Data from the Virginia Public Access Project (Elections: Prince William County Prince William County Supervisor – Gainesville (vpap.org) shows Democrat Kerensa Sumers raised $46,583, while Republican Bob Weir raised $20,005.

Sumers largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:

• Donations from Service Employees International Union – Local 512 to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: digital advertisement)
• Donations from ActBlue Virginia to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Coalition for a Brighter PWC to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (address is Catharpin, VA)
• Donations from Democratic Party – Prince William County to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Mulhausen, Jeff to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Muslim Outreach and Volunteer Enterprise to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: canvassing support)
• Donations from Sumers, Kerensa to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Stanley Martin Companies Inc to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Nova Building Industry Assn to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Kissler, Timothy L to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org) (In-kind donation: catering)
• Donations from Angry, Victor to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Boddye for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Ken to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)
• Donations from Compton, Bettie to Kerensa Sumers (vpap.org)

Weir’s largest donors ($1,000 or more) included:

• Donations from Lawson for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Jeanine to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) ($1,000 cash + $1,000 in-kind donation for a campaign fundraiser)
• Donations from Weir, Bobert Burton to Bob B Weir (vpap.org) (loans)
• Donations from Kulick, Kathryn to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Price, James M to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Vega for Prince William County Board of Supervisors – Yesli to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)
• Donations from Ward, Elizabeth H to Bob B Weir (vpap.org)

Notable among Sumers’ donors is virtually every homeowner in the Catharpin Valley Estates neighborhood.  This was the neighborhood that attempted to join the Prince William Digital Gateway CPA once they believed its passage was inevitable.

It would be interesting to learn who the contributors to “Coalition for a Brighter PWC” (The Virginia Public Access Project (vpap.org)) are.  Since it has a Catharpin, VA address, could this be residents of the Sanders Lane area who want to put together a data center assemblage?

Just a guess. Draw your own conclusions.

Bill Wright
Gainesville

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A Prince William County man is dead, and another faces charges after a crash this morning.

At 6:13 a.m., investigators with the Crash Investigation Unit responded to Sudley Road and Stepney Drive near Gainesville to investigate a crash.

The driver of a 2019 Cadillac XT4 was making a left turn from Stepney Drive onto Sudley Road when the vehicle entered the path of a 1998 Toyota Corolla that was traveling west on Sudley Road.

The driver of the Corolla attempted to avoid a collision and sideswiped the Cadillac. The collision caused the Corolla to rotate before being struck by a 2008 Toyota Yaris that was traveling east on Sudley Road. The driver of the Corolla was transported to an area hospital, where he died.

The driver of the Yaris was transported to an area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The driver of the Cadillac was found at fault in the collision and cited.

The driver and a passenger in the Cadillac were not injured.

Charged on February 13:

• The driver of the Cadillac XT4 was identified as Paul Leon REECE, 87, of 4511 Sanders Ln in Gainesville
• Charged with failure to stop or yield before entering highway
• Court Date: Pending | Status: Released on Court Summons

Identified:

• The deceased driver of the Toyota Corolla was identified as Williams Ely
• MONGE RODRIGUEZ, 31, of Catharpin
• The driver of the Toyota Yaris was identified as a 42-year-old man of Haymarket
• The passenger in the Cadillac XT4 in the was identified as an 85-year-old woman of Catharpin

This Sunday is the last to vote early in the Special Election for Gainesville District Supervisor on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

The last day to vote early is Saturday, February 18, 2023. Click here for more info on where to vote.

Democrat Kerensa Sumers and Republican Bob Weir took the stage for a candidate forum near Haymarket. Read our full report.

Sumesr and Weir drew stark contrasts between themselves regarding commercial development and data centers, with Sumers calling for more widespread development and Weir calling to curb development and scrapping a plan to add 30,000 more homes to western Prince William County.

Both agreed the county could do more to fund parks.

The PWC Office of Elections will be open this Sat. 2/11 & Sun. 2/12 from 8:30 am-5:00 pm for Early Voting for the Gainesville Special Election. *PLEASE NOTE!* Sunday 2/12 is the ONLY Sunday Voting Day for this Special Election. Come vote before the big game!

— Prince William County Office of Elections (@PWCVotes) February 10, 2023

The two candidates seeking to become the next Gainesville District Supervisor met on Thursday, February 9, 2023, at Battlefield High School near Haymarket.

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Hundreds packed Chris Yung Elementary School in Bristow on Thursday, February 2, opposing a massive data center complex on the horizon.

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Two candidates vying for the Gainesville District Supervisors seat will participate in a voter forum on Thursday, February 9, 2023.

Kerensa G. Sumers (D) and Robert B. “Bob” Weir (R) will appear on stage at Battlefield High School, 15000 Graduation Drive near Haymarket, at 7 p.m. The event staff from the Prince William Committee of 100 will open the door to the school at 6:30 p.m. Here’s more information on this event flier.

Insidenova Prince William Publisher Bruce Potter will moderate the forum. Both candidates seek to replace Peter Candland in a February 21 Special Election. Early voting is underway, and more information about early voting and where to vote is available on the Prince William County Elections Office website.

Candland represented Gainesville on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors between 2012 and December 2022. Candland resigned last month after Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth advised him not to vote on any land-use issues to come before the Board this year.

Candland signed a letter of intent to sell his home to data centers developers at Prince William Digital Gateway, more than 800 acres of land next to Manassas National Battlefield Park slated for server farms. The Board approved a rezoning, clearing the way for the park in November 2022. Candland abstained from the vote.

