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Northern Fairfax County voters will help decide Virginia’s political direction on Nov. 4, 2025, with control of the House of Delegates, three statewide offices and major policy disputes all on the ballot.
The results could shape state action on abortion rights, taxes, affordability, education funding, data centers and other issues for the next two years. Democrats already control the state Senate, which is not up for election in 2025, and are seeking control of the governorship and House of Delegates to secure unified power. Republicans are trying to prevent that trifecta.
Virginians will also elect a governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. In northern Fairfax, voters will choose among candidates in House districts 10, 11, 14, 15, 16 and 18.
House District 10
Democratic incumbent Dan Helmer faces Republican David Guill.
Helmer, a veteran and business executive, has served in the House since 2022. A West Point graduate and Rhodes Scholar with a master’s degree from Oxford University, he lists stronger school funding, good-paying jobs, lower costs and protection of constitutional rights among his priorities. He also supports a constitutional amendment protecting abortion access and investments intended to grow emerging Virginia businesses.
Guill, a retired public servant from Clifton, holds computer science degrees from Johns Hopkins University and has coached high school lacrosse and served in Scout leadership. He wants to eliminate the personal property tax on vehicles, provide tax relief for seniors, reduce school administrative positions and restrict public-school bathrooms and locker rooms according to sex determined at birth.
Guill opposes casinos as a sustainable development strategy for the district. On data centers, he argues that their energy demands require dependable generation such as nuclear power or fossil fuels and warns that residents could face higher costs if anticipated artificial-intelligence growth fails to materialize.
House District 11
Democratic incumbent David Bulova is challenged by Republican Adam Wise and Forward candidate Brandon Givens.
Bulova has served in the House for 20 years and works as a senior environmental planner specializing in water resources. His priorities include education, environmental protection, workforce development and affordable housing. He points to legislation involving early childhood education, PFAS pollution in the Occoquan Reservoir and the Virginia Housing Opportunities Tax Credit.
As Virginia confronts federal workforce and budget reductions, Bulova wants to strengthen unemployment insurance, prevent evictions caused by temporary income losses and diversify the economy without jeopardizing the state’s balanced budget or AAA bond rating. He says data-center development is proceeding at an unsustainable pace and should not shift electricity costs to households. He also opposes a Fairfax casino without local support.
Wise, a firearms and self-defense instructor who has taught history, economics and government, campaigns on lower taxes, fewer regulations and smaller government. He identifies the cost of living as the district’s largest challenge and calls for a close examination of state spending before lawmakers seek additional school funding.
Wise says communities most affected by data centers should decide whether to accept them, provided environmental and energy concerns are addressed. He is skeptical that a casino would benefit Northern Virginia, citing possible cultural and crime-related effects.
Givens is a special-education teacher, former social worker and Army Reserve veteran. He advocates multimember legislative districts with ranked-choice voting, fewer redundant student tests and state action to offset federal job and Medicaid cuts.
His proposed Virginia “New Deal” would invest in electricity generation, public transportation and infrastructure. He favors requiring data centers to invest in renewable energy, disclose efficiency information and negotiate transparent community-benefit agreements supporting schools, infrastructure and job training. Givens also wants Virginia’s school funding model revised to reflect education costs in high-cost areas such as Fairfax. He says Fairfax residents appear strongly opposed to a casino and is inclined to follow their preference.
House District 14
Democratic incumbent Vivian Watts faces Republican Eric Johnson.
Watts, a former Virginia secretary of transportation and public safety, chairs the House Finance Committee and its Criminal Law Subcommittee. She says federal actions and spending reductions have intensified concerns about employment, housing, student debt, health care, inflation and democratic institutions. Those pressures could force difficult choices among K-12 education, mental-health care, food assistance, unemployment support and other services.
Watts supports data centers as sources of tax revenue but opposes placing them beside residential communities. She wants the industry to pay higher electricity rates and cover new transmission infrastructure, with tax incentives redirected toward energy-saving investments. She also favors updated school formulas that better support students with disabilities, English learners, low-income students and competitive teacher salaries in Northern Virginia.
Watts opposes a Northern Virginia casino, arguing that it could not match National Harbor as a destination, would worsen Tysons traffic and would carry serious social costs.
Johnson, an English-language and substitute teacher in Arlington and Alexandria schools, previously worked for the U.S. Small Business Administration and in private-sector finance, sales and events. He wants lawmakers to revisit taxes on gasoline, electricity, vehicles and restaurant purchases while improving how Virginia’s $84 billion budget supports schools.
Johnson identifies jobs and financial insecurity as leading concerns and proposes tax reductions alongside stronger programs connecting unemployed residents with skilled technology jobs. He says data centers should be treated like other businesses that follow the law. He opposes casinos as a development strategy and favors investment in technology, education, tourism and trade instead.
House District 15
Democratic incumbent Laura Jane Cohen faces Republican Saundra Davis.
