwithstanding one School Board slot technically still up for grabs, all incumbents won Tuesday’s re-election in the City of Falls Church’s City Council and School Board elections Tuesday in a strong show of support for the City’s achievements in recent years, including its 17 cent reduction in the real estate tax rate while building a new $120 million state of the art high school. In the fourth-place spot on the School Board, incumbent Kathleen Tysse holds a 56 vote lead over newcomer Sharon Mergler with about 150 provisional ballots still to be processed by Voter Registrar David Bjerke’s office. The resolution of those ballots should be done before this weekend, Bjerke told the News-Press. Two big parties overlapped at the Little City’s Clare and Don’s Beach Shack after the
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AT TUESDAY NIGHT’S VICTORY PARTY following the closing of the polls, incumbent Falls Church City Council members Marybeth Connelly and Laura Downs referred to the tally board as supporters cheered. (Photo: Falls Church News-Press)
Del. Simon: With Big Dem Wins, Redistricting Goes Ahead
by Del. Marcus B. Simon
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RICHMOND, Va. — It’s been a remarkable week in Virginia politics even by our standards. Between the Special Session on redistricting and Tuesday’s historic election results, the Commonwealth has made it clear that both our maps and our political direction are about to change. On the redistricting front, the General Assembly returned to
Richmond for a special session to consider a constitutional amendment that would allow us to redraw Virginia’s Congressional districts midcycle. In 2020, voters approved the so-called “independent” Virginia Redistricting Commission, an experiment that produced gridlock and ultimately forced the Supreme Court of Virginia to step in and draw the maps itself. Democrats, who current-
ly hold narrow majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, made the case that this amendment is about leveling the playing field. With Republican-controlled states like Texas, North Carolina, and Florida aggressively redrawing lines to protect their incumbents, Virginia’s leadership argued that sitting on our hands would amount to unilateral disarmament. The House passed the mea-
sure 51-42, and the Senate followed suit 21-16, both along party lines. Critics called the Special Session an overreach, claiming the legislature had gone beyond its original scope. But supporters note that Virginia’s Constitution clearly allows the General Assembly to initiate amendments, and that doing so through the normal legislative
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