This article was written 太子探花鈥檚 news partner, , and republished with permission.
Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey and Board member Katie Cristol will face no Democratic challengers during this year鈥檚 primary.
No additional Democratic challengers have filed for candidacy by yesterday鈥檚 registration deadline, and staff with the county鈥檚 Office of Elections confirmed to ARLnow that there are no other pending filings.
Most of the all-Democratic cast of incumbents up for re-election this year are running an uncontested primary, including:
- Delegates Mark Levine, Rip Sullivan, and Patrick Hope
- State Senators Adam Ebbin, Janet Howell
- Sheriff Beth Arthur
- Treasurer Carla de la Pava
- Commissioner of Revenue Ingrid Morroy
Only three of the county鈥檚 twelve races on the ballot are contested: the race for state Senator from the 31st District, delegate from the 49th District, and Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney.
Arlington鈥檚 primary election will welcome voters to the polls on June 11 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Any voters waiting in line by 7 p.m. can vote.
Commonwealth鈥檚 Attorney Theo Stamos is being challenged by Parisa Dehghani-Tafti, a former public defender who aims to usher in criminal justice reform and : 鈥淲e can no longer hope for reform from the very same lifelong prosecutors who鈥檝e spent their careers building this flawed machine.鈥�
Stamos, who has served as prosecutor for the last seven years, has drawn and says the endorsements demonstrate her 鈥渞ecord of competence, fairness and decency.鈥�
Del. Alfonso H. Lopez faces challenge from J.D. Spain, Sr., a Marine Corps veteran who helms the local NAACP chapter and 鈥渟harply draw a contrast鈥� on his and Lopez鈥檚 take on issues like housing affordability as Amazon鈥檚 arrival nears, and the achievement gap between black and white students in APS.
Lopez is the Democratic co-whip in the House of Delegates and hasn鈥檛 faced a challenger since his first election in 2011.
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The last contested race revolves around incumbent state Senator and former County Board member Barbara Favola.
Favola has said her 鈥渟trong record of accomplishment鈥� during her three terms in Richmond is strong enough to ward off a challenge from Nicole Merlene, who鈥檚 been active in various civc groups, including the Arlington County Civic Federation, her local North Rosslyn Civic Association, and Young Democrats. Merlene聽聽she can take 鈥渂old action鈥� to solve the region鈥檚 transportation and affordable housing woes.
Dorsey and Cristol will running against Audrey Clement in the General Election on November 5.聽Clement, an independent, is running of 鈥渢ax relief for residents and businesses鈥� as well as improvements to housing programs and the county鈥檚 basic services.
There are currently no Republican or independent challengers in the running other than Clement, although there has been that former independent Board Member John Vihstadt may run again, perhaps for School Board, after losing his seat to Democratic challenger Matt de Ferranti last November.
Republican and independent challengers have until 7 p.m. on June 11 to register their candidacy.
Last year, Matt de Ferranti鈥檚 win for the Democratic nomination came amid .聽Just 7.7 percent of registered Arlington voters, or 11,500 people, turned up to cast their ballots last year.
Residents voting this year must register at least 30 days before the primaries and can do so , in person at the Office of Elections at 2100 Clarendon Blvd, or by to the Office of Elections.
Registered voters receive a precinct number for their polling number which they can check .
This year鈥檚 primaries will also be the last for Arlington鈥檚 election chief Linda Lindberg she would be retiring this summer after serving for 16 years as the county鈥檚 General Registrar.