Cohen, a former Fairfax County School Board member elected to the House in 2023, has worked in nonprofit advocacy and education. She prioritizes gun-violence prevention, reproductive rights and services for students with disabilities. Her first-term legislation included measures addressing accessible playgrounds, protections during school emergencies and college access for students with individualized education programs and 504 plans.
Cohen says housing costs dominate conversations with constituents. She supports faster permitting, more projects allowed by right, model building plans, revised parking requirements and partnerships with houses of worship that want to develop affordable or senior housing.
She views data centers as potentially valuable sources of local revenue but supports minimum distances from homes and schools, cleaner energy, water recycling and a separate electricity rate that prevents households from subsidizing the industry. On a Fairfax casino, Cohen says the Board of Supervisors and voters should decide after considering the revenue losses caused by declining commercial real estate.
Davis directs a secure memory-care unit and serves on the Virginia Public Guardian and Conservator Advisory Board. A former candidate for the Fairfax County School Board, she has also held leadership roles in military-spouse and family organizations.
Her central campaign promise is repealing the vehicle tax. Davis says high property taxes reflect inadequate fiscal discipline and argues that Virginia’s budget surplus creates room for relief. She supports an independent financial and performance audit of Fairfax County Public Schools, contending that the system should redirect resources from waste and misplaced priorities to teachers, classrooms and students.
Davis favors regulating data centers to protect neighborhoods, farmland and the environment while encouraging nuclear power, natural gas and energy-efficient technology. She opposes a casino because of potential traffic, crime, addiction and financial harm.
House District 16
Democratic incumbent Paul Krizek faces Republican Richard Hayden and independent Shelly Arnoldi.
Krizek has represented the district since 2016 and serves on committees overseeing appropriations, elections, general laws, agriculture and natural resources. He has worked to expand protections for residents of mobile-home communities, including Audubon Estates and Woodley Hills.
Krizek’s next major priority is establishing a regulated adult-use cannabis market focused on public health, equity and reinvestment in communities harmed by past policies. He calls data centers essential infrastructure but says their energy, noise, land-use and environmental effects require stronger oversight and continued local zoning authority.
Krizek says Fairfax schools need greater state support and cites a $784.7 million statewide increase in K-12 funding secured by House Democrats. He opposes expanding gambling before Virginia creates a unified gaming commission.
Hayden, an attorney active in the Knights of Columbus, Scouting and youth baseball, campaigns on lower taxes, public safety and school choice. He supports private-school vouchers when public schools fail and says eliminating the vehicle tax would require spending cuts and growth in the commercial tax base.
Hayden sees data centers as important sources of employment and tax revenue but calls for better planning. He criticizes Virginia’s clean-energy policies and supports additional natural-gas generation. He also favors charter schools, vouchers and support for home schooling. Hayden dismisses casinos as a poor answer to revenue shortfalls.
Arnoldi is a licensed professional engineer and Navy veteran with a master’s degree in environmental engineering. Her platform includes parental authority in education, lower taxes, immigration enforcement and election changes requiring photo identification while eliminating early voting and drop boxes.
She proposes a Parents’ Bill of Rights requiring explicit parental consent for minors receiving medical, mental-health or gender counseling and greater school transparency regarding curricula and records. Arnoldi says data-center developers should supply their own dedicated power so households and small businesses do not bear additional costs.
She wants Fairfax school spending concentrated on reading, writing, mathematics, civics and history while reducing non-core programs. Arnoldi strongly opposes a casino, citing traffic, crime, addiction, family disruption and harm to local businesses.
House District 18
Democratic incumbent Kathy Tran faces Republican Edward McGovern.
Tran has served in the House for eight years and is the Democratic majority caucus chair. Her earlier work included national workforce policy at the U.S. Department of Labor and immigrant workforce advocacy. Drawing on her experience arriving in the United States as a refugee, she says her public service focuses on giving families access to resources and opportunity.
Tran’s priorities include affordable housing, child care and health care, along with stronger public schools and teacher pay. She says rising costs and federal cuts or shutdowns have placed particular pressure on government workers and contractors.
Tran wants data centers to pay their share of electricity and infrastructure expenses, adopt cleaner energy technology and undergo closer scrutiny for their effects on water, farmland, historic sites and residential areas. She supports full school funding, teacher salaries at the national average and dedicated resources for special education and English learners.
Tran opposed a 2025 bill proposing a casino and entertainment district in Tysons, saying a project capable of transforming a community needs broad support, rigorous local review and a transparent bidding process.
McGovern, a retired federal employee serving his second term on an HOA board, calls for eliminating the vehicle tax and conducting a full audit of Fairfax County spending. He argues that taxes are driving affordability problems and that too little education funding reaches teachers and classrooms.
McGovern says political balance would bring more oversight to county and state government. On energy and data centers, he supports a flexible, “all of the above” strategy and wants universities to help develop facilities that consume less land and power while producing less noise.
He argues that Fairfax is disadvantaged by Virginia’s education funding system but faults current officeholders for failing to secure better results. McGovern opposes a Fairfax casino and says the county does not need one for economic development.