The board’s only Democrat will seek re-election this November, reversing a decision made last September.
Supervisor Sally Kurtz (D-Catoctin) announced, Friday, April 6, she would run for re-election, hoping to serve a third term on the Board of Supervisors.
"I am ready to go," she said. "I am sort of re-energized."
Kurtz is the only Democrat serving on the Republican-dominated board. Two supervisors, Jim Burton (Blue Ridge) and Chairman Scott York (At large), serve as Independents. Last year, as the board has made decisions on the zoning of Loudoun’s rural west and proposed development in the Dulles South area, Kurtz stood strongly in support of the county’s rural economy and downzoning.
When Kurtz announced she would not run for a third term last September, she said the decision had nothing to do with the direction the Republican-dominated board had taken the county.
Friday, however, she said the last three and a half years have been "weathering" and she was determined to continue to represent the interests of Catoctin citizens.
"They’re not happy and I’m not happy with the direction," she said. "For me, personally, I have walked out of this board room saying they are going to make me mad enough to run again."
KURTZ’S ANNOUNCEMENT also officially ended the campaign of Tamar Datan Johnston, who filed her intent to seek Kurtz’s seat earlier this year. Johnston, who is chairman of the county's Economic Development Commission and the Housing Advisory Board, said she decided to step down because of other opportunities that became available.
"I have the opportunity to work for an organization that is looking to support a two-state solution in the Middle East," Johnston said. She said the opportunity is very important to her because she was born in Jerusalem.
Both Johnston and Kurtz said the decision for Johnston to withdraw and Kurtz to run came at the same time.
"We had a series of meetings," Johnston said. "It was a process that we sort of walked through together."
Kurtz said she hopes to center her next term on what she dubbed the three R’s: restoring tightly managed growth, reforming how the board works and returning the focus of the board.
"This board has eroded what was a pretty solid big picture for the county," Kurtz said, of the county’s continued growth.
Kurtz will face either Geary M. Higgins or Robert Bruton, both Republicans, in the November election.
— Erika Jacobson