The political center of gravity in Virginia’s General Assembly was once largely in the Washington suburbs — where, in recent years, veteran Democratic lawmakers from the region pushed through sweeping changes such as abolishing the death penalty while securing hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding for their communities.
Now, Republicans control the House of Delegates, and several of those Democratic veterans are leaving the state legislature at the end of the year — taking with them a lot of Northern Virginia’s political clout.
Local government officials here worry that the shift in leadership positions in the state’s Democratic Party — southward to the Hampton Roads area — means Northern Virginia will lose important state funding for schools, transportation and other services at a time when their jurisdictions are still dealing with the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) is stepping down at the end of the year. So is Sen. Janet D. Howell (D-Fairfax), co-chair of the powerful Senate Finance Committee. Del. Eileen Filler-Corn, the former House of Delegates speaker, is not seeking reelection. Neither is Del. Kenneth R. Plum (D-Fairfax), the current longest serving member of the House, or Del. Kathleen J. Murphy (D-Fairfax).
The wave of departures has moved establishment Democrats in the region to rally around the June primary reelection campaign of Sen. George L. Barker (D-Fairfax), who — as the other co-chair of the Senate Finance Committee — stands to become the most influential Northern Virginia lawmaker in the General Assembly if the party holds onto that chamber in November.
Del. Charniele L. Herring (D-Alexandria) is the party’s caucus chair in the House, though her influence has been diminished since Democrats lost the majority.
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“If we were to lose Barker, it would be devastating,” said Saslaw, who donated $2,500 of his campaign’s funds to Barker’s campaign in January. “It’s bad enough that we have so many senior people who are leaving.”
Jeffrey C. McKay (D), chair of Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors, said the region is in constant competition for state funding with other parts of Virginia — making it crucial to have experienced lawmakers in influential roles from the region.
“Most people have no idea how much Dick, Janet and George have done to protect us from bad things happening,” McKay said. “They know how the sausage gets made and know how to protect the interests of Northern Virginia.”
Barker, who was first elected to the Senate in 2007, is more vulnerable than ever after state redistricting left him in a district where he is not as widely known. His primary election opponent, Fairfax County School Board member Stella Pekarsky, has deeper roots in that part of western Fairfax that includes Chantilly and Centreville.
And, in a region that has become increasingly blue, Pekarsky is running to the left of the longtime senator — highlighting his campaign donations from influential power brokers in Virginia, such as the Dominion Energy utility.
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She is also casting herself as a champion of issues affecting women and public schools. Pekarsky pushed for Fairfax’s school board to join a lawsuit last year challenging an executive order by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) that reversed a statewide in-school mask mandate.
“We are at a generational shift right now in Virginia,” Pekarsky, 43, said. “In the last few years, we’ve seen over half of the House of Delegates turn and, this year, that shift is finally hitting the Senate. At the end of the day, the power to be able to influence policy is gonna rest in this new bloc of folks coming in.”
Moreover, she said, there’s no guarantee that Barker would lead the finance committee, noting that Sen. L. Louise Lucas (D-Portsmouth), the chamber’s president pro tempore and another veteran member of the finance committee, has said that she intends to seek that spot.
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Lucas — who is in her own competitive primary election race with Sen. Lionell Spruill Sr. (D-Chesapeake) — said she’d consider Barker as a co-chair of that committee, but intends to lead it if she’s in office and her party prevails in November.
“I have 16 years seniority on George,” said Lucas, a state senator since 1992. “This is an opportunity that I would not, under any circumstance, sidestep.”
Political analysts say Barker, 71, needs to remind voters in his district of what he’s done for the region during his time in office and of the advantages of having a longtime incumbent represent them.
But “running in an almost entirely new district won’t make that easy,” said Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University.
Barker said he’s been ramping up his get-out-the-vote effort, made easier with the $332,000 in his campaign coffers as of January. Pekarsky has yet to file a campaign finance report, which are due in April for the current quarter.
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“It’s critically important that I be there next year as chair, or co-chair, depending on how we structure things, to deal with all the big issues that we have,” Barker said, acknowledging Lucas’s interest in the finance committee leadership role.
Among other things, he said, he has been working during state budget negotiations to secure additional state education funding for the region. Barker said he has been instrumental in efforts to recoup $540 million in state education funding geared toward helping local school districts hire support personnel that was cut in 2009.
Last year, he said, the governor’s office added half of that amount, while negotiations are underway this year to add the remaining $270 million — with much of that money going to Northern Virginia’s larger school systems.
Additionally, “cost to compete” funding for teacher salaries that has been specific to Northern Virginia — where the higher cost of living demands higher salaries comparable to what schools in nearby Washington or Montgomery County pay — has gone up in recent years, local government officials said, crediting Saslaw, Howell and Barker.
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Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson (D) said the region will need an influential voice on the finance committee to deal with concerns that go beyond school funding.
For example, the drop in Metrorail ridership during the pandemic likely means Virginia, the District and Maryland will have to figure out another funding mechanism for the rail system beyond passenger revenue that could involve more direct funding.
But “Metro has always been a tricky conversation in Richmond because if you ask the legislators who don’t represent Northern Virginia, it’s not really relevant,” Wilson said. “You have to really educate them and make the case before you even get to that place of funding.”
Lucas said the concerns of Northern Virginia will always factor into decisions in Richmond, given the region’s economic importance to the rest of the state. But, she said, a little change in the state’s power dynamic could be good for other portions of Virginia that are also trying to expand their economy.
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Besides Lucas, the Hampton Roads area is home to several veteran lawmakers in leadership roles, including House Minority Leader Don L. Scott Jr. (D-Portsmouth), who won that leadership role away from Filler-Corn last year, and Sen. Mamie E. Locke (D-Hampton), the Democratic Caucus chairwoman.
“Northern Virginia has had this power forever,” Lucas said. “Now it’s time for Hampton Roads to have the power.”
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