Fairfax Mayor's Race: Read Out-Raises Kuiler Campaign By $2K

This is the first part of a two-part story focusing on fundraising in the Fairfax City mayor and City Council races. Part two will be published later this week and will focus on the city council race.

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Mayor Catherine Read’s campaign has out-raised challenger Susan Kuiler’s campaign by more than $2,000, according to state financial filings, as reported by the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project.

All candidates running in Fairfax City for mayor and city council in the Nov. 5 general election were required to file campaign finance reports by Oct. 15 for the money their campaign committees raised and spent through Sept. 30.

At the end of August, Kuiler was leading Read in fundraising by about $2,000, but the new numbers show that lead flipped.

Mayor’s Race: Total Money Raised as of Sept. 30:

• $16,343 - Catherine Read (I)*
• $14,306 - Susan Hartley Kuiler (I)

*Incumbent

Read's campaign reported a starting balance of $3 on Jan. 1, 2023 according to VPAP. As of Sept. 30, the campaign had raised $11,841 from 25 cash contributions of more than $100; $1,802 from 36 cash contributions of $100 or less; and $1,600 from six in-kind donations of contributions of more than $100. Read and her husband, Thomas Greeson, also contributed a total of $1,100 in loans.

Mayor Catherine Read’s Top 10 Donors

• $2,000 - Thomas W. Greeson - Attorney
• $1,500 - Wendy Asbury - Non-Wage Earners
• $1,000 - David Bulova - Environmental Engineering/Services
• $1,000 - Patrick Hope for Delegate - Democrat Leadership
• $1,000 - Suchada Vichitakul Langley - Information Technology
• $1,000 - Richard Saslaw for Senate - Democrat Leadership
• $500 - Holly Seibold for Delegate - Democrat -Leadership
• $500 - Marianne Vakiener -Schools - Self Employed
• $500 - Dale L. Lestina - Retired
• $300 - Alan Glenn - Non-Wage Earners

In July, the City of Fairfax Democratic Committee endorsed Read, and she counts among her top 10 donors the campaign committees of three Democrats serving in the Virginia General Assembly.

In addition, her husband, Greeson, the former chair of the Fairfax City Democratic Committee, and Del. David Bulova (D-Fairfax) personally donated $1,000, while his campaign committee contributed $250.

Read’s campaign reported $7,493 in itemized and $1,600 in in-kind expenses for a total of $9,093 spent from Jan. 1, 2023 to Sept. 30, 2024. This left the reelection campaign with $7,250 in the bank

Kuiler kicked off her campaign on March 15. Since then, she has raised $11,346 from 28 cash contributions of more than $100; $1,960 from 32 cash contributions of $100 or less; and Kuiler contributed $1,000 in loan money to finance her campaign.

Mayoral Candidate Susan Harley Kuiler’s Top 10 Donors

• $1,500 - John P Wood - Attorney
• $1,450 - Chap Petersen for Senate - Democrat Leadership
• $1,030 - Susan Hartley Kuiler - Retired
• $1,000 - Johnson A. Edosomwan - Churches/Pastors
• $1,000 - Richard Hartley - Non-Wage Earners
• $1,000 - Trevor Milner - Non-Wage Earners
• $500 - Jacob Dreizin - Federal Government Employees
• $500 - JCW Co Inc - Real Estate Developers
• $500 - Ralph Christian Jones - Public Colleges - Professors/Staff
• $500 - Janet Neuhaus

Kuiler’s campaign reported $9,067 in itemized expenses, which left $5,236 in funding as of Sept. 30.

All candidates running in the Fairfax City Council and mayoral races appear as independents on the official ballot, as both the City Charter and Virginia Code require. In addition, the Hatch Act prohibits federal employees from running in partisan elections, but those employees can run in non-partisan elections.

While Read was endorsed by the Democratic Party, Kuiler has not sought endorsement from any political party. She and city council candidates Anthony Amos, Kate Doyle Feingold, Jeff Greenfield, Stacy Hall, Rachel McQuillen and Tom Peterson are running as the "Fairfax City Independent Ballot."

Kuiler counts among her top donors the campaign committee of former State Sen. Chap Petersen, who was defeated in the 2023 Democratic Party primary by the eventual winner in the state senate race, Saddam Salim.

In addition to donating to Kuiler’s campaign, Petersen or his wife, Sharon Kim Petersen, contributed to the campaigns of five of the candidates running on the Fairfax City Independent Ballot.

Donations From Chap Petersen

• $1,450 - Susan Kuiler
• $500 - Anthony Amos
• $500 - Kate Doyle Feingold
• $500 - Jeff Greenfield
• $500 - Stacy Hall*
• $500 - Tom Peterson

TOTAL: $3,950

*Sharon Kim Petersen

In addition, four of the candidates spent $1,000 each to buy $4,000 worth of advertising in The Fairfax Independent, which Petersen launched earlier this year.

Ads In The Fairfax Independent

• Susan Kuiler: $1,000
• Anthony Amos: $1,000
• Kate Doyle Feingold: $1,000
• Jeff Greenfield: $1,000

Patch reported in early September that Fairfax Commonsense, a political action committee Petersen started in March 2023, had paid for a poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy to determine voters’ interest in keeping city elections independent.The latest financial filings revealed that the price of the poll was $11,000.

The next filing deadline for the Nov. 5 election is Oct. 28.