Lansdowne-resident Phyllis Randall filed paperwork Wednesday, announcing her intent to run for the Broad Run seat on the Board of Supervisors this November.
Democrat Randall, a 14-year resident of the county who ran for the School Board in 2003, joins Republican Jack Ryan as the second person to announce their candidacy for the eastern Loudoun seat.
"I have been involved in local politics for years," Randall said about her decision to run.
Randall said she believes the current board has been too single-minded, focusing too much on growth and transportation issues.
"Transportation and development are overarching issues," she said, "but there are other issues that we need to be focusing on, like public safety, education, illegal immigration, creating open green spaces, creating youth services and environmental issues. I think somebody has to give those things a voice."
One of the issues that most concerns Randall is the number of the children in the county living in poverty, which she said jumped 49 percent between 2000 and 2004.
"How can we call ourselves a family values community when, although we live in one of the wealthiest counties in the country, almost 57,500 of our own children live in poverty?" said she. "It is not that growth and development aren't important, but they aren't the only important things."
Randall, who has a fourth-grader at Seldens Landing and a seventh-grader at Belmont Ridge, said she is also dedicated to supporting the county's school system.
"I have an enormous respect for teachers," Randall, who has served on both the PTA and PTO, respectively, at her children's schools, said. "I want to take a different tone with how we deal with schools."
A self-described moderate Democrat, Randall said she believes that real leadership can only come from the center. After 13 years as a mental-health therapist in both a community-based and federally-funded youth program and in local government, Randall believes her experiences working with youth, law enforcement, community liaisons and in government will serve her well on the Board of Supervisors.
"I will be proactive, not just reactive in dealing with the many concerns of Broad Run residents," she said. "I believe I can problem solve some of the issues we're not talking about in Loudoun County."