BACKLASH IN FAIRFAX COUNTY?

Last November 4, Democrat Gerry Connolly, for some years the Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, overwhelmingly won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

On February 3, Fairfax County held a special election to fill Connolly's seat on the Board. Although Democrat Sharon Bulova won that seat, the vote was much closer than expect in a county which has been strongly liberal for decades:

"In November, we got our clocks cleaned," [chairman of the Fairfax County Republican Party] Bedell said. "Three months later, even in a special [election], this was a squeaker. That's good news for Republicans."

Leaders of both parties noted that Republicans turned out in greater proportions than Democrats....

A lifelong local here in Northern Virginia, I didn't expect Republican Pat Herrity to garner some 49% of the votes in this special election. Clearly, he was running as the underdog in this special election.

In other words, the Republican candidate for Tuesday's special election outperformed his opponent by a much larger margin than expected.

Sign of a coming sea change?