Alcorn Kicks Off Re-Election Bid For Supervisor Seat In Hunter Mill

RESTON, VA — Walter Alcorn officially announced Saturday that he was running for re-election as the Hunter Mill District's representative on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The Democrat was first elected to the board in 2019.

"I have now put in my candidate qualification form. I paid my $1,900 fee. I'm going to be turning in my petition signatures very soon," Alcorn told a large crowd gathered in the Reston YMCA's community room on Saturday afternoon. "But I do want to thank everybody who's helped me thus far and who will be helping me over the coming months in the campaign."

In making the announcement, Alcorn highlighted some of his accomplishments since he was first sworn in as a board member in January 2020.

"One of the things that I said back then is I wanted to have the community involved in land-use decisions," he said.

At Alcorn's first board of supervisors meeting, he introduced a measure calling for the formation of a task force to review and recommendations to update Reston's Comprehensive Plan. Although the review took much longer than originally anticipated due to the pandemic, the task force conducted 58 meetings and met with county staff to come up with a final draft plan.

"One of the things that came out of that process was a recommendation — I'm very proud of this — that our comprehensive plan should include equity in an explicit way, it should include community health in an explicit way, and that process is still moving forward," he said. "And now we're looking at how to apply those concepts in Reston."

Alcorn also said he would listen to the concerns of the residents living around Reston's two golf courses about possible development of those properties. He did that by excluding the golf course properties from the comprehensive plan task force review and opposing a proposal by the owners of Reston National to redevelop their property. In December, the board of supervisors also rejected redevelopment proposals from the owners of both golf courses as part of the 2022-2023 Site-Specific Plan Amendment nomination process.

Alcorn renewed his commitment to create more affordable housing across the county. Four thousand were already in the pipeline, including more than 500 near the Springhill Metro Station in Tysons. These units would be part of the Dominion Square West property, which would provide 500 residences for working families.

"Housing affordability, it's not just the housing cost," he said. "It's also our ability to pay for housing, so that is where we get to income and assets. That's why it's so important that we create pathways to meaningful employment that actually adds value to the community and adds value to families."

Alcorn mentioned his support for funding from the Fiscal Year 2023 budget to hire 25 new positions as part of the county's co-responder program.

"We're moving away from a time in Fairfax County where if somebody is having a mental health crisis, we don't now always send a police officer with a gun and a taser," he said. "We are coming up with a system where that folks who are trained specifically in mental health crisis intervention, can respond and can deescalate the situation."

In addition to fully funding Fairfax County Public Schools, Alcorn backed the Charge Up Fairfax initiative, which is seeking to address climate concerns by providing greater access to electric charging stations around the county.

Voters will head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 7, to choose candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates, the Virginia Senate, the Commonwealth's Attorney, Clerk of the Fairfax Circuit Court, Fairfax County Sheriff, Chairman of Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, District Members of the Board of Supervisors, At-Large Members of the Fairfax County School Board, District Members of the School board, and Directors (vote for 3) of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District.

No candidate has come forward yet to challenge Alcorn in either the Democratic Party Primary on June 20 or the general election in November.

The Hunter Mill District Democrats hosted Saturday's campaign event. A number of current and past elected officials showed up to lend their support to Alcorn, including U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th); Fairfax County Board Chair Jeff McKay; former Fairfax County Board Chair Kate Hanley; Supervisors Dalia Palchik and Rodney Lusk (Franconia); Fairfax Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano; School Board Members Melanie Meren (Hunter Mill) and Rachna Sizemore Heizer (At-Large); and Vienna Town Council Member Howard Springsteen. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Mark Keam, who stepped down last September the District 35 member of the House of Delegates, was also present on Saturday.

Saturday's event also saw a large turnout of Democrats hoping to be on the ballot for the 2023 general election:

• Chris Falcone - Fairfax County Clerk of Court
• Albert Vega - Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (Springfield District)
• Jimmy Bierman - Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (Dranesville District)
• Ilryong Moon - Fairfax County School Board (At-Large)
• Paul Thomas - Fairfax County School Board (Hunter Mill)
• Mary Barthelson - House of Delegates (District 7)*
• Paul Berry - House of Delegates (District 7)*
• John Farrell - House of Delegates (District 7)*
• Shyamali Roy Hauth House of Delegates (District 7)*
• Saddam Salim - Virginia Senate (District 37)*
• Erika Yalowitz - Virginia Senate (District 37)*

* These candidates will be running in the June 20 Democratic Party Primary.