Fairfax County School Board Member To Challenge Sen. Barker For New Senate District Seat

CENTREVILLE, VA — Fairfax County School Board Member Stella Pekarsky announced Thursday she plans to seek the Democratic nomination this year for the new 36th District in the Virginia Senate.

Pekarsky, who previously served as chair of the Fairfax County School Board, said that she will "stand up" to Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s attacks on public education and abortion access if elected to the state Senate.

“The new 36th District deserves a senator who has deep roots in the community with a long record of serving its residents and the bold energy it takes to stand up to Governor Youngkin’s extreme policies,” Pekarsky said in a statement.

State Sen. George Barker (D) is planning to seek re-election as senator for the 36th District. He currently serves as senator for the 39th District, but after redistricting, he now lives in the 36th District.

"I've already been out knocking on doors in the district," Barker told Patch.

During her time on the Fairfax County School Board, Pekarsky said she has prioritized closing opportunity gaps, increasing teacher and staff pay, improving title IX training for students, and requiring research-based literacy instruction.

“I am focused on the future prosperity of the 36th District and its residents. It is critical that we protect abortion access, high quality public education, expanded voting rights, champion climate change solutions, and stand up for our progressive values," she said. "I look forward to talking with my neighbors in the weeks and months ahead as I seek to represent them in Richmond.”

Following the redistricting process in 2022, nearly 94 percent of voters in the 36th district have no incumbent senator running, according to Pekarsky’s campaign. The 39th District represents 6 percent of the newly drawn district’s population, her campaign said.

Barker, who lives in the Clifton area and will be seeking his fifth term in the Senate, said his Senate district also was changed after the 2010 U.S. Census. The latest redistricting means he will go back to representing some of the same people he did prior to the redistricting a decade ago, he said.

A resident of Fairfax County since 1975, Barker currently serves as chairman of the Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, a position where he has helped bring millions of dollars to the county and its schools, he said.

As the school board member for Fairfax County’s Sully District, Pekarsky represents the vast majority of the new district on the school board, according to her campaign.

The newly created Senate District 36 is based in western Fairfax County and stretches from Chantilly in the north to Clifton in the south and from Fair Oaks in the east to Centreville and the county line to the west.

In November 2019, Pekarsky defeated Republican incumbent Tom Wilson to serve as the Sully District representative on the school board. She served as chair of the school board during the 2021-2022 school year.

Another school board member, Laura Jane Cohen, who represents the Springfield District, announced in November that she is running for the new 15th District in the Virginia House of Delegates. Cohen, a Democrat, also was elected to the school board in 2019, defeating two-term incumbent Elizabeth Schultz.

Providence District School Board member Karl Frisch sought the Democratic nomination for the House of Delegates District 35 seat vacated by Mark Keam. But Frisch lost in the Democratic caucus vote to Holly Seibold, who won the special general election for the seat on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Frisch announced his intention to seek re-election this year as the Providence District representative on the school board.

Pekarsky is a daughter of Greek immigrants who has worked as a small business owner and a public school teacher.

Pekarsky holds a master’s degree in multicultural and multilingual education and a bachelor’s degree in American government and politics, both from George Mason University. She lives in Centreville with her husband and their six children.