Sterling-resident and small-business owner, Patricia Phillips is seeking the Republican nomination for the Senate's 33rd district seat, currently held by Democrat Mark Herring.
"I recognized that Mark Herring was elected by a very small margin," Phillips, who has been precinct operations chairman for the Loudoun County Republican Committee for the past couple of years, said. "Only 8 percent of people in the county voted for him. That doesn't mean that he's got overwhelming support in the county."
Phillips, the former state director of Concerned Women for America, said she believes she more closely represents the people within the 33rd District and all the Republican Party needs is a "good, strong candidate."
"I don't believe that the county has 'gone blue,'" Phillips said.
Phillips, who has been a resident of Loudoun for 19 years, in the is the mother of two children, ages 5 and 18.
"I have seen this county grow exponentially," she said.
Transportation and traffic are the top-two issues facing the county, Phillips said, with taxes following close behind, but people tend to forget how the issues are related.
"Everyone wants economic growth in the county, but when you bring jobs in, people are going to want a place to live," she said. "Economic development precipitates the need for houses and the need for roads. It's all connected. You put in houses, you need more schools."
The challenge, Phillips said, is in managing the growth, not stopping it all together.
"Putting a halt to growth just stifles it for a time," she said. "That's not really managing growth. We need to recognize property rights and recognize that we can't keep the county stagnant."
When it comes to roads, Phillips acknowledged that leaders in Richmond have not done their part to deliver a road system, but says that the idea of transferring road network responsibility to the localities should be looked at.
"Virginia is one of three or four states that still control road management at the state level," she said. "[State legislators] aren't here; they don't see it. It just makes sense that the closer governance is to the people the more they are in touch with the communities' needs."
Phillips said she thinks the government needs to "get back to basics" and focus on its core responsibilities, such as transportation, taxes and education.
"In education, there should be less control and direction from Richmond," she said. "Let them do what they do best, which is teaching children."
With the state's finite resources, Phillips said, those closer to the issues are more able to deal with solving the problem.
"The people that are there in the day-to-day operations are best suited to manage the limited funding," she said. "We need to meet our core responsibilities first and then see what money is left over for other things."
As the owner of Phillips Resources, a small consulting firm founded in 1985, Phillips said she has a level of practical application that will serve her well in the state Senate. Phillips has worked extensively in schools food service, helping to create nutritional goals for schools lunch programs.
"I have experienced working with different levels of government, including local and state," she said. "I have experience building consensus and bringing focuses together to find a common ground that can help improve the programs."
In addition, working in the small business arena, Phillips said, has given her the first-hand understanding of business owners.
"I certainly can appreciate everything that small businesses go through," she said.