Arlington County Republicans may miss their own June 15 deadline for signing up candidates for county races this fall.
No one has stepped forward to contest incumbent Democrats Mary Hynes and Walter Tejada for county board seats, nor has anyone volunteered to run for any of the other county offices up for election, including sheriff, commonwealth’s attorney and a school board seat.
Arlington GOP Communications Director Jeff Miller said technically the party still has until Aug. 23 to nominate a candidate, and he expects someone to step forward before then.
“We think this year is going to be a better opportunity for us,” he said. “Turnout is usually more modest in a non-federal year, and we think we have some good issues to run on.”
The heavily Democratic Arlington County hasn’t had a Republican board member since the 1990s. Rep. Jim Moran, D-Va., recently told an Arlington gathering that the Arlington Republicans had “no interesting people to hear from. What do they do, meet in the back of a 7-Eleven or something?” according to the Arlington Sun Gazette.
For the record: Miller said there were a lot of Republicans in Arlington County and that Moran must have known the Arlington Democrats and Republicans both meet in the NRECA Conference Center in Ballston.
“It’s always difficult to out-quote Jim Moran,” Miller said.
