Virginia state Sen. Patsy Ticer, D-Alexandria, announced Thursday that she will retire rather than seek a fourth term this year, and at least three candidates have emerged as potential contenders for the seat. “I gave a lot of prayerful thought to this,” Ticer, 76, said during an emotional farewell on the Senate floor. “You know I’ve been in public service for a very long time and it’s hard to contemplate life without it.” Ticer served about 10 years on the Alexandria City Council before being elected as the first female mayor of the city in 1991. She won her Senate seat in 1995.
During her career, Ticer fought a proposal by then-Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke to build a new stadium at Potomac Yard on land Alexandria had zoned for mixed commercial/residential use, and shepherded through state legislation requiring hearing tests for infants and providing insurance coverage for prosthetics.
“She is the most popular elected official in the city of Alexandria, with good reason,” said Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax. “There’s not one area of that city, not one civic leader that she’s not on a first-name basis with.”
Del. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria, City Councilman Rob Krupicka and Arlington School Board Chairwoman Libby Garvey, all Democrats, announced their intent to run for the seat if Ticer retired — and all three sang her praises Thursday while deferring talk about the race for her soon-to-be-vacant seat.
“This is Patsy’s day,” said Krupicka. “She’s been an amazing public servant, and it will be very hard to replace her.”
Ebbin said he was struck by the outpouring of support from a number of her colleagues in the Senate, noting that he had never seen anything to that extent for retirement announcements in the House.
“It was the caring that came through, and also that she’s really a gentle Virginia lady,” Garvey added.
But with all 140 General Assembly seats up for re-election in 2011, the focus could soon shift to politicking.
Ticer’s district, encompassing the eastern portion of Alexandria and part of Arlington and Fairfax counties, could change once the General Assembly tackles redistricting later this year, though it’s not expected to be drastically altered.
