Patricia Phillips won the Republican nomination for the state Senate's 33rd District seat Saturday, May 19, following a primary that brought out less than 1,500 voters. Phillips defeated former School Board member John Andrews by more than 100 votes. She will face incumbent Sen. Mark Herring (D-33) in November.
"I am looking forward to the fast-paced election season leading up to November," Phillips said upon learning of her win. "Thank you."
While both candidates remarked on the steady stream of residents that showed up at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn to vote, only 1,471 votes were counted in both Loudoun and Fairfax counties.
Phillips earned 53 percent of the vote, receiving 791 votes to Andrews' 678 votes.
FOLLOWING THE PRIMARY, Andrews wished Phillips well in her run against Herring and said he was proud of the job he and his supporters did on his campaign.
"We ran a good race," he said. "We ran a clean race."
Phillips said she was disappointed by the low voter turnout, but said she believed her consist stance on key county issues helped earn her the nomination.
"My message has been to build roads and keep taxes low," she said. "I think that resonates with people."
Phillips said she does not plan on making any changes to her campaign in the coming months leading up to the general election.
"I've received very positive feedback on my campaign," she said. "People commented that they could see where I stood on the issues."
THE RESIDENTS WHO stopped by to Stone Bridge High School to vote came out for a variety of reasons. For Robert Dulaney of Sterling, it was taxes and keeping the tax burden on residents down. For Cindy and Bill Bloomingdale of Leesburg, it was important to support family and family issues. Ted and Kelly McLaughlan of South Riding said it was important for them to get leaders who would improve the county's transportation and commercial business problems.
"We really need to do more to get businesses out here," Ted McLaughlan said. "We're getting more big-box retail, but we're going to have a lot of office space soon and hopefully it gets filled."
Leesburg resident Eric Ross, who came out to support Phillips, said he believed the low turnout was probably due to the difficulty of getting voters excited about local elections.
"Reaching voters is difficult," he said. "There is not requirement to file for a specific party. But those that do come out are informed voters, which can lead to good results."