Convention Over, GOP Takes Stock

The Republican Party convention is over, but campaign season in Loudoun County has just begun.

The nine Republican nominees for the Board of Supervisors are preparing for a highly charged race leading to the Nov. 6 general election, which is likely to center on the contentious issues of growth, transportation and school funding. The GOP, which has a 6 to 3 majority on the board, faces stiff competition from Democrats seeking to wrest back control.

"I think our vision of the future will carry the day, but I don't think any of the races are going to be easy," said Thom Beres, chairman of the Loudoun County Democratic Committee.

The seven Democrats seeking seats on the board will argue that the GOP's pro-development policies have clogged roads, increased taxes and left the school system scrambling to provide classrooms for the waves of incoming students.

Over the next five months, Beres said, they plan to attack Republican incumbents on development, saying they approved too many residential projects and not enough commercial ones, leaving residents to shoulder the fiscal burden of all the home building.

The Democratic candidates also say they think their message will appeal to the many voters who have moved to Loudoun recently from Democratic areas closer to Washington, such as Arlington, Alexandria and parts of Fairfax County. That population shift helps explain why Loudoun voted for James Webb (D) in the U.S. Senate race last year and Timothy M. Kaine (D) in the gubernatorial campaign the year before, Democratic leaders said.

But Supervisor Mick Staton Jr. (R-Sugarland Run) said he doesn't think the county has gone blue. He noted that 54 percent of Loudoun voters supported a constitutional amendment last year to define marriage as being only between a man and woman.

"If the Democrats were so resurgent, how did that amendment ever succeed?" Staton said.

Robert Bruton, who lost the Republican nomination for the board seat in the Catoctin District at Saturday's convention, said he thinks Loudoun Republicans will set aside their differences and succeed by sticking to the party's core tenets: small government, low taxes and accountability.

"Growth is the most divisive issue in the party, but most Republicans agree on 90 percent of the issues," said Bruton, who endorsed his Republican opponent, Geary M. Higgins, after Saturday's vote. "I think we're going to focus on that 90 percent on which we agree and not the 10 percent on which we don't."

But party unity was not the top priority for all Republicans. Two of the candidates defeated at the GOP convention -- Sheriff Stephen O. Simpson and John W. Ryan Jr., who narrowly lost the Broad Run District nomination to incumbent Supervisor Lori L. Waters -- announced that they would run as independents.

Ryan, who had called Waters's voting record on development inconsistent and accused her of bowing to anti-growth groups, released a statement Tuesday that said many supporters urged him to continue his bid for the Broad Run seat.