By Antonio Olivo June 21, 2023 (Data center backlash fuels Prince William board chair’s election loss – The Washington Post)
Four years ago, Ann B. Wheeler (D-At Large) was elected chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors as part of a liberal wave sweeping through her Northern Virginia community — leading a new Democratic majority on such key issues as racial equity and affordable housing after years of Republican rule.
On Tuesday, Wheeler lost her party’s primary election to a relatively unknown challenger — Deshundra Jefferson — a surprise outcome fueled by anger over data center development in the county that stands to affect the county board’s direction.
“I would say: Stand by, stay tuned and probably keep a camera running in the chamber because it’s going to be interesting,” Supervisor Victor S. Angry (D-Neabsco), who narrowly won his primary election contest Tuesday, said Wednesday about board meetings through the end of the year, predicting a fractious tone over data centers. “I think we can all agree on that.”
Jefferson, a communications specialist who campaigned heavily on the data center issue, beat Wheeler by 4.5 percentage points, according to unofficial results. Angry won his contest by nearly 3 points, and Supervisor Andrea O. Bailey (D-Potomac) beat her opponent by 44 points.
On the Republican side, Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville) won her party’s nomination for board chair by 63 points, setting up a fall matchup with Jefferson.
The outcome of the primaries probably will affect discussions surrounding a proposed 2,100-acre data center complex in the Gainesville area, which the current board is preparing to vote on later this summer.
With both Jefferson and Lawson opposed to that plan, opponents of the project say that the board should delay the decision or reject the plan outright, arguing that voters have weighed in on an issue that has generated concerns about noise and potential harm to the surrounding environment.
Supervisor Bob Weir (R-Gainesville) also won a special election earlier this year after campaigning heavily against data center development in that part of the county.
“I hope that the message is going to get through to people who seem to be listening to developers more than their constituents,” said Bill Wright, a Gainesville resident who has actively opposed data center development and was treasurer of Jefferson’s campaign.
Wheeler declined to comment on how the board will proceed on the Digital Gateway project or any other data center development.
In a statement conceding defeat, she said she would help Jefferson win her November election and attacked Lawson, calling her a “an extreme MAGA Republican.”
“Prince William County has made amazing progress over the last three and a half years and all Democrats and independents must all come together to ensure that continues,” Wheeler said. “Lawson clearly does not have the pulse of Prince William County, nor the best interests of all of our many residents and communities at heart. We cannot go back to the days when the majority of our residents had no voice.”
Jefferson praised Wheeler’s successes on the board but said she would have a more moderate approach to growth in the county.
“I do welcome data centers but they need to be in the appropriate places,” she said in a Tuesday night interview. “They do not belong near homes or schools and we’re not taxing them appropriately.”
Lawson vowed to fight harder on the issues, pointing to the outcome of both Jefferson’s and her races as proof that voters are opposed to “reckless development.”
“We’ll see if the current board has received that message or not,” she said in a statement that referred to the Digital Gateway project by its abbreviation. “But I’m going to continue to uphold my commitment to fight back against PWDG and irresponsible development of all types.”
The Gainesville-area residents who have opposed the plan played a large role in turning out votes for Jefferson. Many canvassed on her behalf, wearing “Fire Ann” T-shirts.
Jefferson won by large margins in western Prince William — where both she and Wheeler live — and in some more rural southeastern portions of the county, according to the nonprofit Virginia Public Access Project. Wheeler’s support came from Gainesville-area neighborhoods that stand to benefit from the Digital Gateway project and in the Woodbridge and Occoquan areas, where data centers haven’t been a factor.
Some of Jefferson’s supporters said they were turned off by Wheeler’s “bullying” style as a leader.
Ruth Balton, a former chair of the Gainesville district Democratic Party committee who befriended Wheeler when both were party activists and voted for her in 2019, helped orchestrate a postcard campaign on behalf of Jefferson and organized two fundraisers.
Balton said she was initially pleased by how Wheeler calmly steered the county through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic. Then, she said, she got a “nasty phone call” from Wheeler about Weir, a vocal critic of the county board, when he was running for the Haymarket Town Council in 2020.
“She was asking me why I wouldn’t try in every way possible to discourage this individual from running, not that I could possibly do that,” Balton said. “And she did this in a surprisingly bullying manner. I mean, her personality changed.”
Wheeler confirmed the phone call, saying she opposed Weir because he was a Republican who incessantly attacked Democratic candidates who were endorsed by the local party committee.
“I think it’s bizarre that she would support him,” Wheeler said, in a text message.
For Kara Klaas, the decision to not vote for Wheeler this time boiled down to the Digital Gateway proposal. Klaas said her home in the Oak Valley neighborhood — which sits near the proposed site — would be negatively affected by the plan, a message she and her neighbors have repeatedly tried to convey to the county board.
“They completely dismissed our concerns and they didn’t listen,” she said about Wheeler and other Democrats on the board. The election “definitely sends a message that we want leaders who protect the community, not corporate interests,” she said.
Supervisor Kenny A. Boddye (D-Occoquan), who did not have a primary election opponent, agreed.
“I think the results from Tuesday tell us that we need to be more cautious about data centers, and some of the stuff we have in the pipeline will help with that,” Boddye said, citing county studies examining the impacts of the industry, including noise and how surrounding neighbors and businesses are affected.
“This is an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, we hear that there needs to be more care and caution when it comes to data centers and where we put them,’ ” Boddye said. “There is a middle path where we are still getting the commercial tax base that we need while also being more sensitive to where we’re putting them in the county.”
In a county that has become increasingly blue, Jefferson is more likely than Lawson to be part of those discussions after January, Boddye said, noting that she has a chance to become the first African American chair of the board.
Though Lawson, a veteran supervisor who ran for Congress, is more widely known, Jefferson will benefit from the county’s increasing Democratic enthusiasm, he said.
“You’re going to have a whole host of Democratic activists, advocates and volunteers who may have sat out of the primary who are definitely going to be energized in the fall,” Boddye said.