Exclusive: Candland, a returning Republican now in the minority, focused on schools, Rural Crescent

Peter Candland, Prince William County’s Gainesville District Supervisor, was one of two Republicans to hold their county seats on Tuesday.

• He’ll join Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson who is also returning to the dias in January, as both handily beat out their Democratic challengers.
• Ruth Anderson, of the Occoquan District, couldn’t fend off her Democratic opponent Kenny Boddye and lost to him by a razor-thin 328 votes.
• He’ll now be in the minority on the Board, which will now have three Republicans on it (down from five) after Republican Yesli Vega also won on Tuesday.

This marks Candland’s third term on the Board of County Supervisors and, by now, he’s got the battle scars to prove it.

• He’s often been the lone conservative voice on the Board County Supervisors — even during the Board’s 6-2 Republican majority.
• “I’ve led many of the 1-7 votes on the board,” Candland told me. “My first attempt at giving more funding to the schools died in a 1-7 vote, but we worked through it, and it eventually passed.”
• The Board finally voted in favor of giving an additional $1 million in funding to build new classrooms, effectively reducing the number of students per class.
• He’s pushed to eliminate the automatic transfer agreement where, since 1986, the schools received more than half of county’s budget — no questions asked.
• Candland has said that the schools should be funded, sometimes with more money, based on need, not a flat percentage.

He, Lawson, and Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi in recent months have pushed to preserve the Rural Crescent by opposing running water and sewer pipes to the tract of land between Quantico Marine Corps Base and Manassas National Battlefield.

• That, they say, would spur development, which would bring the need for new roads and infrastructure, schools, public safety buildings, etc.
• Voters in the Gainesville, Brentsville, Coles districts — which contain must of the county remaining rural land — rejected Democratic rule for those respective Board of Supervisors seats and voted for Republicans.
• “I don’t see the Rural Crescent as a Democrat or Republican issue,” said Candland. “Our constituents want to protect the rural area.”

Just before the election, an effort led by Candland, Lawson, and Principi, to halt further action on changing development rules failed.

• Members of the current Board, as well as the new board to take its seat in January to include Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry, urged patience.
• Proposed changes to the development rules inside the Rural Crescent are still being reviewed by members of the county’s Planning Commission, which will make a recommendation to the full Board of County Supervisors.
• Those changes include allowing for the construction of cluster subdivisions and adding water and sewer in the rural area.

Candland won handily, beating his opponent Danny Funderburk by 15 points.

• He says he heard from multiple Democrats who crossed party lines to cast their ballots for him.
• “Prince William County residents want leaders they can trust and will work for them, not special interest [land developers], and that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.