Court Rejects Attempt To Disqualify Fairfax Co. School Board Candidate

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — A Fairfax County Circuit Court judge dismissed a legal motion Monday morning brought by the Eighth Congressional District Republican Committee to prevent Marcia St. John-Cunning from getting seated as the Franconia District representative on the Fairfax County School Board.

In the Nov. 7 general election, St. John-Cunning won the Franconia District school board election with 61.33 percent of the votes against Kevin Pinkney, her Republican-endorsed opponent, who received 33.38 percent of the votes.

"It’s astonishing that the GOP wasted so much money and time on two baseless court cases to prevent more than 17,000 voters from having their values represented in our schools," St. John-Cunning said in a statement Monday. "As we've seen across the country, this is another example of the GOP's undemocratic attempts to disenfranchise voters to secure an election they could not win at the polls."

Last week, the Republicans asked the Fairfax County Circuit Court to order election officials to invalidate ballot petitions of St. John-Cunning.

The Eighth Congressional District Republican Committee argued that St. John-Cunning should be disqualified from the election and not be allowed to be seated as a new school board member over an issue connected to the same person signing her ballot petition twice on the same day in February.

The Republicans filed the recent motion on Nov. 6 after a ruling by a Fairfax County Circuit Court on Nov. 1 that St. John-Cunning, who had been disqualified from the ballot, could be reinstated to the ballot for the Nov. 7 general election.

As the new school board member for the Franconia District, St. John-Cunning said in her statement on Monday that she commits "to upholding the ideals of my campaign: to help ensure all students have a safe and inclusive environment in which to learn, and to make FCPS a welcoming, helpful, and respectful space for all families."

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