Progressive Voters Guide

Katie Cristol is a community advocate and public policy professional. She was elected to the Board in November 2015 and served as Chair of the County Board in 2018. Cristol is the co-Chair of Arlington’s Project PEACE, an interagency collaboration to address domestic and sexual violence in our community. Cristol has been an advocate for women’s issues, including reproductive health, political representation and support for survivors of sexual assault.

Cristol is prioritizing economic development in her campaign and wants to ensure Amazon is taxed adequately to restore Arlington’s tax base while protecting housing affordability in the county as Amazon moves in. Cristol plans to combat climate change by increasing public transit options in the county, restore Metro’s reliability, premium bus service on Columbia Pike, and new transit opportunities for Lee Highway. She wants to improve education in county by building more schools and supporting student ridership on the county’s public bus system. Cristol wants to make childcare more affordable in the county and support victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. She also vows to continue making inclusion, economic justice and racial equity a priority.

Cristol is the progressive choice for the Arlington Board due to her demonstrated track record and commitment to affordable housing.
 

A graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Christian Dorsey has been a resident of Arlington since 1993 and is married with two children. Dorsey is the Director of External and Government Affairs at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) in Washington, D.C. Dorsey is a frequent commentator on cable news networks having appeared on CNN, CNBC and Fox.

Dorsey was elected to the Board in 2015 and is the current Board Chair. Dorsey believes that the best way to tackle housing affordability in Arlington is by increasing housing stock. He is focused on fixing the county’s budget problems by examining what changes need to be made to the county’s property tax rate. As a member of the Metro Board, Dorsey wants to look at innovative ways to encourage ridership on the Metro system. He also wants to study structural inequalities in county policies so that more tools can be developed to bring more equity to Arlington. Finally, Dorsey supports changing the name of Jefferson Davis Highway.

Incumbent candidates Dorsey and Cristol are being challenged by independents Arron O’Dell and Audrey Clement. O’Dell is focusing his campaign on housing affordability in the county while Clement wants to address school overcrowding and the lack of green space in Arlington.

Dorsey is the progressive choice for the Arlington Board due to his demonstrated track record and commitment to affordable housing.
 

A first-generation American, candidate Rachna Seizmore Heizer received her law degree and Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of California at Berkeley. Her advocacy for students stems from her children. Heizer advocated for her daughter to enroll in advanced classes regardless of her mental health, and for her son to enroll in music classes in tandem with his special needs classes.

She previously taught Constitutional and Criminal Law at George Mason University. Currently Heizer is the Coordinator of Online Human Resource Development Curriculum and Instruction and teaches Employment Law, Leadership, Staffing Strategies, Human Relations, and Diversity and Cultural Competency online at Texas Tech University. Heizer was appointed to the board of the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board and the Fairfax County Public School Board’s Advisory Committee for Students with Disabilities. She is also a board member of the Fairfax County Alliance for Human Services, the Fairfax County Special Education PTA, and the Fairfax County Public School’s Inclusion Workgroup.

Heizer’s platform is centered on equity and inclusion. She wants to close achievement gaps and ensure all students have an equal opportunity to succeed regardless of who they are or what their interest is. Heizer wants to ensure that teachers have the proper training to support their students so their differences are not seen as limitations or issues. She is concerned about student safety, both mentally and physically. She wants to implement holistic approaches to teaching and supporting, in addition to increasing mental and behavioral health services. Heizer also wants to limit the use of student restraint for extreme cases. If elected, Heizer plans to implement green initiatives and a program that will increase student civic engagement. Heizer has been endorsed by Casa in Action.

Heizer is a progressive choice for this race.

Abrar Omeish is a second generation student of Fairfax public schools. She co-founded GIVE (Growth And Inspiration Through Volunteering And Education), a youth-led non-profit that has been providing free tutoring and mentorship for over 10 years. She chairs the Student Human Rights Commission and is the appointed co-chair of the School Board Advisory Committees. She is President of the county-led Fairfax County Public School Superintendent’s Advisory Council. Omeish amended county policy on bullying with a 12-step plan entitled "Bring It On". She has experience with youth in political fields, including founding the Robinson High School Young Democrats.

Omeish’s first priority is equity in education. She wants to implement programs to close achievement gaps within schools to ensure students have equal opportunity to succeed. Because mental health is another priority, Omeish wants to incentivize anti-bullying procedure and plans within Student Government and Student Council Alliances. She wants to ensure that teachers are treated well, and this concern traverses equitable hiring practices to adequate salaries.

Omeish is a progressive choice for this race.

Karen Keys-Gamarra has lived in Fairfax County since 1990. She received an undergraduate degree from Tulane University and a J.D. from Washington University School of Law. She currently resides in Fairfax with her family, and is a child advocate and attorney.

Keys-Gamarra has been on the school board since September 2017. During her time as a Board member, she supported the One Fairfax policy to address equity and access concerns within Fairfax public schools. Currently, Keys-Gamarra serves on the Governance and Audit Committees, the Community Criminal Justice Board, and the Title I Parent Advisory Committee.

During her time on the School Board, she has fought for equity by seconding the motion to rename Justice High School and aided in creating local policy to choose appropriate names for county schools. She has focused on continuing efforts to improve our discipline process by trying to eliminate disparities and improve restorative efforts to keep students in school.

She was able to adopt a budget that provided improved salaries for our educators. Keys-Gamarra also presented a motion to support menstrual equity, and support efforts to improve the way Fairfax residents care for the environment.

Keys-Gamarra is a progressive choice for this race.