The inner suburbs of Northern Virginia are not known for bleeding red. In fact, they’ve been known to turn the state politically purple or blue. But when Libby Garvey was nominated for a second term on the Arlington County Board June 14, some asked whether the town was heading toward the right.
“Arlington is beginning to turn to the right, and I think Libby Garvey is a turn to the right,” Karen Tripp—a supporter of Garvey’s challenger, Erik Gutshall—told the Washington Post. “There’s an increased sense in supporting business interests over the interests of the working poor.”
Yet, Garvey is no Republican.
Rather, she’s a renegade Democrat. From her fight for fiscal conservatism over a costly streetcar plan to her endorsement of Republican-turned-independent John Vihstadt (who eventually became a fellow Board member), it is no wonder that some of her fellow liberals are worried about the county’s direction.
And if Tripp is right, this could have wider implications. Winning Northern Virginia often means winning the entire state, with the region helping tip the scales toward Democratic President Barack Obama in the last two presidential elections. Turning the Democratic stronghold into a swing district, then, would certainly be a local conservative’s dream.
But Mike Brunner, a Republican and former member of the Arlington County Board and School Board, thinks otherwise. Speaking to THE WEEKLY STANDARD, he said that Garvey’s victory was based off a sense of duty from local citizens rather than an actual turn to the right.
Stating that the Democrats had won two to one in past elections, Brunner noted that Garvey succeeded because she “has been active in the county for decades [and remains] well-respected” among local voters.
And as for Gutshall’s claim that Garvey was a divisive, lackluster leader? Brunner said that this was “nonsense,” speculating that many of his supporters wanted more “party discipline” after Garvey’s support for Vihstadt.
However, while Brunner thought that it would be “very hard” to end Democratic dominance in the city, he did have some hope about its increasing skepticism over government spending.
When asked about the potential impact of Garvey’s nomination, Brunner hoped that the Board would be “more careful in future votes” and that such questioning from the populace was ultimately a “good thing.”
And Vihstadt, while agreeing that this was not a turn to the right, echoed similar views: “Arlingtonians are tired of the toxic partisanship. … People want practical, results-oriented solutions to local challenges like infrastructure maintenance and school overcrowding. There are no Republican or Democratic ways to fill a pothole, pick up the trash or build a school.”
“Contrary to Gutshall’s charges, asking questions and debating the issues is not ‘divisive politics,’ but rather good government,” he said. “For Libby, the primary was about responsive, responsible and transparent government. The central takeaway is that voters reward independent thinking and don’t want their County Board marching in lockstep. They want Board members who will ask questions and not just nod their heads.”
