Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano has won his primary election in Virginia, beating challenger and fellow Democrat Ed Nuttall by more than 10 percentage points in Fairfax County’s most contentious race.

Nuttall conceded to Descano on Wednesday morning, writing that he started the campaign to “give voices to victims of violent crime” and that he believes “we have accomplished that.” As of Wednesday afternoon, Descano won 55.39% to Nuttall’s 44.61%, with only one precinct left to report.

Descano thanked Nuttall for “getting on the ballot and allowing us to have a referendum on the future of justice reform in Fairfax.”

“The people have spoken,” he tweeted. “I’m excited to continue fighting for their values and building a better justice system for our county.”

The incumbent still has to win the Nov. 7 general election, which is quite likely to happen — Fairfax County tends to vote blue, and so far he has no challengers from other parties. Nuttall, a defense attorney who won an endorsement from the incumbent county sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, had earned 44.6% of the vote with 265 precincts reporting and early votes counted.

Kincaid, also up for re-election, won her race with about 75% of the vote against challenger Kelvin Garcia, in what shaped up to be a strong night for the county’s incumbents. Descano, and Kincaid, as well as Board of Supervisor Chairman Jeff McKay and incumbent supervisor Dan Storck all kept their seats, based on results with all but one precinct counted.

When Descano was first elected in 2019, he was part of a wave of progressive prosecutors who replaced longtime commonwealth’s attorneys across Northern Virginia. Descano ran on a platform of criminal justice reform, promising to reduce penalties for certain crimes, drop prosecutions for marijuana possession, and end cash bail and the death penalty.

He has delivered on many of those promised reforms and has touted transparency during his tenure. After formally ending cash bail in 2020, his office created an interactive data dashboard that analyzes prosecutors’ decisions to either detain or release someone before trial. The data, broken down by type of offense, is intended to guide his efforts to increase pretrial release for nonviolent crimes. (While Descano praised its creation, the dashboard only includes bond review hearings, and most bail or pretrial decisions in the county are made by a county magistrate.)

He’s also taken actions to reduce gun violence. After the passage of the red flag law in Virginia, Descano created a red flag law team responsible for taking guns from people who pose a “substantial risk” to themselves or others. He also released a red flag law data dashboard earlier this month.

Running for reelection this year, Descano vowed to continue pushing forward on those reforms, including the expansion of diversion programs that would reduce jail time for non-violent crimes.

In the end, the promise of reform appealed to voters despite sustained attacks to parts of Descano’s tenure.

During his first term, the prosecutor took heat from Republicans, including Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, who told 7News last year that Descano is among “far-left prosecutors that have a criminal-first-victim-last mindset.” He (along with the commonwealth’s attorneys in Arlington and Loudoun counties) faced an unsuccessful recall campaign from new conservative non-profit, Virginians for Safe Communities. Even some Democrats, and in particular his opponent, suggested his approach was out of touch with public concern about crime.

In particular, Descano has faced backlash for his office’s handling of sexual abuse cases. In 2021, his office drew reproach from the family of a victim after it reached a 17-year plea deal with a man who had sexually abused a relative when she was between 5 and 10 years old. (Descano has defended the plea deal, saying the 17 years would be more or less a life sentence for the abuser, who is in his fifties.) His office also faced criticism for missing an evidentiary deadline in another sexual abuse case, causing the judge in the case to rule a recorded confession inadmissible in court.

On the campaign trail, Nuttal took aim at what he called Descano’s “mismanagement” of the office, citing turnover among his staff and in the Fairfax Police Department. Nuttall himself was endorsed by the Fraternal Order of Police’s Fairfax County lodge. He’s well known for representing police officers in cases of police shootings – including Tyler Timberlake, who tasered and struck a Black man in June 2020, and Adam Torres, who shot an unarmed man to death in 2013.

Leading up to and over the course of a heated campaign, Descano has accused his critics of “weaponizing the trauma of victims” for their “far-right” agenda. He pledged a “victim focused” approach, saying that his office was establishing a special team for child victims of sexual assault that would enable his office to get services to victims sooner than before.

He also defended his management of the office and his relationship with the police department, which he described as “what you would want.” And Descano has repeatedly called Fairfax County the “safest county anywhere in America” with more than a million residents, touting a falling number of total crimes. But according to data from the Fairfax County Police Department, violent crimes in Fairfax County have been going up in recent years – a trend that Nuttall invoked repeatedly over the campaign. In 2022 there were more than 32,000 crimes against persons compared to about 30,959 in 2019. (The crimes counted here range from robbery and vandalism to homicides. Homicides were below 20 before 2020, but reached 20 in 2021 and again in 2022).

In the end, Descano won despite his opponent landing several major endorsements, including Sheriff Stacey Kincaid, State Sen. Chap Petersen (D-Fairfax) and The Washington Post’s editorial board, which criticized Descano’s office for “miscommunication” and mishandling “an unacceptable number of winnable cases.”

Descano, meanwhile, secured endorsements from former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, Congressman Don Beyer and Congressman Gerry Connolly, House of Delegates Minority Leader Don Scott – and singer John Legend, who’s been campaigning for progressive district attorneys across the country.

The two candidates did find some common ground during the campaign – both promised not to prosecute someone who seeks an abortion or purchases mifepristone, even if a 15-week abortion ban law passed locally or the Supreme Court banned the use of the pill.

Board of Supervisors races

Five seats were on the ballot in Tuesday’s primary election in Fairfax, including two Democratic incumbents facing challengers. In the end, it was a strong night for incumbents, who appeared to hang onto their seats with 265/266 precincts reporting and early votes counted as of Wednesday morning.

