After Milde moved, will he seek Stafford County office in a new district?

STAFFORD COUNTY — Paul Milde served on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors as the Aquia District representative for 12 years.

Last year, he was beaten in a Primary Election by George Washington District Supervisor Bob Thomas, who went on to win the 28th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Fredericksburg and Stafford County.

Milde ended his term on the Board of Supervisors in December.

Now he has moved across the Potomac Creek from his old house in the Aquia District into a new one in the George Washington. That would make him eligible to serve as the district supervisor here.

He tells Potomac Local that he has not sought to be a temporary replacement for Thomas on the Board, nor has he announced his candidacy to run in the November 6 Special Election where voters will decide who will fill Thomas’ old seat, completing his term which ends on Dec. 31, 2019.

In a statement, Milde tells us:

“I have not ruled it out. I think I would make a great supervisor. I know what’s going on. And I think my record of achievement is noteworthy and is exactly what the district needs.”

When you get outside Falmouth and Ferry Farm, the George Washington District is one of the most rural areas in Stafford County. It generally votes Republican.

Benjamin Litchfield, the Stafford County Democratic Committee Chairman, tells us that whoever is their candidate this fall will have to talk about local issues, and take a page out of newspaper reporter turned Virginia Delegate Danica Roem, who spent much of her campaign talking traffic congestion on Route 28 near Manassas.

He says the issues unique to southern Stafford County, like economic redevelopment and schools, are the ones that resonate with voters.

“In Falmouth, where I’m from, in Ferry Farm, and the rest of the George Washington District, you have a lot of empty storefronts. When you drive down Route 3, Kings Highway, on your way to King George County, there’s a shopping center that had a Food Lion there, and the Food Lion is gone, and the store owners were so concerned that people thought the shopping center had just died, they put up signs that said ‘we are open.”

In addition to empty storefronts, Litchfield said the Democratic candidate for this office would push for more funding to replace Ferry Farm Elementary School.

School officials tell us that maintaining the aging elementary school has become far more costly than it would be to simply replace the building. A new building is included in the school division’s capital improvement plan, but a price tag for the project has not yet been set.