Republican wins Northern Virginia county supervisor election for first time in 38 years

A Virginia Republican has won an election for a Prince William County Board of Supervisors seat for the first time in 38 years.

Jeannie LaCroix won Tuesday’s special election in the county’s Woodbridge District, which had been represented by a Democrat since 1988.

Ms. LaCroix defeated a Democratic nominee who faced bipartisan calls to leave the race and a write-in opponent from within the Democrat’s party.

According to the final tally, Ms. LaCroix received 1,694 votes (43.73%), beating Democratic nominee Muhammad Sufiyan “Sef” Casim, who garnered 1,436 votes (37.07%). Write-in candidates collected 744 votes (19.20%).

Mr. Casim’s defeat marks a political shift in Prince William County. Democrats are trying to fire up their base amid a congressional redistricting battle while sending gun control and tax hike legislation to Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s desk.

It is not known how many write-in voters cast ballots for Democrat Pamela Montgomery, who was defeated by Mr. Casim in a February firehouse primary and mounted her campaign for the supervisor’s seat almost one week before Election Day.

Ms. LaCroix’s win could be credited in part to fractures within the local Democratic Party: Mr. Casim faced calls to withdraw from the race over his social media posts that were deemed to be racist, antisemitic, misogynistic and xenophobic.

The Prince William County Republican Committee published on Feb. 27 several posts Mr. Casim had made or reposted on X between 2012 and 2015.

The posts include Mr. Casim using different styles of the N-word and reposts of tweets that used misogynistic wording. The committee also said in a statement that Mr. Casim had spread antisemitic rhetoric.

Mr. Casim apologized for the posts, but state and local Democrats, including the majority of Democrats on the Board of County Supervisors, called for him to exit the race.

However, the Prince William County Democratic Committee called his apology satisfactory and stood by Mr. Casim.

Mr. Casim’s refusal to leave the race led Ms. Montgomery to launch her write-in bid.

Ms. Montgomery is the former chief of staff of Delegate Margaret Franklin, the outgoing supervisor of the Woodbridge district. Ms. Franklin’s election to the House of Delegates prompted the special election to fill her vacated seat.

Ms. LaCroix previously ran for the Woodbridge seat in 2023 but lost to Ms. Franklin.