MANASSAS, Va. — The eyes of the region and Great Brittain will be watching what voters in Prince William County do at polling booths next week.
Sky News will broadcast from Jirani Coffeehouse in Manassas on Thursday. The 24-hour British news network is traveling the U.S., visiting bellwether counties in noted swing states.
From Sky News Producer Kenneth Stewart:
For your questions, essentially Prince William County came to my attention through a piece of university research which identified 15-20 ‘swing counties’ which the professor believed could determine the whole election, i.e. the counties which could tip swing battleground states one way or the other.
We selected a handful for our two weeks of pre-election coverage with senior news anchor Jeremy Thompson. We have already covered three days in Hillsborough County, Florida – where we went to a Hillary Clinton rally and interviewed voters there, plus public along the riverfront and in the historic Hispanic district. We are now in Cincinnati, Ohio (Hamilton County), and plan to visit Philadelphia, then Raleigh, North Carolina (Wake County) before reaching Manassas.
Our style is based on speaking to regular Americans – the man or woman on the street – whose lives are most affected by these elections, and we would certainly hope to continue that on the streets of Manassas, and at Jirani coffee house. We feel that our viewers can relate more to their counterparts in American towns, rather than simply being fed an endless loop of Clinton and Trump events.
Jirani Coffeehouse is promoting the event with this flier:
Prince William County established itself as a “swing” county in 2008, and again in 2012 when it helped to elect President Barack Obama. Four years prior, the county voted overwhelmingly Republican and sent George W. Bush back to the White House for a second term.
In 2009, the County went red again voting in Robert McDonnell for Virginia Governor. In 2013, the county flipped back to blue when a majority of residents voted Terry McAuliffe into the state governor’s mansion, snubbing one of their own — Prince William County resident and former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
The presidential campaigns stopped multiple times in Prince William County in 2012. Then Republican nominee Mitt Romney campaigned in Manassas on August 11, 2012, after stops in Norfolk and Ashland.
President Barack Obama campaigned at Pfitzner Stadium on September 21, and at Jiffy Lube Live on Nov. 3, 2012.
Virginia has taken a backseat to other swing states like Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania during the 2016 election cycle. While this may be good news for some residents who don’t like those annoying political robot calls or a constant barrage of political advertising, it’s not good news for business.
“Virginia has suffered this year for not being a swing state,” said University of Mary Washington Professor and Director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies Steven Farnsworth. “The campaigns are not buying ads, they’re not staying in hotels, and they’re not eating at restaurants. Neither is the media that covers the campaigns.”
Diversity among Prince William County’s population remains a core interest for those who live, work, and visit the region.
“The county is so diverse, and not just racially economically diverse, but also economically diverse,” said Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large Corey Stewart, the county’s top elected official. “The eastern end of the county is concerned about jobs, while the western end concerned about better schools and education. It’s an encapsulation of America, itself.”
Stewart was first elected to the Board in 2007 as the Occoquan District Supervisor on a platform of slowing residential development in the county. Later elected to the Chairman’ seat, Stewart has championed new amenities like a school swimming pool, and improvements to busy Route 1 in the name of economic development, to attract new businesses, and their CEOs who buy a home here and put their children in schools.
Stewart said he’s just back from a five-stop tour of Southwest Virginia where he continued to campaign for Donald Trump. Stewart once held the title of Trump campaign Virginia Chairman until last month when the campaign removed the title after an unsanctioned protest outside GOP headquarters in Washington, D.C. Stewart never stopped supporting Trump despite the move.
It is possible that no amount of campaigning will put Virginia in the win column for Trump. Polls have the state leaning toward a win for Hillary Clinton. Her running mate, U.S. Senator, and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine is expected to increase her numbers in the Old Dominion, added Fuller.