See below for a list of the races and their winners.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has nine members elected by district and a chairman elected at large. The board’s responsibilities include establishing local policy, passing resolutions and ordinances, appointing the county executive, approving the county budget, and setting local tax rates. Members serve for an unlimited number of four-year terms.

The Board was guaranteed to have at least two new members to replace John Foust, the Dranesville District supervisor, and Penny Gross, the Board’s vice chairman and Mason District supervisor, both of whom did not run for reelection this year.

The county tends to vote blue, and most of the Democratic nominees are likely to be victors in the general election.

When the eventual winners assume their seats, they can expect to grapple with a number challenges in Fairfax, including an ongoing housing affordability crisis, recruiting and retaining first responders, teachers, and county employees, and a rise in police shootings.

Candidates vowed over the campaign to tackle these issues by raising pay for public employees, expanding affordable housing options, and improving police training to minimize use of force and fatalities.

Chairman, At-Large

Incumbent: Jeff McKay (D)
Primary Contenders: Lisa Downing  (D), Jeff McKay (D)
Winner: Jeff McKay

Incumbent Board Chairman Jeff McKay appears to have defeated Democratic challenger Lisa Downing by more than 10 percentage points with 265/266 precincts reporting and early votes counted as of Wednesday morning. McKay declared victory on Twitter around 10:30 p.m.

McKay was first elected chairman in 2019 and has called himself a “champion for equity, education, affordable housing, transportation, and the environment.” He has cited the One Fairfax equity policy of 2016 – a resolution which committed the county and schools to considering equity in policy-making and services – as one of his greatest accomplishments. McKay has also touted this year’s budget, which created the largest pay increase in decades for county employees and established pay raises for teachers, first responders, and police officers.

Housing affordability, recruitment and retention, and improving police force accountability will remain some of the top challenges for McKay should he secure his seat against Republican challenger Arthur Purves in November. McKay has pointed to progress against these issues under his leadership. He has suggested the board could revise its current goal – 10,000 affordable housing units by 2034 – to accommodate more housing. McKay has called the rise in officer-involved shootings “troubling” and has expressed hope that a review by the Police Executive Research Forum will offer insight into any necessary reforms.

Dranesville District

Incumbent: John Foust (D) (departing)
Contenders: Jimmy Bierman (D), David Fiske (D)
Winner: Jimmy Bierman

An attorney and McLean native, Bearman defeated opponent David Fiske in the Dranesville District Supervisor primary race by nearly 40 percentage points with  265/266 precincts reporting and early votes counted as of Wednesday morning.

“This victory is about continuing to live our values and making sure Fairfax County stays a welcoming place to live,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to uniting with our Democratic ticket to put forth a positive vision.”

Bierman has also chaired the Dranesville District Democratic Committee and worked for the Biden administration. He won strong support from his party, securing endorsements from departing Dranesville supervisor John Foust, Congressman Don Beyer, and Chairman Jeff McKay. Bierman also fundraised more than $146,000. Fiske raised $13,227.

Bierman pledged to continue building on outgoing supervisor Foust’s agenda. He called for exceeding the county’s current goal of creating 10,000 affordable housing units by 2034, and advocated for housing affordability and collective bargaining as ways to retain county employees. He also called for closer board supervision of the Fairfax County Police Department (Bierman was part of the Fairfax County Police Civilian Review Panel and was also its chairman).

He will face Republican challenger Puneet Ahluwalia in the general election on Nov. 7.

Mason District

Incumbent: Penny Gross (D) (departing)
Contenders: Jeremy Allen (D), Andres Jimenez (D), Reid Voss (D), Steve Lee (D)
Winner: Andres Jimenez

Andres Jimenez claimed victory Wednesday morning in the Mason District race. He led the most crowded race for a supervisor seat to replace outgoing Democrat Penny Gross, who was also the board’s vice chairman. Fairfax Democrats called the race in favor of Jimenez shortly after midnight Wednesday.

Jimenez, a member of the Fairfax Planning Commission, was leading Reid Voss by less than 300 votes, with one precinct left to report Wednesday morning. While Jimenez was criticized during the campaign for his minimal participation on committees as a planning commissioner, Voss’ Democratic loyalty came under fire as he has a history of working on Republican campaigns.

Jeremy Allen, a public service employee working for U.S. Rep. Don Beyer, was in third, and Steve Lee, a businessman and leader in the area’s Korean community, was in fourth.

Mount Vernon District

Incumbent: Dan Storck (D)
Contenders: Dan Storck, Maritza Zermeno (D)
Winner: Dan Storck (D)

Incumbent Dan Storck won the primary by nearly 40 percentage points against challenger Maritza Zermeno.

Storck has been serving on the Board of Supervisors since 2016. He has promised to continue “revitalizing” the District, growing the local economy by accelerating improvements on Route 1, investing in Mount Vernon District schools to bring in new high-tech jobs, implementing green land-use policies and development, and pushing for more transportation funding.

Storck will face Independent challenger Christopher Morgan in the Nov. 7 general election.

Springfield District

Incumbent: Pat Herrity (R)
Contenders: Albert Vega (D), John Nowadly (D)
Winner: Albert Vega

Albert Vega won the nomination for Springfield District supervisor against John Nowadly. Vega led the race by nearly 10 percentage points with 265/266 precincts reporting and early votes counted as of Wednesday morning. He and Green Party candidate Corazon Foley will face Republican incumbent Pat Herrity in November.

Vega has argued that his background as a PhD engineer and small business founder gives him a unique advantage in running county government. He has called for expanding housing affordability in the county, saying the county’s current goal of creating 10,000 units by 2034 is “not enough.” Vega has also called on the Board to push for greater transparency from the police department, advocating for “more routine publication of public safety data” and mental health resources.

This post has been updated with more results on Wednesday morning and comments from Bierman.