Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) won the special election for Fairfax County Board of Supervisors chairman Feb. 3 by a narrow margin of less than two percent.
In a countywide race where 107,713 votes were cast, Bulova beat Supervisor Patrick Herrity (R-Springfield) by 1,217 votes, according to unofficial results reported by Fairfax County.

Bulova will be sworn in as the county chairman Feb. 6. She follows U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11), who resigned from the position in early January to join the U.S. Congress.

As chairman, Bulova, a 21-year board veteran, has her work cut out for her in 2009.

Fairfax County must close a projected $650 million budget hole in next year’s budget and the supervisors would have to raise the property tax rate 14 to 15 cents just to keep most residents’ property taxes approximately the same.

"This is going to be a tough time and I am going to need you to be understanding," said Bulova to the crowd during her victory speech.

THE BULOVA-HERRITY race is the closest high-profile county-wide contest between a Democrat and Republican in several years.

With the exception of U.S. Sen. John Warner’s last race, Democrats have typically dominated top-of-the-ballot elections in Fairfax for the past eight years.

Mark Warner and Tim Kaine won their respective races for Virginia governor in 2001 and 2005 with 54 percent and 58 percent of the vote in Fairfax County.

Democrat U.S. Sen. Jim Webb (D) beat incumbent U.S. Sen. George Allen (R) with 58 percent of Fairfax’s vote in 2006. Both Democratic presidential candidates — John Kerry and Barack Obama — also won Fairfax County, with 52 percent of the vote in 2004 and 59 percent of the vote in 2008.

The last two Fairfax County chairmen, Connolly and Democrat Kate Hanley, also won Fairfax County chairman’s race by a larger margin than Bulova.

Hanley beat former Supervisor Elaine McConnell (R-Springfield) in a 1995 special election with 52 percent of the vote and approximately 3,500 ballots. During her 1999 re-election campaign, she faced minimal competition from other candidates.
In 2004, Connolly won his first chairman’s race by nine points and approximately 17,000 ballots. Connolly then beat Republican candidate Gary Baise by over 20 points and 45,000 votes in 2007.

IN THIS WEEK’S election, Bulova also lost two magisterial districts, Mount Vernon and Dranesville, which Hanley and Connolly had won in the four most recent county chairman elections.

"Herrity was competitive in more magisterial districts than I thought he would be. … I think the Republicans are very motivated and the Democrats are feeling content," said Scott Surovell, head of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee.

According to Bulova, Democratic voters may also have been distracted by the winter holidays and historic presidential inauguration during short chairman’s campaign.

Connolly added that Bulova also had to overcome Herrity’s name recognition. Though Bulova has served on the county board two decades longer than her Republican opponent , Herrity’s father, Jack, was a well-known Fairfax County board chairman for 12 years during the 1970s and 1980s.

VOTER TURNOUT countywide was low, 16.1 percent, but higher than several polling place officials said they expected for a special election, particularly given the light snowfall in the morning.

Some residents who do not normally participate in "off year" elections said they felt compelled to show up because of the county’s fiscal crisis.

"I do not usually vote in special elections but it seems like we have some financial issues in the county that we need to deal with," said Clifton resident Duane Freer, who supported Herrity.

Others said they had come out because one of the political parties had contacted them and reminded them the election was taking place that day.

"This is my first time voting in a special election. I am a member of the Democratic Women of Clifton and I got an email from them this morning that said we needed to come out and vote," said Dana Jones, a 22 year-old who brought her mother and sister to the polling station with her.

Residents who lived in either Bulova or Herrity’s home magisterial districts were also motivated to turn out for the special election. Of the county’s nine magisterial districts, Braddock — which Bulova has represented for over 20 years — had the highest voter turnout of 22 percent.

Springfield — which Herrity and his father have both represented — had the second highest, with 18.9 percent.

With 11.9 percent, Sully was the magisterial district with the lowest turnout in the special election. It is also the only district besides Herrity’s Springfield that is represented by a Republican, Michael Frey, on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

SUPPORTERS expect Bulova will bring a new style to the county chairman’s position .
Nearly of all of Fairfax County’s recent chairman — Connolly, Hanley , Tom Davis, Audrey Moore and Jack Herrity — had "larger than life" personalities. But Bulova has a quiet, more measured leadership style, said Florence Naeve, who worked as Bulova’s chief of staff for 20 years.

"Each chairman was right for their time and Sharon is right for the time we face now. … People feel comfortable with her and both sides of the aisle trust her. She is a calm leader. This is going to be a difficult budget cycle and Sharon is the right person to lead the county now," said Naeve.