A good candidate to watch

While no doubt the pundits in Virginia will be watching Scott Rigell, Robert Hurt, Morgan Griffith, and Keith Fimain, another race to look at is the County Board race in Arlington. While voters in 2010 have important national issues in mind like health care and the economy, there are an abundance of local issues in Arlington that mirror Virginia’s interests.

Mark Kelly, GOP candidate for County Board

In Arlington, the former GOP Chairman Mark Kelly is running against Democrat Chris Zimmerman, who is seeking a forth full term (total of 18 years. He was first elected in 1996 in a special election.)

Even though Arlington hasn’t exactly been on the minds of the statewide GOP in some time, this year is different. With 2010 being such a big GOP year, a strong showing in a place such as Arlington County would really send a message. Arlington and Virginia as a whole face similar problems, but are governed completely differently. In Arlington, there is a debt of $1.12 billion, or about $5,345 for every county resident. While Bob McDonnell was able to turn a deficit into a surplus by cutting spending, Arlington usually responds with various tax hikes.

Another similar problem is transportation. To show you how local government truly impacts your day to day life, let’s use the Metro as an example. One of the reasons that I bring up transportation is the fact that Chris Zimmerman is serving on the Metro Board. It should be noted that he is the longest serving member and that he has been Chairman twice.

Metro, as anyone in the DC area knowns, is no where near perfect. Aside from safety issues, and shady worker contracts, it has horrrible customer service. It just added higher fares, as well as not allowing anyone to leave Metro stations with negative balances on their SmarTrip cards.

Aside from the dynamic issues that face Arlington County, there is a slightly less talked about factor making the race more interesting. During the summer months, I attended several events for Mark Kelly in which I heard people whispering about how they were focusing more time on helping Mark because of disappointment with the GOP nominee for Congress, Patrick Murray. While I am not making that up, whether or not these people are having a significant impact remains to be seen.

Either way, from a combination of all of these issues, it is an interesting race that needs to be looked at. During the first reporting period, Kelly just about caught up to Zimmerman’s cash on hand advantage. That alone is enough to turn heads.

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About the author

Josh St. Louis

Josh is studying Government and Administration of Justice at George Mason University. He also blogs under the name "Not Jim Moran" at http://rednova8.com