[Updated 7/2/24:]
The Arlington County Democratic Committee will hold its monthly meeting, at which the party will work to pivot from a contentious primary to general-election mode, on Wednesday, July 10 at 7 p.m. at Lubber Run Community Center.
Democratic meetings typically are held the first Wednesday of each month, but in July will be pushed back to avoid conflict with the upcoming Independence Day celebration.
[Updated 6/22/24 to include comments from Spain.]
[Original coverage, 6/21/24:]
Confirmation won't occur until Saturday, but J.D. Spain Sr. emerged Friday as the almost guaranteed winner in the Arlington County Board Democratic primary.
Spain reached the 50-percent threshold in the fourth round of voting, defeating Natalie Roy after Julie Farnam, James DeVita and Tenley Peterson were eliminated and their votes allocated as directed by voters.
Still in the mix are 82 provisional ballots, which will be acted on by the Arlington Electoral Board on Saturday, but they will be unlikely to change things. Assuming they do not, Spain moves on to the general election, where he will be the odds-on favorite in the race to succeed Libby Garvey, who is retiring after 12 years on the board.
The final results were telegraphed when Election Night votes were reported on June 18. Spain led on the first ballot, with Roy and Peterson bunched up behind him and DeVita and Farnam trailing well behind.
Those reading the tea leaves that night expected that, based on the political positions espoused by candidates during the campaign, many DeVita and Farnam voters would gravitate to Roy, but Peterson voters would go for Spain in large enough numbers to give him the victory.
And they did: Based on Friday's count, Spain on the fourth round received 10,524 votes to 8,712 for Roy following the elimination of the other candidates, meeting the threshold of 50 percent of the vote.
"Several other candidates will be on the November ballot, and we will run hard to ensure that our progressive values are represented on the County Board," Spain said after victory was assured. "I welcome all fellow Democrats and others to join our campaign until victory is won in November."
Spain also extended an olive branch to supporters of other candidates – perhaps a wise move, as those other contenders collectively picked up more than two-thirds of votes in initial balloting and that Spain at times has proved to be a polarizing figure in local politics.
"I know we can find common ground to work together for Arlington," he said.
(With Spain the likely successor to Garvey, Arlington's governing body may continue recent trends lurching leftward on the political spectrum – at least that's likely what the coalition of progressive groups that backed Spain is hoping.)
A total of 20,259 voters cast ballots in the election, not counting the 82 awaiting final action Saturday.
After DeVita and Farnam had been eliminated, Roy used support from some of their voters to move into the lead in the third round, with 7,334 votes to 7,817 for Spain and 5,360 for Peterson. As anticipated, most of Peterson's voters, if they provided a second choice on their ballot, moved to Spain, handing him the victory in the fourth round.
The results were announced at a public meeting of the Electoral Board. The tabulations were conducted by computer in a process that took less than 5 seconds to complete.
Last year's Arlington County Board Democratic primary also was held using ranked-choice voting, but the November 2023 County Board general election was conducted under the traditional winner-take-all format. This year's County Board general election will be conducted using the ranked-choice format, but given the dominance of Democrats in Arlington (a dominance that is never stronger than during a presidential year), there is little likelihood of a surprise result.
All other races on the Nov. 5 ballot in Arlington, from president to School Board, will be conducted using the winner-take-all format.
