Staunch Loudoun Republican Reconsiders Her Label

"All Republicans don't have to agree 100 percent of the time," she said. "We're going to have areas of agreement and areas of disagreement. But I feel like, in Loudoun County, growth has become a kind of litmus test for whether you are Republican or not, and that's simply not right."

Supervisor Stephen J. Snow (R-Dulles), one of Waters' greatest critics, disagrees.

"If people who run for politics want to run in a party, but want to be independent and not be part of that team, then I would suggest that person is really an Independent," Snow said. "If you're in a party, I don't believe you can cherry-pick and take out of a platform what you want."

Ryan, Waters's opponent, said her about-face was a response to a "change in the political winds" and pressure from anti-growth groups. He said she has sought to distance herself from her colleagues because of an FBI investigation into some supervisors' cozy relationships with developers.

"She flip-flops," said Ryan, human resources director for a technology company, who ran unsuccessfully for the board a few years ago. "She lost Republican support because she has been disingenuous to other Republicans."

Of the 722 delegates from the Broad Run area who registered for today's convention, Ryan said his campaign signed up 400. Although not all registered delegates will show up, and they may might change their minds once they arrive, it is likely to be a close race.

Waters says she will accept the results of the convention if she thinks the process has been fair. If not, she said, she will still have to think hard before taking such a drastic measure as declaring as an independent.

If she does go it alone, Waters will be the second supervisor to disavow the Loudoun GOP over its stance on growth. Scott K. York, the board's chairman and another moderate on development issues, declared as an independent during the 2004 campaign. Although he said his situation was different from Waters's, he sympathized with her predicament.

"She is the one [on the board] you could label a Republican's Republican, and yet, because of this one issue, there are people in the party who want to kick her out," York said.