Former School Board Member Ilryong Moon Enters At-Large Race

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Former school board member Ilryong Moon kicked off his campaign on Saturday for one of the three at-large seats on the Fairfax County School Board. The event took place at the Korean Community Center in Alexandria.

A practicing attorney by trade, Moon was born in Seoul Korea in 1957 and his family moved to the U.S. in 1974, according to his campaign website. He is an alumnus of the former T.C. Williams Senior High School, which is now Alexandria City High School. After graduating from Harvard in 1981, Moon attended William & Mary Law School.

Moon first represented the Braddock District from 1996-1999, on the school board. From 2004-2019, Moon was an at-large member on the school board, twice serving as its chairman. He also served as an at-large member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission from 2000-2003.

Running as a Democrat, Moon lost to Republican John Cook by 89 votes for the Braddock District seat on the Board of Supervisors.

A large number of local elected officials, most of which were Democrats, showed up on Saturday to support Moon at his campaign kickoff, according to his website. These included: State Sens. George Barker, Jennifer Boys, and Chap Petersen; Dels. Eileen Filler-Corn, Holly Seibold, Irene Shin, Marcus Simon, and Vivian Watts; Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay; Supervisors Penny Gross, Dalia Palchik, Kathy Smith, and James Walkinshaw; and School Board Members Laura Jane Cohen, Karl Frisch, Karen Keys-Gamarra, Stella Pekarsky, and Karen Corbett Sanders. Former Del. Mark Keam and former School Board Members Sandy Evans and Ryan McElveen were also in attendance.

In November, voters will choose three candidates to fill the vacant at-large seats on the school board. Other candidates who have already entered the at-large race are Saundra Davis, incumbent Abrar Omeish, Mark Stanley Tenney, Robert Kyle McDaniel, Cassandra Aucoin, Chris Lewis, and Linda Pellegrino.

Lawrence Webb, a former member of the Falls Church City School Board, is also planning to enter the race, according Bryan Graham, chair of the Fairfax County Democratic Committee.

School board candidates officially run as independents; however, candidates can seek the endorsement of either of the political parties. For example, Omeish received the Fairfax Democrats' endorsement when she first ran in 2019. McDaniel announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party endorsement when he announced his campaign bid.

The Fairfax Democrats will be choosing which candidate the party will be endorsing for the at-large seat on the school board and the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District Directors during the 2023 Democratic Endorsement Caucus.

Online voting will take place from May 13, at 10 a.m. to May 20, at 4 p.m. In-person voting will take place on May 20, from 10 a.m.- 4 p.m., at locations to be announced at a future date.

Those wishing to cast a ballot in the caucus must be a registered voter and must be pre-register for the caucus. Pre-registration opens on April 10, at 10 a.m., and closes on May 5.