![Campaign supporters surround Brentsville Supervisor-elect Jeanine Lawson at a campaign victory party in Gainesville. [Submitted]](https://potomaclocal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/lawson-wins-e1419384589560.jpg)
Lawson successfully linked over development with overcrowding in county schools
Jeanine Lawson won her bid to be the next supervisor in Prince William County’s hotly contested Brentsville District.
Lawson will replace former supervisor turned county judge Wally S. Covington after a grueling 9-month campaign in the district.
Lawson ran a campaign promising to limit growth in Prince William County’s most rural district. She successfully linked overdevelopment to the continual overcrowding issues facing the county’s public schools.
She ran against Republican turned independent Scott Jacobs and Democrat Eric Young. Election results were posted to the Prince William County website.
Lawson will head to the Board of Supervisors when they meet next at their first meeting of the New Year on Jan. 6.
She won’t be comfortable in her seat for long. Lawson was elected to complete the remainder of Covington’s term which expires in November. She’ll have to go once again into campaign mode in 2015 if she wants to keep the seat.
For voters in the district Tuesday, it came down to streetlight issues.
Muhammad Khan, of Gainesville, has watched more and more houses popup in the area and has seen a greater influx of Muslims like himself move into the Brentsville District. Now, he said it’s time to build a place for them to worship.
“The Muslims need to see a mosque built in this area,” said Khan, who cast his vote for Scott Jacobs. “The Muslim population is growing. Not as much as it is in Fairfax County, but it is growing in Prince William.”
A neighborhood meeting addressed the building a mosque in Nokesville in August. Residents were concerned the mosque would bring additional traffic to the rural crescent portion of the county.
The thought of more development in the Brentsville District also weighted heavily on some voters’ minds. The controversial Stone Haven development project would put more homes on land located between Linton Hall and Wellington roads if approved next month by the Board of Supervisors.
“It seems the county does a good job building new schools, but as soon as they do the schools fill to capacity with students,” said Dan Grinnell, of Gainesville, a Lawson voter. “We need a better mix of residential and business development, and these local elections can make a big difference.”
Samantha Fulda also voted for Lawson. She likes the a campaign promise Lawson made to limit growth in the area.
“I’ve got one in school now and one about enter. My son’s lunch periods end late and many of the students are in trailers for classrooms,” said Fulda.
Scott Jacobs developed a reputation as the “developers” candidate. Outside his old stomping grounds at Brentsville District High School, he was also known as the land rights candidate.
Kevin, who did not give his last name, said many who live on land in the district that is or was once used for farming have difficulties selling their properties at market value due to historic preservation efforts by the county.
“We need complete property rights, and we should have the right to sell our property and move somewhere else if that is what we want to do,” said Kevin.
