Printed in March 1812, this political cartoon was drawn in reaction to the newly drawn state senate election district of South Essex created by the Massachusetts legislature to favor the Democratic-Republican Party candidates of Governor Elbridge Gerry over the Federalists. The caricature satirizes the bizarre shape of a district in Essex County, Massachusetts, as a dragon-like “monster”. Federalist newspaper editors and others at the time likened the district shape to a salamander, and the word gerrymander was a blend of that word and Governor Gerry’s last name. (from here)

Since the ballot is going to be so busy, I have broken up the lists of candidates up into sections, separate posts, that contain links that point to their presence on the webs. The focus of this post is who is running for seats in the Virginia General Assembly in Prince William County.

In GETTING READY FOR NOVEMBER — PART 1, I displayed the maps for the Virginia Senate and House Districts that include portions of Prince William County.

Previous posts include:

• WHO IS RUNNING FOR THE PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD? — PART 2A, a listing of the School Board candidates in competitive.
• WHO IS RUNNING FOR LOCAL RACES IN PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY? — PART 2B. This post covers the Commonwealth’s Attorney, the Sheriff, and the Board of Supervisors.

We got our list of candidates from this article, Candidates On the Ballot in Prince William County (insidenova.com). However, the Prince William County Office of Elections is now posting information on the November 5th General Election. That includes a Consolidated List of Candidates. In addition, the Prince William County Office of Elections‘ website is a great place to figure out what will be on your ballot. Across the County, there will be 44 different ballots.

To help you with your own research, we have included the candidates’ campaign websites, Facebook pages, and/or Twitter accounts. Here is another reference, Candidates by Office – Statewide and Local (elections.virginia.gov). However, it is a spreadsheet. So, you have to have the software to view it. In addition, some of the web addresses don’t work.

Virginia Senate

13th District

• Geary Higgins, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/geary4senate/; Website: https://gearyhiggins.com/; Twitter: @Geary4Senate
• John Bell, Democrat — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johnbellforvirginia/; Website: voteforjohnbell.com; Twitter: @DelegateJBell

28th District

• Richard H. Stuart, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/richardhstuart/; Website: stuartforsenate.com; Twitter: @RichardStuartVA
• Qasim Rashid, Democrat — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qasimrashidVA; Website: rashidforva.com; Twitter: @QasimRashid

39th District

• S.W. “Dutch” Hillenburg, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DutchforSenate/; Website: dutchforsenate.com; Twitter:
• George L. Barker, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenatorBarker/; Website: www.senatorbarker.com; Twitter: @GeorgeLBarker

Unchallenged

• 29th District: Jeremy McPike, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/McPikeforSenate/; Website: mcpikeforsenate.com; Twitter: @JeremyMcPike
• 36th District: Scott A. Surovell, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/surovell; Website: scottsurovell.org; Twitter: @ssurovell

Virginia House

2nd District

• Heather F. Mitchell, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MitchellforDelegate/; Website: mitchellfordelegate.com/; Twitter: @MitchellforVA
• Jennifer D. Carroll Foy, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferCarrollFoy/; Website: www.jennifercarrollfoy.org; Twitter: @JCarrollFoy

13th District

• Kelly S. McGinn, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KellyMcGinnVA/; Website: kellymcginn.com; Twitter: @kelly_mcginn
• Danica A. Roem, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danicafordelegate/; Website: https://www.delegatedanicaroem.com/; Twitter: @pwcdanica

31st District

• D.J. Jordan, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DJJordanVA; Website: votedj.com; Twitter: @DJJordanVA
• Elizabeth R. Guzman, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabethguzmanva; Website: elizabethguzmanforvirginia.com; Twitter: @delegateguzman

40th District 

• Tim Hugo, Republican, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelegateTimHugo/; Website: timhugo.com; Twitter: @TimHugo
• Dan Helmer, Democrat — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelmerVA/; Website: danhelmer.com; Twitter: @HelmerVA

50th District

• Ian Lovejoy, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lovejoyfordelegate/; Website: VoteLovejoy.com; Twitter: @IanTLovejoy
• Lee Carter, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leecarterva/; Website: carterforvirginia.com; Twitter:  @carterforva

51st District

• Rich Anderson, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelegateRichAnderson/; Website:richanderson.com; Twitter: @DelRichAnderson
• Hala Ayala, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelHalaAyala; Website: ayalafordelegate.com; Twitter: @HalaAyala

52nd District

• Maria Martin, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mariafordelegate/; Website: www.mmartin4virginia.com; Twitter: @martinwin19
• Luke Torian, Democrat, incumbent — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DelegateTorian/; Website: www.delegatetorian.com; Twitter: @DelegateTorian

87th District

• Bill Drennan, Republican — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drennanfordelegate/; Website: drennanfordelegate.com; Twitter:
• Suhas Subramanyam, Democrat — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suhasforva; Website: suhasforvirginia.com; Twitter: @SuhasforVA

Why are there so many different Senate and House districts in Prince William County? A good place to start looking for the answer to that question is The Virginia General Assembly (virginiageneralassembly.gov). There are 40 senate districts and 100 house districts. Both are apportioned by population using the U.S. Census (see Article II. Franchise and Officers » Section 6. Apportionment (law.lis.virginia.gov). Since Prince William County has a relatively large population (see List of cities and counties in Virginia (en.wikipedia.org)), naturally it will be well represented in the General Assembly. Gerrymandering (en.wikipedia.org), to the extent it occurs, also tends to increase the number of senate and house districts that reach into the county.