Fairfax county Supervisor John Foust may have a serious Republican challenger for re-election this year.
For those who’ve forgotten Mr. Foust…he ran one of the more gaffe-prone and self-destructive congressional campaigns [1] Virginia has seen in recent years. His poor showing in that contest made him ripe for a challenge in the supervisor race this year. And at last week’s Fairfax County GOP meeting, a possible candidate made a few impromptu remarks to the crowd which drew resounding applause.
The rumor mill started running overtime — is this guy the one to beat Foust?
My Fairfax sources say that Foust’s record on the Board of Supervisors is thin, and what he does have to campaign on isn’t exactly the stuff of which successful re-election campaigns are made of. Fairfax county residents have seen local taxes rise 14 percent in the last three years…thanks in part to Mr. Foust.
The Board’s Democrats have also presided over a lagging commercial office market that plateaued due to both sequestration and exorbitant rental rates. The Board’s penchant for proffers, and for adhering to the most faddish (and pricey) environmental standards, have further depressed the market.
In his 2011 re-election bid, Foust coasted to victory against a lackluster opponent. But things have changed. The political environment is less friendly to tax-and-spend happy pols. Confronted with a solid challenger, Foust could be in real trouble.
Not that he doesn’t face other problems as well. There’s still the hangover from his 2014 congressional campaign.
He’s still deeply in debt for that effort. Worse, the campaign was so poorly run that even the progressives turned against him [2]. Foust even failed to carry the portion of the 10th congressional district he represents on the Board of Supervisors.
None of these factors were present in 2011. Combined, they could be enough to send Foust packing…and give the GOP a critical pick-up in Northern Virginia.