Endorsements Are the New Front in Partisan Local Politics

Local races in Virginia are nonpartisan. Endorsements by local political committees are pushing the boundaries of what that means.

By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Photo by Maria Thalassinou on Unsplash

Political endorsements of candidates in local elections are drawing increasing attention from political operatives, candidates, and citizens.

This past week in both Fredericksburg and Stafford, discussions about endorsements have raised questions and frustrations among party members and candidates alike. Expect the discussions and debates to intensify.

Endorsement Evolution

Virginia has a long history of nonpartisan local elections, meaning that a candidate’s party affiliation does not appear beside their name on the ballot. That the elections are nonpartisan, however, doesn’t necessarily prevent candidates from seeking party endorsements.

“We’ve come a long way from the tradition of nonpartisan local contests,” said Stephen Farnsworth, director of the University of Mary Washington’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies. “As everything has gotten more partisan in American and Virginia politics, they’ve gotten more partisan in local elections.”

Whether candidates should or should not be endorsed is a question that divides local committees.

The Fredericksburg Republican Committee does not endorse candidates in local elections. For Chair Scott Vezina, endorsements undercut the nonpartisan nature of elections.

In an op-ed for the Advance that ran on Tuesday, he wrote: “Encouraging non-partisanship in local elections is … about ensuring that school board members, city council representatives, and constitutional officers serve all their constituents and not just those who share a party label. This is the reason the Fredericksburg Republican Committee has refused to endorse any non-partisan candidate.”

In Stafford County, however, the Republican Committee this week gathered and endorsed candidates for both School Board and Board of Supervisor races.

“This year, the committee asked for a short essay on the candidate and how their principles” align “with the party creed,” wrote committee chair Stephen Schwartz in an email to the Advance. “That coupled with the speech and QnA along with background vetting provides a good picture of who they are and whether they’d represent the party.”

The extent to which such endorsements politicize a local election process is an open question.

Ken Lecky says that endorsements by the Democratic Committee in Fredericksburg have “really evolved” since he moved to the city in 2016. “It became more consistent and important after the local elections got moved to November.”

In 2021, then-Governor Ralph Northam signed a bill requiring all municipal elections held in May to be moved to November.

Lecky said that the May elections drew smaller turnouts. “That meant that the people who were voting were A. much fewer and B. much more connected to the political scene in Fredericksburg.”

He cited comparisons in turn out for a Ward 2 election in 2018, when there were 618 votes, and the November 2021 election with a Ward 2 candidate where there were 2,146 voters.

“It’s a big difference, and a lot more voters to talk to…. So endorsements became a more direct way to communicate with voters who might not be as engaged as the few hundred folks who were voting in May elections.”

Endorsements Don’t Always Unite

Depending on how one approaches these votes, however, local candidates can find themselves on the losing end of battles that have little to do with what’s going on the district they represent.

That’s what happened to Maureen Siegmund this week when the Stafford Republican Committee endorsed another Republican, Stephanie Mojica, over Siegmund. It was a surprising choice, given that Siegmund currently sits on the School Board and serves as chair. She’s also been endorsed by Winsome Earle-Sears.

With that kind of Republican support behind her, what happened?

“There are 63 people [voting at the committee meeting] making the decisions,” she told the Advance. “Only nine are Garrisonville residents [the district that Siegmund represents]. “Six of [those] nine supported me,” but she lost the endorsement because she didn’t carry the support of Republicans outside her district.

In the General Election, of course, only Garrisonville residents can vote for the School Board candidates in their district.

Why those in other Republican districts — who cannot influence the outcome in November — bucked her isn’t clear, but this provides an example of how endorsements can be used as wedges in local races.

Struggling to Find Their Way

In Spotsylvania County, the Democratic Committee “has not publicly declared any endorsements for local seats,” according to the committee chair, Jeff Kent.

Two years ago, however, the Democratic Committee endorsed Carol Medawar and Lorita Daniels, both of whom won their elections.

Megan Jackson and Belen Rodas refused to seek endorsements, however, running as independents. They also won their seats.

The 2023 race was defined by sharply partisan rhetoric from both the left and right. That divisiveness is, in part, what motivated both Jackson and Rodas to avoid taking endorsements.

As Jackson told the Advance in an interview prior to the 2023 election: “I’m about finding common ground and meeting in the middle…. Finding solutions means we aren’t always going to be getting our way fully. I want to work together, not argue with people.”

The Advance reached out to Spotsylvania Republican Committee Chair Jordan Lynch to ask about his committee’s position on endorsement, but Lynch has not responded.

Embracing Endorsements

The Stafford County Democratic Committee has a well-defined approach to selecting endorsees.

According to Howard Rudat, committee chair, there’s a candidate search and support committee for each race. “After finding people,” he said, “the committee interviews them (4-5 people asking an array of questions).” Once that group is sure the candidates are aligned with the Democratic committee, the names are then sent to the executive committee. After that, the full Democratic Committee votes on the endorsement.

There’s a financial benefit to those who earn the committee’s support. This year, Rudat says, the SCDC is able to provide candidates for supervisor $1,000, and candidates for School Board $500.

Expect More, Not Less, Endorsements

The range of approaches to endorsements in our area shouldn’t be surprising. For better and worse, the national political debate is now firmly a part of the local political discourse.

This is, one could argue, the logical outcome of the Republican Revolution in 1994, when Newt Gingrich invented the strategy of tying Congressional elections — which at that time were still seen as more local than national — to the national political narrative. (For a refresher on the 1994 Congressional Race, see this from History.com.)

It’s also what voters consistently support.

“The reality,” Farnsworth told the Advance, “is that a lot of voters look for the partisan cue and not much else. So voters are getting what they want with the growing role of partisanship in offices in which the partisan identification is not included on the ballot.”

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