MCLEAN, Va. — In less than two weeks, Fairfax County voters will head to poles in a democratic primary that could determine the next leader of Virginia's largest county.
Four democratic candidates are running for Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
There are four candidates running for Fairfax County Chairman in the democratic primary. Ryan McElveen is currently an at large Fairfax County school board member. Alesia Plerhoples is a Georgetown Law professor.
Tim Chapman is a real estate developer, but he did not attend the forum.
Jeff McKay is supervisor of the Lee district.
"I'm the candidate that has the experience to do this job," said McKay. "I've been the one who has played major leader roles on this county board. I'm the one who is battle tested who is ready to go who doesn't need on-the-job training.Look, this is a big, complicated county, and I've served it for the better part of the last 23 years."
In the forum sponsored by the McLean Chamber of Commerce, The candidates addressed dozens of important issues...funding schools is a top priority. McElveen said funding pre-k is at the top is his list.
"Pre-kindergarten funding is one of the biggest issues we're facing in Fairfax County. We currently have 800 students on the wait list for pre-kindergarten and it's an investment we have to make because we know for every dollar we spend on pre-kindergarten education, society will reap $7 in return. And we need to make sure our kids are entering kindergarten ready to suceed so that they can be ready to access the global economy," said McElveen.
Maintaining and increasing Affordable housing is Plerhoples' top issue.
"The county is doing a lot but definitely not to the scale and scope that we need it to be doing. So we need 15,000,00 more units of affordable housing in Fairfax County over the next 15 years. And that is really low-income housing. We also need more workforce housing for police officer, our teachers, our social workers," said Plerhopples.
Since Fairfax County votes mostly blue, it's likely whoever wins the democratic primary on June 11 will win in the general election in November.
Many other important races are also on the June 11 ballot.