And then there were two.
The race for the Aquia District seat on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, which was a three-way contest, lost a hopeful Thursday as incumbent Monica Gary decided (again) not to run for the office.
Gary, an independent, initially said she wasn’t going to seek re-election after a controversy over a county resident being removed from the Central Rappahannock Regional Library Board caused her to be censured by her peers in December.
But then, in the spring, she changed her mind and decided to face Democrat Maya Guy and Republican Hank Scharpenberg.
At the time, Gary said she recruited Guy, vice chairwoman of the Stafford School Board, to run when she thought she wasn’t going to seek office again.
Guy disputes that version, saying there was no specific succession plan in place but that she decided to run when it looked like Gary wouldn’t.
Gary also said she wasn’t concerned that she and Guy would take votes away from each other, handing the election to Scharpenberg. She said no one is “entitled to anyone’s vote,” and that she had a record that she could run on.
Monica Gary
She mentioned that record again in a Facebook post Thursday — but this time in the context of departing the race and throwing her support fully behind Guy.
“Right now, our democracy is being threatened,” Gary said in a video. “And I’m not about to watch Stafford County become victim to bad policy from people like the Republican candidate who wants to take away education and health care from children.
“I cherish this community, and I would love to serve four more years as your supervisor, but I would love nothing more than to see our progress continue. We are not going back. That’s why I’m withdrawing from this race and throwing my full support behind Maya Guy for Aquia District supervisor, as well as the full Democratic ticket in Virginia.”
Gary said Friday that, with the “dynamic” of the race, she felt the best thing to do was drop out so that there would be “as few obstacles as possible to ensuring that we have good people in office.”
She said that, for her, the race was never about splitting votes, though she did say that she usually voted for Democratic priorities, even as an independent.
Maya Guy
Asked if she had been thinking about exiting the race for a while, she said: “You know it’s always a consideration when you’re weighing the needs of the community, which should always come first as far as what that strategy should look like to ensure that they’re cared for well, but as things have escalated nationally and seeing that filter even into our local politics, it’s very clear that to me that this was the right thing to do.”
Gary said she’s hearing positive feedback from people about her decision.
“They want to see real coordinated efforts to fight back against what we’re seeing happen in our country and our state and our counties right now,” she said. “So I think this is what leaders do: You have to make hard decisions, right? I’m familiar with that. You make hard decisions to ensure the security and well-being of the people you represent, and that’s what this is.”
Guy said Friday that she appreciated Gary’s support.
Hank Scharpenberg
“I am appreciative that she is out, and I thank her for her service, and I am very grateful that she is endorsing me,” she said.
Guy also said she is ready for the now two-candidate race.
“The only other thing I would say is I know my path to victory, and I’m ready to execute,” she said.
Reached Friday evening, Scharpenberg said he had nothing to add to the news of Gary’s departure.
