Partisan Politics Emerge In 2022 Fairfax City Mayor's Race

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — When voters head to the polls on Nov. 8, they may be handed a sample ballot from the City of Fairfax Democratic Committee showing the names of candidates the party supports.

Such a flyer is commonplace in other jurisdictions like Fairfax County, where volunteers from both the Democratic and Republican parties routinely hand out campaign literature.

But the sample ballot being handed out by Fairfax City Democrats is unprecedented, because the mayoral and city council races have traditionally been nonpartisan.

In fact, the words partisan, nonpartisan, or party, in reference to a political party, do not appear in the Fairfax City Charter. The only defining guidance comes under section 3.3 [Conduct of general municipal election]:

"The ballots used in the election of Council members and Mayor shall be without any distinguishing mark or symbol."

A sample ballot for the Nov. 8 election on the Fairfax City Board of Elections website shows that while congressional candidates Gerald E. "Gerry" Connolly - D" and "James G. 'Jim' Myles - R" have a letter denoting their party, that is not the case for the other candidates on the ballot.

In Fairfax City, the mayor and members of both the city council and school board are considered "independents" on the ballot.

This is how the Virginia Board of Elections defines that term: "Independent – an individual who is seeking to run in a General Election without the nomination from the Republican or Democratic party (may include a recognized party or no party)."

In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed and former Gov. Ralph Northam signed into law SB 1157, which shifted municipal elections from May to November beginning with the 2022 election cycle. Starting this year, Fairfax City residents will choose a new mayor and members of the city council and school board in November rather than May.

The bill was viewed as controversial at the time, passing only after Lt. Gov Justin Fairfax cast the tie-breaking vote in the Virginia Senate, according to the Virginia Mercury. The House of Delegates later approved the bill on a 50 to 44 vote, with one abstention.

Supporters of the bill said it would streamline the election process, as well as lead to greater voter turnout and more inclusion.

“Nobody votes in the May election,” said Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr., D-Chesapeake, who sponsored the legislation, according to the Virginia Mercury.

Democrat Sen. Chap Petersen of Fairfax voted against the bill, saying at the time that municipalities should be allowed to make their own decision.

The Virginia Municipal League took a similar stance.

“The coincidence of local elections with those at the state and federal level inherently raises the level of partisanship of all elections, regardless of whether candidates are running without any party affiliation,” the group said, in January 2021, according to the Virginia Mercury. “By the same token, it introduces partisan politics to nonpartisan local issues; political parties make little difference when it comes to community projects like paving roads and keeping the streetlights on.”

The Tale of Two Flyers

Kathy Hackshaw, the vice chair of the City of Fairfax Democratic Committee, said her organization had released sample ballots in previous elections in the city, with checks next to the names of candidates the committee supported.

"We would just simply list all the names as close as we could to make it look exactly like the city ballot, so people could be familiar," she said, adding that the handouts did not include any other marks identifying with which party a candidate might be associated. "From my experience working the polls, people might come up to me and say, 'Can you just tell me who's Republican or who's a Democrat?'"

What prompted the Fairfax City Democrats to begin handing out the new sample ballot was a fundraiser that mayoral candidate Sang Yi held on June 24 at the Country Club of Fairfax. Tickets to the event ranged from $75 all the way up to the $5,000 "Finance Committee Chair" level, which provided access to a private reception with the event's guest of honor, Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The fundraiser happened three days after the city's June 21 filing deadline for candidates running in the November election.

Coincidentally, June 24 was also the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion. Earlier in the day, Youngkin applauded the court's decision, saying he would protect "the life of unborn children," possibly by banning abortions after 15 weeks, according to the Virginia Mercury.

In addition to Youngkin, the flyer for Yi's fundraiser included the names of other prominent Virginia Republicans, including former Congressman Tom Davis, former state Sen. Jeannemarie Davis, Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, and former Del. Tim Hugo.

James Myles, the Republican running against incumbent Gerry Connolly in the 11th District Congressional race, was also at the fundraiser and posted photos on Twitter about it.

A great evening at the huge Sang Yi event in Fairfax. Had a chance to meet and discuss our campaign with Governor Youngkin and Pat Herrity and Sang Yi. Full speed ahead to November! pic.twitter.com/C5gwVKiSN5
— James Myles (@Myles11CD) June 25, 2022

When asked about the fundraiser, Yi said various city residents, including some Democrats, attended the event.

"One thing to remember, in this race right now for mayor, it's nonpartisan," he said, adding that six of the nine candidates running for city council have endorsed him. "Some of them are considered Democrats. Some are considered not-Democrats. It's people of all political stripes.

A copy of Yi's flyer for the June 24 event could still be found as a calendar listing on the Fairfax County GOP's website as recently as Sept. 28, but it has since been removed.

When asked about whether the Fairfax GOP publishing his flyer on its website could be viewed as an endorsement, Yi said he did not ask the party to publish the flyer.

