Four years ago, when the Virginia General Assembly voted to instruct all localities to hold elections in November, officials in Fredericksburg had a decision to make.
Where the city had previously held its local elections in May, leaders found themselves tasked with choosing between November of even or odd-numbered years moving forward.
The city council begrudgingly voted 6-1 to move forward on odd years, in part to avoid the partisanship associated with being down the ballot of federal elections.
“It’s a lose–lose for the city,” then-Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw said during a city council meeting leading up to the vote. “I don’t care which November we go to; it’s not an improvement.”
Although city elections are on the state and not the federal ballot, the 2025 cycle is proving to be as contentious as Greenlaw feared.
A dispute over whether federal workers can participate in “nominally” partisan elections erupted after a Fredericksburg Democratic Committee gathering, and a pair of lawsuits filed by local residents are aiming to disqualify House of Delegates candidates based on claims that they do not reside in the district they’re vying to represent.
Those who closely monitor local, state and national politics say that the city’s issues reflect what’s going on elsewhere, including in the Fredericksburg area. According to those observers, moderates don’t win elections, meaning extreme partisanship is what it takes to gain votes.
“One of the key factors about the new timetable is that elections are occurring when partisan tensions are high,” said University of Mary Washington Professor Stephen Farnsworth, who specializes in political science and media affairs. “People are being primed by all these attack ads about how horrible the other side is, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that a contentious political environment affects local races as well as state.”
Kenneth Gantt, a former member of the Fredericksburg Planning Commission running for city council in Ward 1, said polarization is an understatement when describing the current political climate in Fredericksburg. Gantt said he’s concerned about the city’s future because opposing candidates may eventually have to work together to govern.
“Quite frankly, there’s been disrespect. It has not been civil,” he said. “There are just a number of things that have gone on with this election in the city right now. Now you have folks that are in, how do they work together after all the things that they have put out there, that they have said or done? … Now you’ve got to get past that or figure out how you both get past that for the benefit of the city and your neighbors.”
‘Neighbors just don’t like each other’
Last month, Gantt and Ward 3 city council candidate Susanna Finn submitted an official request to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management for Fredericksburg to be recognized as a designated locality and become exempt from Hatch Act limitations on running for partisan office.
But that conciliatory outcome only followed a tense — and at times nakedly adversarial — series of events.
Shortly after the Fredericksburg Democratic Committee made its slate of endorsements in July, a city resident filed a citizen’s complaint with OPM, bringing to its attention the potential for a Hatch Act violation. At issue: a January 2024 advisory legal opinion that held that the mere presence of endorsements by a political party of any candidate in a race means that the race could be considered partisan.
In an interview with the Free Press in August, FDC Chair Ken Lecky stated publicly that the organization would rescind endorsements for Finn and Commissioner of the Revenue candidate Tamara Stuart, but not for Gantt’s Ward 1 opponent, Matt Rowe.
Then, in August, the Fredericksburg Republican Committee issued its own endorsements, including for Finn’s Ward 3 opponent, Matt Kelly. Pointing to a social media post from the group Inform Fredericksburg, to which Kelly regularly contributes, Finn publicly called on Kelly to drop out of the race.
Kelly refused, telling the Free Press that he had nothing to do with the Republican endorsement process and further claiming that the previously unbylined Inform Fredericksburg post was written by Rick Pullen, an author and former Free Lance–Star investigative reporter.
The solution ultimately pursued by Finn and Gantt appears to have worked, with both able to maintain their status as candidates — as well as keeping their jobs. Gantt said that with so many issues facing the federal government, including the ongoing shutdown, he isn’t anticipating an answer from OPM anytime soon.
Gantt considers himself to be independent of a political party. He said he’s seeking office because he “loves the city” and wants to tackle local issues such as infrastructure, housing density and school funding, among other topics. He doesn’t think national concerns such as immigration and abortion should be at the forefront of local campaigns, and that polarization evolved into “personalization” in local politics.
