John Matthews
WMAL.com
LEESBURG — (WMAL) The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is going to see something that has been scarce the past four years – a Democrat in its midst. Actually, THREE Democrats – and one of them will actually be running the show.
Democrat Phyllis Randall took advantage of a split field Tuesday and won the Board Chairman’s race over longtime incumbent Scott York, Republican Charlie King and independent Tom Bellanca.
York, a Republican who has served on the Loudoun board since 1999, had initially announced he would be retiring, but changed his mind after King won the GOP nomination, and ran instead as an independent. With York and King splitting the GOP support, Randall was able to squeak by with the victory.
With nearly 70,000 ballots cast and all precincts reporting, Randall held 24,613 votes to York’s 19,891, King’s 18,918 and Bellanca’s 1,973.
Randall will be the first African-American to serve on the Loudoun board, but she won’t be alone. Fellow Democrat Koran Saines also won, pulling off an upset victory over incumbent Eugene DelGaudio in the Sterling district by a margin of about 200 votes.
Randall, who has worked as a mental health therapist, says she will leave that job to focus on the Chairman’s position fulltime.
Another Democrat victory came in the Leesburg District, where Mayor Kristen Umstattd defeated Republican Will Estrada.
After four years as an all-Republican field, the new Board of Supervisors will have a 6 – 3 GOP tilt.
Copyright 2015 by WMAL.com. All Rights Reserved. (PHOTO: Phyllis Randall/Facebook)
