Tag Archives: Redistricting

Anarchy?

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Henry David Thoreau said he heartily agreed with that Jeffersonian remark, “that government is best which governs least.”

He said, however, he’d go one better, believing “That government is best which governs not at all.”

Henry was, in truth and fact, a non-violent anarchist.

Some might think our current brand of green tea anarchists from mostly red states draw wisdom from Henry when enthusiastically shutting down the government – invoking the Affordable Care Act (ACA)(or Obamacare) as their pretext for what they’ve wanted to do ever since they’ve dominated the House Republican Caucus in the U.S. Congress and dictated what the Speaker may move to the floor for a vote.

But Henry’s no-government anarchism presumed a precondition, that would be satisfied “when men are prepared for it, [and then] that will be the kind of government which they will have.” Continue reading →

Where Do I Vote in Loudoun (Preliminary)?

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Every year, the pressing question leading up to Election Day is often not “who will I vote for,” but rather, “where do I vote, again?” The “who do I vote for” question, after all, derives from your voting precinct, as our elected officials represent Districts determined (mostly) by precinct lines.

With a tip-o-the-hat to folks from the Loudoun County Board of Elections, here is a preliminary, unofficial list of the precincts in Loudoun County which will be in place for the November 8 elections this year, organized by (new) Magisterial (i.e., Supervisor) Districts. As an added bonus, the State Senate and House of Delegates District numbers are also provided, so you can look up who is running. For example, SEN-33 is Senator Mark Herring’s District, while DEL-87 is where Mike Kondratick is running and DEL-10 is where Dave Butler is running.

Follow below the jump for the full list.
Continue reading →

Assembly Maps for Loudoun

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Since I couldn’t get the Virginia Redistricting site’s interactive map to work, I spent some time this morning playing with shapefiles and viewing software, along with my computer’s screenshot capabilities. As a result, I present to you the maps, as I understand them, of Assembly Districts (Delegate and Senate) in and around Loudoun County, Virginia.

(Incidentally, Hampton Roads online has a fantastic zoomable map, but I think the data on which it is based is the vetoed plans, rather than the passed, compromise plans from April 28th.)

First, Delegate Districts, as determined by the compromise plans passed on April 28th.
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Next, Senate Districts.
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Finally, Senate Districts with a bit more regional context.
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Hopefully, this will help inform all of the, “wait, does that candidate live in this district?” discussions going on. There are two more images below the jump that dig down into a bit more detail in the Ashburn Area, for people interested in where those lines really fall.
Continue reading →

The names have changed but the map’s the same

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Last night, the BOS voted to reconsider the names they gave to two of the districts. The Ashdowne district is now Ashburn, and the (Jennie) Dean district is now (again?) Dulles.

So here’s the line-up:

  • Algonkian (formerly Sugarland Run)
  • Ashburn (includes parts of Ashburn and most of Lansdowne)
  • Blue Ridge (includes Middleburg, Hamilton, Purcellville, Brambleton,  and some of Loudoun Valley Estates)
  • Broad Run (includes Dulles Town Center, some of Sterling, some of Ashburn, and most of the Broadlands)
  • Catoctin (includes Lovettsville and a bit of Lansdowne
  • Dulles (includes South Riding, the airport, and some of Loudoun Valley Estates)
  • Leesburg (includes…Leesburg)
  • Sterling (includes Sterling and Cascades)

For a list of which Democratic candidate is running for each district, look at this post.

Rise up, “Ashdowne”

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Ok, BoS. You’ve had your fun. Supervisor Waters, you managed to come up with the worst district name ever, a brilliant parody of someone’s perception of someone else’s stereotype of the idea of suburban hell memorialized in so many adolescence-themed television shows. It’s hilarious, and I mean that truly. The rest of you guys who went along with the joke: Epic. Really good stuff.

Now that you’ve all made your points, whatever they were, let’s allow the residents of what we all know everyone under a certain age, and many of the rest of us, will refer to as “Assclowne” to have their dignity back, ok?