“Quite frankly, neighbors just don’t like each other, and that’s unfortunate,” Gantt said. “I think that’s what’s in the way of catapulting the city to some of the next levels everybody talks about and wants to get to.”
Appeals, allegations color sheriff’s race
The sheriff’s race in the city is no less heated.
Rashawn Cowles and Keith Rodgers are angling to replace outgoing Sheriff Scott Foster. Rodgers was initially disqualified from the ballot due to an issue with signatures but later won an appeal, which registrar personnel said angered Cowles.
In a series of statements provided by the Rodgers campaign, employees in the city registrar’s office detailed what they considered aggressive behavior from Cowles and Foster, who is actively supporting the former’s bid for election.
Fredericksburg General Registrar Jessica Atkinson provided a statement to the city’s electoral board that Cowles failed to sign the circulator section on the petitions he gathered to get on the ballot, and then, on Jan. 30, demanded to be allowed to sign after the forms had been notarized, setting off a confrontation with a registrar’s office employee.
“I was informed that the interaction was confrontational and caused distress among staff,” Atkinson wrote to the electoral board.
Deputy Registrar Rosemary Chandler provided another account of perceived “poor behavior” by Cowles’ supporters during a July 1 electoral board meeting called to determine Rodgers’ appeal to be included on the ballot. After a motion to disqualify Rodgers failed, Chandler said Cowles’ supporters began moving throughout the room and having audible conversations.
“One observer wanted to remain so that he could have a conversation with [Atkinson],” Chandler wrote to the board. “After Chair [Scott] Walker said that wasn’t possible, the entire group left very loudly. Atkinson asked [Deputy Registrar Kate McDaid] to ensure they had vacated the hallway outside the conference room, which they had.”
In an interview with the Free Press, Cowles maintained that all of his interactions, including a follow-up conversation with Atkinson and staff the day after the appeal, were professional, courteous and often involved laughter.
He noted that after the city’s electoral board held a special hearing to address the claims, election officials took no action against him. He said officials from both the Fredericksburg Sheriff’s Office and the Fredericksburg Police Department, where he serves as captain, appeared at the special hearing. FPD authorities never alleged he was involved in any misconduct.
Instead, Cowles believes registrar employees became upset with him after he filed a Freedom of Information Act request in July, seeking records related to Rodgers’ appeal.
“The allegations said myself and Sheriff Foster had berated and intimidated them since January, but yet there wasn’t a complaint made until July, after I made my FOIA request,” Cowles said. “I can tell you with 150% certainty that every time I went to that office, No. 1, I wasn’t on duty, No. 2, I was never in uniform, No. 3, I never had a gun … There was never an issue.”
State House race intensifies
Farnsworth said the tension at the local level stems from contentious elections on the national and state landscape.
In House District 66, Spotsylvania County School Board member Nicole Cole, a Democrat, is offering the strongest challenge yet to 36-year incumbent Republican Bobby Orrock.
Cole has raised $484,438 compared to $87,239 by Orrock, according to the Virginia Public Access Project website. Orrock said it’s the first time he’s been outspent, and he’s stunned by the financial difference. According to VPAP, Cole has raised more than all Orrock’s previous challengers combined; for context, his most recent opponent, Mark Lux, raised $3,075 in 2023.
Orrock said that in knocking on doors in his district, voters give him a yay or nay based strictly on what party he represents.
“I guess the most disturbing thing is it is far more polarized regardless of the candidate or the issue,” Orrock said … “It used to be, regardless of your party, if you were doing a good job of representing your area, then you recognized and represented both Republicans and Democrats. I’ve always tried to do that.”
At one time, Orrock said, he could visit a Democrat’s office in Richmond and have a productive conversation to move legislation forward. But those days are long gone.
Farnsworth said that’s because moderates don’t win elections nowadays. Compromising is often viewed as a sign of weakness, and liberal and conservative voters may shun an elected official for negotiating with the other side.
“But that’s where democracy is supposed to be, I always thought,” Orrock said. “Otherwise, you’re leaving one half of the segment out.”