Hackshaw described the fundraiser as an "extremely partisan" event and not something candidates typically do in the city.

"Most people's kickoffs are meet-and-greets that are held in people's kitchens or backyards, or at a restaurant in the city, in a very hometown, nonpartisan way," she said.

In response, the leadership of the Fairfax Democrats decided to publish a sample ballot indicating the candidates the committee supported.

Four members of the committee who were on the Nov. 8 ballot recused themselves from the decision to create a sample ballot and anything to do with collecting information and choosing candidates to endorse, according to Hackshaw. This included mayoral candidate Catherine Read and city council candidates Tom Ross, and Billy Bates.

Read's husband, Tom Greeson, also recused himself from the entire sample ballot process, according to Hackshaw. Greeson is the current committee chairman and the former president of the Democratic Business Council of Northern Virginia.

The Fairfax Democrats sent emails to all the candidates in the mayoral and city council races. Two candidates told the committee they could not respond. As government employees, they were restricted from participating in any activities that could be viewed as partisan.

Below the title "Sample Ballot" is the name "Fairfax City Democratic Committee, " making it clear who is responsible for the flyer. In addition to Congressman Gerry Connolly, who is the only candidate identified with a "D" for Democrat, the sample ballot includes the names of Read, Bates, Ross, Jon R. Stehle Jr., and So Lim. The names of the other candidates are blurred out.

Committee volunteers began handing out the flyers to city voters who came to City Hall when early voting started on Sept. 23.

What Determines If A Candidate Is Nonpartisan?

Looking at a copy of the sample ballot on Friday, Yi admitted he wasn't sure how to respond to it.

"There was some kind of desire to maintain integrity of a ballot by making sure that there are not party affiliations next to the mayor and council candidates' names," he said. "Though the whole thing is kind of overcome by the fact that this is a Democratic sample ballot. In the meanwhile, while they were trying to maintain the integrity of the ballot, they also removed the names."

Yi confirmed that he received an email from the Fairfax City Democrats inviting him to fill out a questionnaire, but he declined to respond.

"I would have done the same if the City of Fairfax Republican Committee had sent me an email asking me to do that," he said. "I would probably ignore that, too."

While Yi said he is running for mayor as an independent, nonpartisan candidate, he has a history of associating with the Republican Party beyond his June 24 fundraiser.

In 2015, he ran as a Republican against incumbent Democrat David Bulova for the 37th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. He lost that race, but was elected in 2018 to the Fairfax City Council as a nonpartisan candidate.

Although the Fairfax County GOP has not formally endorsed Yi, Chairman Steve Knotts congratulated him on his 2018 election to the city council, noting that "more votes were cast for Republican Sang Yi than any other candidate on the ballot."

Last March, Supervisor Herrity included Councilman Yi and Todd Gilbert, the Republican speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, on the flyer for his St. Patrick's Day Party.

Prior to this year's Fourth of July parade, Karina Lipsman, the Republican candidate running in the 8th Congressional District race, shared an itinerary on Twitter that included councilman and mayoral candidate Yi as one of the "GOP participants."

Come join me on the Fourth of July with @FairfaxGOP at the biggest parade in the Commonwealth! I’ll be marching with @GovernorVA @Myles11CD @SangYi! Email [email protected] to march with us! pic.twitter.com/kwHHRAvmGG
— Karina Lipsman, Congressional Nominee VA-08 (@KarinaCongress) July 2, 2022

While Governor Youngkin and other GOP notables attended Yi's kickoff fundraiser and Republican candidates in partisan races have indicated their support for Yi, he did not consider that an endorsement by the party.

"Endorsement from a party would not be in keeping with the nonpartisan nature of these municipal races that are in the city charter," he said. "I have not received, I will not seek any party endorsement, and I will not receive any party endorsement, whether it's the Green Party, Democratic Party, Republican Party or the Libertarian Party or whatever other party. I will not do that."

Even though Yi has tried to play down his association with the Republican Party in order to keep the race nonpartisan, his opponent has been open about her long-time association with the Democratic Party.

"Everyone's accusing me, who's marched down the street for 14 years in the city with the Democrats, of being a partisan," Read said. "There's partisanship here. Now we can either deny that it exists or one side can take potshots at the other side for being partisan when, in fact, partisanship has already been there."

A campaign spokesperson told Patch that incumbent Congressman Gerry Connolly has openly endorsed Read. In addition, the candidate will be hosting an Oct. 22 canvass with Richmond's Democratic Mayor Levar Stoney and Susan Swecker, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Virginia.

Despite this, Read has attempted to embrace the fact that many people in the community want everything to be seen as nonpartisan. The Democratic Party is not referenced on her website nor in her mailings.

"When you run as nonpartisan and pretend like you don't have a party, it's disingenuous, especially when the governor has come and done a fundraiser for you," Read said. "It's the first time a sitting governor has ever inserted himself — because it's only ever been a him — into our city's elections."

The VirginiaMercury.com. assisted in the reporting of this story.