Victoria Ross, Fairfax County Reporter for The Connection Newspapers, has a diverse media background as a journalist, editor, freelance writer and media spokesperson for county government.
Victoria covers Fairfax County government as well as county-related matters in the Virginia legislature, including politics, transportation, housing, education and county services. She has developed and written several special editions and series, including award-winning in-depth coverage of homelessness in Fairfax County and the impact of immigration and diversity in the county. During the 2012 elections, she covered President Barack Obama’s rallies in Fairfax County, as well as the president’s second inauguration. She also covered several other high-profile races, including U.S. Senator Tim Kaine’s race against former Virginia governor and U.S. Senator George Allen.
Her extensive coverage of homelessness in Fairfax County helped earn The Connection the prestigious 2011 Virginia Press Association Award for Journalistic Integrity and Community Service. Other awards given for Victoria’s work include the Fairfax County Media Partnership Award in May, 2012, and Virginia Press Awards for In-Depth Or Investigative Reporting for 2011 (2nd and 3rd place) and 2012 (1st place) and for Multimedia Feature Report (2011, 1st place).
A magna cum laude graduate of James Madison University and The University of Virginia, she started her journalism career in Dayton, Ohio where she was named the youngest-ever editor-in-chief of Times Publications, a chain of community and daily newspapers. As a reporter and editor of The Kettering-Oakwood Times and The Centreville-Bellbrook Times, she won several first-place Ohio Newspaper Association Awards for investigative reporting, business reporting and feature writing.
In 1994, she and her husband moved to Charlotte, where she became the media spokesperson for The Fighting Back Project, a nationally-recognized anti-drug program, co-funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Mecklenburg County.
She worked closely with the board’s co-chairs — Franklin McCain, one of the Greensboro Four who participated in the Woolworth sit-ins during the Civil Rights movement, and Cullie Tarleton, broadcasting executive and North Carolina State Representative — to raise the community profile of the program. That same year, she was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners to serve on Charlotte’s Diversity Task Force. In 1997, she became communications director for Mecklenburg County government, where she worked until moving to Montgomery County, Maryland, in 2003.
While freelancing for several local publications, she started a Diversity Book & Film Club that was the subject of a 2006 feature story The Washington Post. Victoria was born in Baltimore and raised in Fairfax County. She currently lives in Vienna with her husband, two children and two amazing dogs.
Recent Stories
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‘Results vs. the Resistance’ or ‘Common-sense vs. Out-of-touch’ in 10th District?
Comstock and Wexton present stark choice for voters during first debate.
Pioneering Change For Autism
University of Virginia seminar studies tension between “The Science & Lived Experience of Autism.”
Despite a recent surge in attention and research over the past decade about autism, controversy exists.
Comstock Wins 10th District Race
Hotly-contested seat targeted as a “flip” for Democrats.
From the outset, the race for Virginia’s 10th Congressional seat attracted national attention as a possible “flip” for Democrats in their bid to gain the 30 seats they needed to win back control of the House.
It's Election Day: Vienna, Oakton Vote
It's Election Day: Vienna, Oakton Vote
Vienna: It's Election Day: Vienna, Oakton Vote
November 8, 2016
As long as you are in line by 7 p.m., you will be able to vote. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. If you are planning to vote on your way home from work, give yourself plenty of travel time. Election officials want you to keep in mind that you need to be in line by 7 p.m at your poll location in order to cast your vote.
Race Tightens in Heated 10th District
Comstock, Bennett crisscross Northern Virginia in all-out effort to reach key voters.
In the final, frantic days of the one of the most unpredictable and unprecedented elections in modern history, both candidates spent the blustery fall weekend crisscrossing the sprawling, diverse 10th district - meeting residents, rallying volunteers and campaigning hard for voters’ support.