Cole doesn’t use the term “polarization” to describe the current political climate in the region. Rather, she said it’s more about “illumination,” asserting that she is the first candidate to raise enough money to highlight Orrock’s voting record regarding education funding and reproductive freedom, in particular.
Farnsworth, Orrock and Cole also noted that changing demographics in the region mean it’s no longer a Republican stronghold, and intense election cycles are likely to continue.
“I wouldn’t use the word polarized,” Cole said. “For me, it is uncovering the need for our representation to actually fight for what’s important for people here in these communities in the Rappahannock region … Illumination of who actually is going to work for the things that people in the community — at the doors — are saying they want.”
Is a house a home?
In the school board race for Cole’s seat in the Battlefield District, candidate James King is facing a lawsuit from a voter claiming that he is not a bona fide resident of the district. Plaintiff Nicholas Potts, also named Spotsylvania General Registrar Kellie Acors and John O’Bannon, the chair of the state board of elections, in the lawsuit, which seeks to disqualify King as a candidate.
In the latest development, Acors requested that a Spotsylvania Circuit Court judge dismiss the case in a filing last week. O’Bannon’s representation has yet to file a response.
Acors stated that she “acted in accordance with her duties as general registrar” when she confirmed King’s address with the Virginia Elections and Registration system and the Department of Motor Vehicles.
King’s attorney Joseph Peter Drennan said his client rented a room from a member of his church and later rented another home in the district.
“Look, he moved into the district to run for office,” Drennan said. “So, what? People do that.”
In Stafford, House District 64 candidate Stacey Carroll is facing similar accusations in a lawsuit filed by three county residents.
The tension in Spotsylvania is playing out in the courtroom and at the polls. Acors recently sent out a memo reminding candidates and volunteers to observe proper decorum at the polls, where some are spending all day campaigning.
Acors stated in the message that she’s reminding volunteers and candidates to follow the electoral board’s policy on activity outside early voting locations.
“Additionally, our office has received numerous calls from voters expressing concerns about individuals stepping into their path or persistently offering sample ballots as they approach the entrance,” Acors said.
Acors reminded candidates and volunteers not to step in front of or block voters as they enter the building; approach voters in a way that could be perceived as intimidating or overly assertive; and insist that voters take materials they don’t want. Acors added that voters can hear conversations around the facility involving inappropriate language.
“All interactions with voters must remain respectful, brief and voluntary,” Acors said. “We appreciate everyone’s enthusiasm, but it’s vital that every voter feels comfortable and unpressured when arriving to vote.”
What’s the solution?
It shouldn’t come as a shock, said Farnsworth, that local and state elections are contentious, given the tone of national politics. But the professor, who also serves as Director of UMW’s Center for Media Studies, took it a step further: voters are now seeking to elect people who are combative and “increasingly ideologically extreme.”
“So, if the political environment does not provide a space for moderates, then one shouldn’t be surprised that compromise is rare indeed,” Farnsworth said.
Farnsworth added that in the past, Virginia had plenty of conservative democrats and liberal republicans, which meant the balance of power was held by moderate elected officials who kept both parties’ extremists at arm’s length.
He referenced how former Sens. Edd Houck (D) and John Chichester (R) represented the Fredericksburg region as moderates.
“A politician does not get a ‘thank you’ from voters for compromising with the other side these days,” Farnsworth said.
The professor added that extreme partisanship creates an “all or nothing” approach to change. He said the only way the atmosphere shifts is when leadership transitions from a 100% Democratic vision to 100% Republican vision and back again.
Gantt and Kelly both said the key to regaining civility in local elections is a keen focus on local issues. Kelly, a conservative, said he’d rather be judged by his stance on local issues than “the letter next to my name.”
“I’ve always tried to do this — sit down with anybody who agrees and disagrees with me,” Kelly said. “When you talk to people like that, they bring up things you didn’t consider … Under the current political climate, I think it’s going to be very difficult to put that genie back in the bottle.”
Managing Editor Joey LoMonaco contributed to this story.
