Moderate Challenger Takes on Old Hand

Race Pits Experience vs. Vow of Change

Voters of the 39th Senate District, which includes a swath of southern Fairfax County and a slice of Prince William County, will choose between an incumbent Republican with more than 15 years of legislative experience and a Democratic challenger promising change.

Sen. James K. "Jay" O'Brien Jr., 55, an office furniture salesman, entered the House of Delegates in 1992 and moved to the Senate a decade later. Known as one of the more conservative members of the General Assembly, O'Brien opposes abortion and taxes and supports school vouchers.

As Northern Virginia has grown increasingly Democratic-leaning, O'Brien has taken on issues designed to appeal to a changing electorate: a ban on cellphone use among teen drivers, a transportation package that will send more than $400 million annually to Northern Virginia and higher pay for teachers.

"What I feel most comfortable with is legislation about businesses and families, maybe because I have a large family and I am in business," said O'Brien, who lives with his wife and five children in Clifton.

His challenger is Democrat George L. Barker, 56, a health services planner and also a Clifton resident, who has presented himself to voters as more moderate than O'Brien. He supports incentives to encourage energy conservation, more funding for public schools and state universities and more attention to transportation.

Barker has criticized O'Brien for his support of the transportation package during the last General Assembly session, particularly the steep fees for bad drivers.

"He can't try to hide by saying, 'I only voted for it because it was part of a transportation package,' " Barker said. "He was a direct sponsor of that bill."

O'Brien counters that Barker cannot criticize the abusive-driver fees unless he is willing to let Northern Virginia go without money for road and transit maintenance and construction. "He can't have it both ways," O'Brien said.

The candidates are not as far apart on illegal immigration. O'Brien is the lead sponsor of a Republican initiative to crack down on illegal immigrants by blocking them from attending public universities, punishing employers who hire them, and requiring city and county jails to check defendants' immigration status.

Barker supports training law enforcement officers to detain illegal immigrants, but he criticizes O'Brien for promoting measures that Democrats have been talking about for several years. Barker said efforts to curtail illegal immigration must not send an unwelcoming message to legal residents.

"We have benefited tremendously in Northern Virginia from legal immigration over the last 30 or 40 years and the diversity that has resulted," Barker said. "We have to make sure that we do not do things that negatively affect those people who are here legally."

Barker has received endorsements from abortion-rights advocates, labor and teacher organizations, the Sierra Club, the National Organization for Women and the National Association of Social Workers. O'Brien has received endorsements from auto dealers, farmers, real estate agents, doctors, insurance agents and state police.