Both Parties Pinpointing 37th District

Democrats' Gains Open Fairfax House Contest

Virginia may be a red state and some Northern Virginia communities may be blue, but in the 37th House District, a suburban mix of Democrats and Republicans just outside the Capital Beltway, the political colors blend into purple.

For years, this area of central Fairfax County and Fairfax City supported GOP candidates in presidential and state elections.

But last November, it went Democratic in the presidential race. In 2001, Democrat J. Chapman Petersen barely upset Republican John H. "Jack" Rust Jr., who had held the House of Delegates seat for a decade. Petersen handily beat Rust in a rematch two years later.

Could the seat be going Democratic? Leaders in both parties say they don't know. But with Petersen bowing out to run for lieutenant governor, the 37th has become one of the state's few wide-open districts and a key test of the GOP's grip on central Fairfax.

"We are paying special attention to it," said House Speaker William J. Howell (R-Stafford). "I'd love to take it. It's not a slam-dunk Republican seat or a slam-dunk Democratic seat."

Said Dan Drummond, the Fairfax City Democratic chairman: "It's obviously a top target for both Republicans and Democrats. There's no question it's in play."

Two Democrats and two Republicans are running in the June 14 primaries.

On the GOP side is newcomer James L. Kaplan, 34, who was the first to declare his candidacy, in January, and former Fairfax City mayor John Mason, 70, who threw his name in just before the filing deadline in April.

The Democratic primary involves at-large Fairfax County School Board member Janet S. Oleszek, 58, who was the top vote-getter in the 2003 school elections, and David Bulova, 36, a member of the Soil and Water Conservation Board and the son of Fairfax Supervisor Sharon S. Bulova (D-Braddock).

The candidates focus on the same issues: transportation, taxes, education. But they vary widely in their experience and background.

Kaplan, who works in marketing and lobbying for a financial services firm, said a Republican delegate would be more effective because the party holds a majority in the General Assembly. He said he would work to get more money back from Richmond for schools and roads. He was also critical of Mason for raising taxes while he was mayor.

"John voted to increase property taxes. . . . He was a proponent of the sales tax referendum, which failed in Fairfax," Kaplan said. "As a homeowner, I have grave concerns about how taxes are increased."