Data center development will be a key issue in the Gainesville District Supervisors race. Weir, who has seen multiple Democrats cross party lines to vote for him during a firehouse primary earlier this month, is opposed to further data center development near homes and has been an outspoken advocate for land preservation in western Prince William, where the majority of data centers are being built.

The Democrat-controlled Prince William Board of County Supervisors is aligned with Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R)  in supporting data center expansion for economic benefits. This month, Youngkin announced Amazon would invest $35 billion in new data center construction across the state — the largest private investment in state history.

Yesterday, Monday, January 30, 2023, Republicans in the House of Delegates Rules subcommittee killed a resolution by Prince William County Delegate Danica Roem (D) requiring the state’s energy department to study the impacts of data center construction on the environment statewide. Data centers are power and water hungry, using both resources to power and cool servers, respectively.

A North Carolina company wants Prince William County to be home to its second solar farm in Virginia. Read More

Republicans selected Bob Weir as their candidate for a Special Election in Prince William County’s Gainesville District.

Weir will face Democrat Kerensa Sumers in a February 21 match-up, where voters will decide who will serve the remainder of former Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland’s term that ends December 31, 2023.

Candland resigned a month following the approval of the Prince William Digital Gateway, a tract of land larger than 800 acres next to the Manassas National Battlefield Park, now cleared for data center development.

Candland owns a home on the land and stands to make millions by selling his property to data center developers. Candland had abstained from making land-use votes on the Digital Gateway the year leading up to the project’s approval and subsequent resignation.

The GOP selected Weir at a mass meeting at Park Valley Church near Haymarket today, Monday, January 2, 2023. He won more than 50% of the vote in the first round, beating former county school board member Alyson Satterwhite and Ray Mizener, who chairs the Prince William Committee of 100.

The nominating process began at 7 p.m. with speeches by the candidates. The GOP required participants to pledge allegiance to the party and renounce any prior political party affiliations before they were allowed to cast a ballot. The GOP declared Weir, the winner at 9 p.m.

A total of 372 people registered to vote at the mass meeting to decide the nomination. The voting was done by secret ballot.

Weir could not be reached for comment on this story.

Several Democrats, like Bill Wright and Marilyn Karp, outspoken opponents of the Prince William Digital Gateway, attended the meeting. According to Karp, she cast a ballot for Weir. They campaigned for Weir, who joined them last year in opposing the massive data center project next to the site of one of the first major battles of the Civil War.

Wright, who Prince William County Democrats ousted from their organization last year after he called for Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler’s resignation, says he plans to oppose his party’s nominee in a larger effort to oppose the majority of Democrats who sit on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

“Kerensa Sumers sounds like a decent person, I’ve read her position statements, but as long as Ann Wheeler is in charge of the Board of County Supervisors, I’m not going put another vote in her bucket,” said Wright.

Wright and others who opposed the Digital Gateway and a host of data center projects on coming to the area say Supervisors are more concerned about trading the county’s remaining rural landscape for data centers, felling trees, and paving over surfaces which will lead to more stormwater runoff and sediment in area reservoirs.

Voters chose Wheeler and four other Democrats to sit on the board in 2019. When they took office in January 2020, the Board of Supervisors flipped from Republican control for the first time this century.

The two remaining Republicans on the board, Yesli Vega and Jeanine Lawson, also spoke during Monday’s mass meeting.

Weir sits on the Haymarket Town Council, where he’s served off and on again since 2004. Voters most recently re-elected him to the town council in November 2022.

Satterwhite has declared her candidacy for the Gainesville District Supervisors seat for the November 2023 General Election but also tossed her name into the ring for the February Special Election after Candland’s resignation.

Satterwhite spent eight years on the county School Board representing the Gainesville District. She ran against Dr. Babur Lateef twice for the School Board Chairman At-large seat and lost during a Special Election in 2018 and the General Election in 2019.

Correction: Marilyn Karp, a self-proclaimed Democrat, cast a ballot for Weir during a mass meeting on Monday, January 2, 2023.

Republicans moved the date of a mass meeting to choose their next Gainesville District Supervisor candidate.

A Prince William County Republican Party mass meeting will occur at 7 p.m. on Monday, January 2, at Park Valley Church, 44500 Waverly Drive in Haymarket.

Two candidates — former county school board member Alyson Satterwhite and Haymarket Town Council member Bob Weir — are seeking the party’s nomination.

Democrats say Kerensa Sumers is their candidate. Voters will decide in a Special Election who will replace former supervisor Peter Candland who resigned this month after supervisors approved the Prince William Digital Gateway for new data centers next to Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Candland stands to make millions of dollars from the sale of his home and property near the park for new data center complexes. Candland resigned after Prince William County Commonwealth Attorney Amy Ashworth advised him not to take any future votes on land-use cases during 2023, which would have been the final year of Candland’s third term.

The GOP’s mass meeting had been planned for Wednesday, January 4, at Battlefield High School near Haymarket. According to a Republican party spokesman, the date change came after a judge, on December 27, 2022, ordered the February 21 election date and gave the parties up to five days to choose their nominees.

The mass meeting is open to all legal voters who live in the Gainesville Magisterial District (click this link to see the boundaries of Gainesville District, along with the county’s other six magisterial districts) “who are in accord with the principles of the Republican Party, and who sign a written promise to support the Republican nominee, may participate in the meeting,” states a press release.

Voters can pre-register online until 5 p.m. Friday, December 30.  Voters can also register at the meeting by presenting a legal ID.

There are no fees to attend the meeting, but donations to defray costs are welcome states a press release.

Voting on the nominee will be by secret ballot, with candidates listed on the ballot in an order determined by drawing lots. Today is the last day for prospective candidates to file with the respective political parties.