The original version of this article appeared at baconsrebellion.com.

Virginia candidates for school boards, municipal councils, and townships appear without the “D” or “R” in front of their names. Commissioner of Revenue and Treasurer are two constitutional officers who appear on the ballot without “Ds” or “Rs”. Charters of each town or city may make exceptions.

According to this theory, local issues like school boundaries, trash collection, utility rates and zoning are not usually partisan. Many towns and cities across the Commonwealth chose to hold their election in May in order to avoid being included in the

On the ballot in November, partisanship is a major issue.

Political parties use legislative processes to their advantage, for example by redistricting and timing elections. The parties also endorse and promote candidates for municipal elections and school board contests on “sample votes” that are given to voters at the polls.

In 2021, both the Democrat-controlled Virginia General Assembly, and Governor. Ralph Northam, a Democrat from Virginia, decided that the elections for all school boards, town councils and municipal offices must be held in November. The May option has been removed.

Lionel Spruill, then State Senator (D-Chesapeake), was the chief sponsor of this bill. He argued May elections are a vestige of Jim Crow to prevent blacks from voting. The Virginia Municipal League and Norfolk, both of which had majority-black councils, opposed the bill.

The Progressive Movement implemented spring council elections to take local races and issues off the November partisan ballot, and to undermine the city machine’s power. But those facts meant nothing to the Democrats, who pushed the law through – in my view, to bury non-Democrat-endorsed candidates in the growing fall “Blue Wave.”

I spoke against the bill in Zoom even though in 2010-11 I was the one who led the campaign to change the date of the council elections in Leesburg from May to December, through a referendum. This move was made to increase turnout and limit the influence of a few voters on town affairs (i.e. NIMBYs and a level playing field for Democrats and Republicans who endorsed candidates in the council elections.

Vienna and some towns/cities chose to have elections held in November of odd years, to coincide with county and state races. In 2023, Vienna’s Mayor and Council candidates agreed to not accept party endorsements. Purcellville in Loudoun County has also chosen to refrain from accepting any.

Fairfax City, however, is a completely different city. As in November 2022, Catherine Read, the mayor of Fairfax City, and her Democratic colleagues are pushing hard for the label.

Read stated in an article published last month by “The Patch”, “What we are talking about isn’t partisanship.” What we are about and what you should know about us is what matters. “I stand for values that are Democratic Party.”

Read is aware that the Republican Party units in Fairfax County and Fairfax City are small. You will find signs in Fairfax City for both her and the Democrat-endorsed Council candidate Billy Bates, as well as Sen. Tim Kaine, Rep. Gerry Connolly and Democratic Kamala Bates on lawns.

The so-called Party of the People is so brazen that, in 2023 the Democrat-endorsed School Board Candidates put the word “Democrat” on their yard signs, even though legally they ran as nonpartisan – and all of them won.

Fairfax City is bucking the partisanship trend with a group of independent, Democrat and Republican candidates running for mayor and city council.

Former Senator Chap Peterson is a former Democrat whose families have been a part of the city since 19th century. Fairfax County supervisor Pat Herrity is a Republican.

The City GOP is not endorsing candidates, but generally supports the Peterson/Herrity-backed slate.

Read’s opponent is Susan Hartley Kuiler who is reportedly a Democrat. There are eleven candidates for the six seats on the council – six of whom run as “independents” and three endorsed Dems. (Visit www.IndependentFairfaxCity.com.)

Peterson wrote in an email that “These exceptional people are fighting against a Political Establishment who believes no one can be elected unless they have a D or R by their names.”

It’s also about revenge. The election is also about payback.

I and other City observers believe that Read aided Salim, because Peterson supported her Republican opponent for 2022, Sang Yi who was close to defeating her. Salim was my opponent in the race for State Senate (37), which I ran as a Republican.

Peterson drew ire from Fairfax County Democrats as well for voting to repeal the COVID face mask requirement and helping defeat an assault weapon ban bill.

Peterson lost his primary and ended up supporting Herrity’s reelection as well as a GOP-endorsed candidate for the county school board. He is therefore clearly not popular with both local and state Democrats.

I’m glad that there is an Independent slate. I doubt its success though, with the exception of Kate Doyle-Feingold, and Jeff Greenfield who are both incumbents. Last year, I spent a great deal of time campaigning in Fairfax City and found that many voters were not happy with Read’s Leftist Agenda to house the homeless and increase housing density.

This is probably what voters should vote on. However, since it’s a presidential race with an expected turnout of 75-80%, most likely, voters will show up and support Harris, Kaine, and Connolly and then blindly fill in the circle for the Democrat City slate. Voters in blue areas follow the Democratic Party pied-piper regardless of other issues, such as “nonpartisanship in government”.

These low-information voters may also “bullet vote”, which means they will only support the Democratic candidates, thereby suppressing Independent votes. I predict that the incumbents Feingold and Greenfield will be in the fourth and fifth places, with Anthony Amos possibly taking the sixth slot, because Anthony Amos works for Herrity and has the best machine and raised the most funds (approximately $25,000).

In Northern Virginia, the November election makes local and school board elections more partisan. This works in Democrats’ favor these days. Peterson, to his credit, voted against Spruill’s bill. However, the law remains unchanged. It is a bad sign for Virginia, because even in GOP areas pure nonpartisan candidates are unlikely to succeed, making local elections and school board contests more partisan.