Fairfax County, Virginia is home to a diverse population of over 1.2 million people and is governed by an elected Board of Supervisors. The Board is composed of nine members, each representing one of the county’s magisterial districts. These representatives are responsible for setting policy and enacting laws related to public safety, infrastructure development, economic development, and other community issues. The Board also appoints a County Executive to oversee the day-to-day operations of the county government. Elections for board members take place every four years with the last election taking place in November 2019. Currently serving on the board are Chairman Jeff McKay (At Large), Vice Chair Dalia Palchik (Braddock District), and members Kathy Smith (Dranesville District), Pat Herrity (Springfield District), Penny Gross (Mason District), John Foust (Dranesville District), James Walkinshaw (Lee District), Rodney Lusk (Hunter Mill District) and Dan Storck (Mount Vernon District). Fairfax County residents have the opportunity to exercise their right to vote in national, state, and local elections as well as participate in other civic activities that shape their community.
The political climate in Fairfax County, VA is very liberal.
In Fairfax County, VA 69.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 28.0% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.1% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Fairfax county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 69.9% to 28.0%.
Fairfax county voted Democratic in the last five Presidential elections, after voting Republican in 2000.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index
Fairfax County, VA is very liberal.
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria Metro Area is very liberal.
Virginia is somewhat liberal.
The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index is based on recent voting in national elections, federal campaign contributions by local residents, and consumer personality profiles.
VoteWord™
Displaying 20 years of Presidential voting, visualized in one word.
Fairfax, Virginia: r d D D D D
How It Works:
Here at BestPlaces, we were looking at the voting patterns since the 2000 election and realized that we could express the results of each election as one letter. R if the Republican Party candidate won, D for the Democrat and I for the Independent. The six elections (2000, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020) would be expressed as six-letter word (R R D R R).
Then we went a little further and added the dimension of magnitude. If the difference of victory was greater than 10 percent, the letter is upper case, and lower case if the difference was less than 10 percent. This allows us to see interesting voting patterns at just a glance.
Here's the VoteWord for Iowa d r d d r. In the last six elections the state has been closely contested, voting narrowly for the Republican Party candidate in 2016 and 2020 after voting for the Democratic Party in 2008 and 2012. Virginia (r r d d d D) has voted for the Democratic Party in the last three elections.
Individual Campaign Contributions in Fairfax County, VA
In the last 4 years (2018-2021), there were 164,757 contributions totaling $44,179,719 to the Democratic Party and liberal campaigns, averaging $268 per contribution.
In the last 4 years, there were 43,246 contributions totaling $32,038,707 to the Republican Party and conservative campaigns, averaging $741 per contribution.
(source: Federal Election Commission)