LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 3, No. 31 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Cast your votes! See page 32
June 14, 2018 ]
It’s Wexton v. Comstock on November Ballot BY DANIELLE NADLER & RENSS GREENE
school and that’s great, but at the same time I’ll be leaving behind all the friends and memories that I made.” On Monday, Tuscarora graduates heard from fellow Huskie Amanda Presgraves, who was part of the school’s first graduating class six years ago. She was assigned to attend the then-new high school despite her protests to stay at Loudoun County. She ended her first day at Tuscarora in tears at her locker. But that night, she decided to make the most of her situation. She borrowed $3,000 from her grandparents to get T-shirts made with Tuscarora colors and logos. She sold the shirts out of her Subaru and, within a few days, sold out. Shortly after, she created the student cheering section at games, dubbing it Huskie Ter-
The stage is set for a showdown in November. Jennifer Wexton, a state senator and Leesburg resident, won a six-way race in Tuesday’s primary election to earn the party’s nomination. She’ll challenge Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock in the 10th Congressional District. Wexton garnered 42 percent of the votes, nearly a 2-to-1 lead over her nearest contender, Alison K. Friedman. In the Republican primary, Comstock easily brushed off a challenge from the right by Shak Hill, holding onto 60 percent of the votes district-wide. While Comstock garnered more primary votes in her two-way race than Wexton, Democratic primary turnout overall far outpaced Republican, drawing more than 7,000 more Democrats than Republicans to the polls. In the Republican U.S. Senate primary, Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart garnered 51 percent of the vote in Loudoun but only narrowly beat Del. Nick Freitas statewide with 45 percent of the vote. E.W. Jackson placed a distant third with 12 percent. Stewart, who narrowly lost out on the GOP’s gubernatorial nomination last year, will face incumbent Democrat Tim Kaine, the former Virginia governor who was most recently his party’s vice presidential nominee, in November. Wexton, the lone Loudouner in the crowded House race, said her landslide victory was “no surprise at all.” It’s very consistent with what we’ve been seeing the field, and what we‘ve been hearing as we’ve been out talking with voters in the district,” Wexton said. And she said the victory indicates going into the contest for the 10th Congressional district, “people are engaged and excited, and they’re turning out. They’re going to keep working between now and November, and change is coming.” Wexton, 50, has represented the 33rd District since 2014, when the seat was
GRADUATION >> 43
PRIMARY >> 47
Danielle Nadler/Loudoun Now
Tuscarora High School graduates bask in cheers from their friends and family at a commencement ceremony Monday. This week, Loudoun County’s high schools will graduate a combined 5,890 students.
The Big Send-off
Loudoun High Schools Graduate Nearly 6,000
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BY DANIELLE NADLER arents snapped pictures, friends blasted air horns, bands played “Pomp and Circumstance” and graduates sent beach balls and squared caps flying. The scenes are unfolding at commencement ceremonies throughout the county—and in Fairfax at the EagleBank Arena—this week as Loudoun’s 16 public high schools celebrate their largest combined class of 5,890 graduates. During commencement ceremonies so far this week, guest speakers have reflected on all that the students have accomplished to reach the finish line and offered them plenty of advice for their futures. At Douglass School’s ceremony, Mi-
chael Richards, Loudoun County Public Schools’ chief of staff, commended the graduates of the alternative school for reaching the milestone despite obstacles they may have faced. “That’s an amazing thing. At your age, to have overcome those major challenges to get where you are now, that’s a skill that’s going to serve you very well in life,” he said. Dominion High School graduates got some advice from their AP psychology and biology teacher Joseph Haberman, who nudged them to value life experiences over possessions. Dominion graduate Jackson Steele, who will attend University of Alabama this fall, said he walked away from Sunday’s commencement ceremony feeling excited, but also a little sad. “The whole thing hasn’t entirely hit me yet, but it’s a little bitter sweet. I’m done with high
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