Natalie Roy Leads 5 Primary Opponents In Fundraising For Arlington County Board: VPAP

ARLINGTON, VA — With early voting set to begin in about two weeks, candidates for the Arlington County Board are honing their political message and raising funds to get the word out about their campaigns.

Campaign signs are starting to fill median strips across the county and show up in people’s front yards. Early voting in the Democratic primary election begins on May 5, followed by primary election day on June 20 when precincts across Arlington will be open for in-person voting.

Political fundraising totals for the first quarter of 2023 show that Natalie Roy leads the pack of six candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for Arlington County Board, according to the latest campaign finance reports posted online by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project.

Roy has raised more than $51,000 since announcing her campaign in mid-January. The total covers the period from Jan. 1 to March 31, according to campaign finance reports filed on April 15.

For the fundraising period, Roy narrowly led Julius "JD" Spain Sr. who had a fundraising total of more than $48,000. Among the other four candidates for county board, Tony Weaver had raised more than $46,000, Susan Cunningham had raised almost $28,000, Maureen Coffey had raised almost $23,000, and Jonathan Dromgoole had almost $18,000.

The top two finishers in the June 20 primary election will move onto the general election in November, where voters will cast their ballots to replace current Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey and Board member Katie Cristol, both of whom chose not to seek re-election.

Eighty percent of Roy's 228 donors gave under $250, and 80 percent were Arlington voters, Roy's campaign said in a news release Tuesday.

“This shows both strong grassroots and widespread community support, a sign that Natalie’s message has been resonating with Arlington voters who feel like their voice has not been heard in recent years,” the news release said.

Among the six candidates, Roy and Cunningham are the only two who opposed the Missing Middle Housing plan that was adopted by the Arlington County Board on March 22. The county board's vote will allow developers to build multifamily dwellings in areas of the county currently zoned for single-family homes.

At a candidates forum hosted by the Arlington County Civic Federation on April 11, Roy said the board's vote in favor of the Missing Middle Housing plan "is the antithesis of smart growth" and that the county board "is pinning its goals on developers to create affordable housing."

Cunningham accused county board members of creating "terrible community dynamics" during the Missing Middle Housing process, divisions "that need to be repaired" by Arlington officials.

Spain, the former president of the NAACP Arlington Branch, reiterated his support for the Missing Middle Housing plan at the April 11 forum.

In response to questions from Arlingtonians for our Sustainable Future (ASF), an anti-Missing Middle group, Spain said the county board's decision "to remove exclusionary zoning will enable the development of additional attainable housing options such as duplexes, townhouses, and multi-unit buildings."

ASF sent the questionnaires to each of the six candidates on April 6, with a due date of April 14.

At the forum, Weaver said he supports the part of the Missing Middle Housing plan that allows duplexes and three-unit townhomes to get built on single-family lots. With the way the Missing Middle policy is written, though, Weaver said he does not expect many small buildings with four to six dwellings to get built.

Coffey, who also supported the Missing Middle Housing plan, said at the forum that the county is "not going to get a do-over on Missing Middle," when the new board convenes on Jan. 1, 2024.

In response to the ASF questionnaire, Coffey said she believes Arlington needs to "develop a comprehensive vision of housing and land use in Arlington that describes how we are going to meet all of the needs for housing and infrastructure."

Dromgoole, another Missing Middle Housing plan supporter, said all of Arlington was not represented at the candidates forum hosted by the Arlington County Civic Federation forum. County officials need to do a better job of reaching out to low-income residents and community members who "just don't feel heard" to gauge their opinions on important policy issues, he said.

RELATED: Missing Middle Housing Proposal Approved By Arlington County Board