HOD and Senate seats for Loudoun

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Holy guacamole, those HOD and Senate maps make Loudoun’s redistricting look rational.

Here’s what we’ve got:

4 Senate Seats

  • A bit of a district that runs all the way from Arlington into Sugarland Run. Long and narrow, runs along the Potomac. That’s one that’s probably going to have a heavy primary.
  • Blue Ridge, and some of Ashburn, including my old house in the Broadlands, are in a district that reaches into Fauquier and Prince William Counties and stretches down as far as Warrenton. That there is Colgan and Marshall country. I’m guessing it’ll be pretty red.
  • Herring’s district is an L with one line stretching from Leesburg, along the Potomac into Sterling and then down into Herndon below Rte. 50.
  • I can’t even believe the last one. It’s a check mark that includes most of Catoctin, gets every thing to West Virginia and then slides down under the district that includes the Broadlands. It is a mess.

6, possibly 7 HOD Seats

  • Rust’s district no longer includes Oak Grove, Buchanan, or the other couple of precincts he lost in Loudoun.
  • Lemunyon keeps Little River.
  • Greason’s district shrank a bit.
  • May’s district moved farther West, and lost most of Leesburg.
  • Leesburg is now in an open district.
  • Mike Kondradick is in an open district…including some of the precincts Rust gave up.
  • And it looks like there’s a little tongue of a Fairfax district up in Sugarland Run.

All-in-all, it’s…impressive.

This is what I know for sure about seats and Dem candidacies.

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BOS:

  • Chair: Tom Bellanca is the Dem challenger to Scott York (I, formerly R).
  • Algonkian (formerly Sugarland Run): No candidate yet for the open seat being left by Susan Buckley, though I’ve heard rumblings.
  • Ashdowne (Ashburn, Lansdowne): Valdis Ronis is running for this open seat.
  • Blue Ridge (Brambleton/Middleburg/Hamilton/Purcellville/Blue Ridge Mountains): No Dem challenger has appeared yet to run against Jim Burton (I).
  • Broad Run (Dulles Town Center, Broadlands, Sterling): Andrea McGimsey is the incumbent. No primary challenger.
  • Catoctin: Malcolm Baldwin is running for the open seat being left by Sally Kurtz.
  • (Jennie) Dean (South Riding/Airport/Loudoun Valley Estates): Larry Roeder is running for this open seat.
  • Leesburg: Kelly Burk is the incumbent. No primary challenger.
  • Sterling: the Dems have three candidates to run against Eugene Delgaudio (R): Al Nevarez; Bahri Aliriza; and Dan Lloyd. That’ll be a good primary. I’m looking forward to it.

Constitutional Offices:

  • Clerk of the Court: No Democratic candidate as yet to run against Gary Clemens (R)
  • Commissioner of the Revenue: Joshua Actor is going to challenge  Robert Wertz (R).
  • Commonwealth’s Attorney: Jennifer Wexton is running against Jim Plowman (R).
  • Sheriff: No Democratic candidate as yet, though it seems the Republicans have a few! Four candidates there to run against Sheriff Simpson (I, formerly R)!
  • Treasurer: No Democratic candidate as yet to run against Roger Zurn (R).

Soil and Water Conservation District

  • There are three seats up for election this November. Peter Rush is a Democratic incumbent on this board. I sent him a note yesterday to ask if he’s running again, I’ll update with his answer.

I won’t discuss the School Board in this post, because there are so many unknowns still. Many incumbents have said that they’ll decide what they’re going to do after the budget is done.

Nor will I discuss the House of Delegates or the State Senate races yet, since we still don’t know what the districts are for those races.

As I get more information about these and other races, I’ll post ’em up here.

UPDATE: Lloyd put up a post at TC about the state of the races from the Republican point of view. Apparently, one of the candidates for Sheriff dropped out.