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Arlington County Board race is a referendum on housing density

One of five Arlington County Board seats is up for grabs in the November general election.

ARLINGTON, Va. — Virginia has another set of primary votes Tuesday, after voting for presidential candidates on Super Tuesday back in March. Candidates for all of Virginia's 11 U.S. House of Representatives seats will be chosen Tuesday, along with a Republican challenger to face incumbent Tim Kaine (D) in the Senate race.

But in Arlington, Democrats will hold a crucial vote on county leadership in Tuesday's primary. One of the five county board seats is up for grabs and voters seem to be focusing on one issue: housing.

Arlington’s affordable housing debate precedes the arrival of Amazon HQ2. However, experts points out the tech giant’s move to bring their second headquarters to Crystal City has at least had some effect on housing costs.

Ahead of the primary election, Amazon hosted an affordable housing summit Monday with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA). The company announced another $1.4 billion to be added to the Housing Equity Fund meant to help with affordable housing in communities like Arlington.

“Housing is very much on the radar,” Sen. Warner said. “[As far as what can be done,] this sounds tired, but you gotta vote." 

“I’ve told some voters who think their vote doesn’t matter, well local elections matter a lot," Chris DeRosa, from the Arlington League of Women Voters, added. 

DeRosa said when she talks to voters, many issues come up, but housing is the most common refrain. 

“People want to know what the different candidates positions are on the issue of affordable housing,” she said.

And that's because in the next year, the Arlington County Board will tackle how to move forward with creating affordable housing, whether that is dealing with the "Missing Middle" legislation or looking at different options like the private-public partnerships with companies like Amazon. Either way, Sen. Warner pointed out this isn’t just a local issue.

RELATED: Arlington County criticized over subpoena to seek information in Missing Middle zoning lawsuit

“Housing was always something we were going to get to," Warner said. "Candidly we have a housing crisis now."

Like DeRosa, Sen. Warner said some of the biggest changes will come at a local level.

“I think we need some new thinking around this space,” the senator said.

The County Board election will be a ranked choice vote, meaning voters rank their preferences for the five candidates. It may take until Friday to know who the winner is. 

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