Equality Fairfax

This year’s election has been quite the show at the Presidential level.  It seems everyone’s talking about it, and that the television, newspaper, and radio coverage of the elections has been concentrated on the race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.

However, there are several other significant races on the federal level that will be decided partly here in Fairfax County.

First, there is a US Senate race in Virginia between former Governors Democrat Mark Warner, and Republican Jim Gilmore.  This race has really flown under the radar, perhaps because it has not been considered terribly competitive.  Former Governor Mark Warner has been far ahead of former Governor Jim Gilmore in all the public polls, so that may reflect the lack of attention to this race.

Additionally, there are portions of three Congressional districts in Fairfax County.  The 8th District, including the Alexandria, Mount Vernon, and Franconia areas, as well as parts of Falls Church, McLean, Vienna, and Reston, are all included in the district.  The incumbent Congressman is Democrat Jim Moran.  His primary opponent is Mark Ellmore, the Republican.

In Virginia’s 10th District, incumbent Republican Frank Wolf appears to be facing another stiff challenge from DemocratJudy Feder.  There have been plenty of TV commercials already from both candidates, and folks in the McLean, Great Falls, Vienna, Herndon, Oak Hill, and Centreville areas will have a vote in this contest.

And finally, the 11th District, which includes most of Fairfax County, pits current Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Democrat Gerry Connolly, against Republican businessman Keith Fimian.  This race has also garnered a fair amount of television and media coverage, and has also generated a fair amount of television commercials on local stations.

In the 11th District race, since most of the district is comprised of Fairfax County, Equality Fairfax was hoping to produce a candidate forum for members of our community to ask the candidates questions directly.  Both of these candidates can expect to see legislation in the next Congress on a number of important priorities to the GLBT community, and all voters deserve to know where all our candidates stand on those federal issues.  Unfortunately, despite multiple calls and emails requesting participation, the Fimian campaign never responded to our request.  Additionally, follow-up requests to simply interview Mr. Fimian for a podcast were also left unanswered.

However, we are pleased to announce the Equality Fairfax will be providing our members and interested press and community members a podcast interview with Congressional candidate Gerry Connolly.  Truthfully, we would like to be able to hold a similar discussion with candidate Keith Fimian, and ask him the same questions (as well as let him tell us why he’s running for Congress and what he sees as our nation’s most important issues).  However, we are not terribly optimistic about that happening.  Stay tuned for our podcast that should be posted later this evening.

Wherever you live in Fairfax County, take the time to get to know your local candidates, and their positions on issues affecting you.  Equality Fairfax hopes to bring you some information over the next week that should help you in your efforts.

See you at the polls on Tuesday, November 4th!