Two Northern Virginia Democrats are seeking their party’s nod to challenge the GOP’s firm hold on the 34th District, the last Republican stronghold of the House of Delegates inside the Beltway.
Democrats are buoyed by the impending retirement of House Appropriations Chair Vince Callahan, that sets the stage for a hotly contested election in November. Callahan has held the seat for 40 years.
The 34th District, which encompasses McLean and a large part of Tysons Corner, is one of the few Northern Virginia House seats with a contested Democratic primary. Margaret Vanderhye and Rip Sullivan are competing to take on Republican David Hunt, the CEO of a patent consulting firm and a former aide to Callahan.
Transportation will undoubtedly take center stage, with traffic in the car-clogged district likely to worsen before it improves. The election comes less than a year after the Republican-led assembly passed a massive road and rail funding package. Hunt, 41, told The Examiner he’s the only candidates who has given his full support to the transportation bill.
“It’s more money than we’ve had in 20 years,” he said. “Even the governor liked it enough to amend and sign it.”
Both Vanderhye, 58, and Sullivan, 48, were less taken with the legislation, each calling it imperfect. Vanderhye is a member of the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, a group that was infused with large new responsibilities under the bill, which she said was “deeply flawed” before it reached the governor.
“It’s a step forward, and clearly better than nothing,” said Sullivan, an attorney with the law firm Reed Smith. “I bristle at the use of the word ‘compromise’ so often with it. It was really a compromise between the right wing of the Republican Party and the more moderate wing of the Republican Party.”
Also promising to weigh heavily in the election is the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, and how the rail will pass through Tysons. Current plans call for an elevated track through the commercial hub, though a massive local movement has emerged to put the rail underground. State officials say the tunnel concept isn’tcoming back, however, arguing it would jeopardize $900 million in federal funds and sink the entire 23-mile rail project. All three candidates support a tunnel.
