Democrats Endorse Arlington School Board Candidates Following Caucus

ARLINGTON, VA — Members of the Arlington Democrats have chosen Zuraya Tapia-Hadley and Kathleen Clark as the Arlington School Board candidates who will represent their party on the November ballot.

During the endorsement caucus that ran from the end of April to the last day of voting on Saturday, voters cast ballots online or in-person for two of the four candidates running to fill two vacancies on the board. Voting was open to any registered voter in Arlington.

The results of the election were announced on Saturday. The two winning candidates released the following statements:

“I am so grateful to the voters of Arlington County who supported me and all who came out to vote. I'm particularly grateful for my team and my family as integral to this moment,” said Tapia-Hadley. “As an APS parent, I appreciate the significance of this endorsement and look forward to continuing to advocate for students and educators as the centerpiece of our system. I'm thrilled for the opportunity to continue the campaign with fellow Democrats and expand our Democratic base as we work towards a Blue victory this November.”

“Thank you to everyone who volunteered, contributed, showed up, spoke up, voted, and participated,” said Kathleen Clark. “I am honored to be chosen by the Dems after having so many heart to heart conversations with new people, and I will continue to have those conversations so that I can amplify the community's voice on the School Board.”

For the first time, Arlington Democrats used ranked-choice voting to determine the winner of the school board endorsement race, with Tapia-Hadley and Clark defeating Here is the outcome of each round of voting.

Round 1

Zuraya Tapia-Hadley - 862 (44.1 percent)*

Kathleen Clark - 768 (39.7 percent)*

Cheng Ling

Larry Fishtahler

* Winner

In order to win, a candidate needed to receive 647 votes or more than 33 percent of the votes cast. Since Hadley and Clark both passed that threshold in the first round, they won the party's endorsement outright.

“Arlington Democrats are thrilled to announce our endorsement of Zuraya Tapia-Hadley and Kathleen Clark for the School Board,” said Arlington Democrats Chair Steve Baker, in a release. “We’ll work until November to organize, mobilize, and turn out voters to elect these candidates along with the rest of the Democratic ticket on the November ballot. Democrats will continue standing up to Glenn Youngkin’s culture wars in our schools, and ensure our students have access to a quality education.”