LaCroix challenges Franklin for Woodbridge Supervisors seat

The Woodbridge Magisterial District has a Republican seeking the seat on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors for the first time in eight years.

Republican Jeannie LaCroix announced today that she is running in the 2023 general election for the Prince William County (PWC) Board of Supervisors for the Woodbridge District.

LaCroix, a Realtor, a Prince William County resident for over a decade, and a Northern Virginia native, will challenge Supervisor Margaret Franklin in the November 2022 election. 

Her priorities include smart growth, supporting law enforcement, growing the police department, and repealing a meal tax enacted in 2022 without a citizen referendum. She also aims to preserve neighborhood character, beautify the Route 1 corridor, and fix sidewalks.

No other Republican has announced a run for the seat.

Democrat Margaret Franklin has held the seat since 2020. She ran unopposed in 2019. Steven Chapman was the last Republican to seek the seat in 2015. Former Democrat Supervisor Frank Principi won the election in a landslide with 62% of the vote and served three terms (2008 to 2019) before losing a Primary Election to Franklin in 2019.

A change in state law gave the Prince William Board of County Supervisors the option to approve a new 4% meals tax to generate about $25 million more for the county government, which was already flush with a $35 million surplus. Supervisors said the meals tax would fund schools.

Bryan Dolieslager, a former member of the county’s tourism board and manager of Evergreen Country Club near Haymarket, resigned from the tourism board in protest of the new tax.

Several restaurant owners wrangling with rising costs and supply shortages begged the Board of County Supervisors not to enact the tax.

As for public safety, Prince William County Assistant Police Chief Major Kevin Hugart said crime is up across the county, as it is across the state and the U.S. The Woodbridge area has seen a particular increase in violent incidents, including murders. Hugart made the comments during a public safety town hall meeting at Potomac Shores Middle School near Dumfries on Thursday, February 1, 2023.

Due to recent violence, the Virginia ABC pulled a liquor license from a 7-Eleven on Route 1 at Prince William Parkway. The number of murders in the county doubled, from 10 in 2021 to 20 in 2022.

Franklin is seeking a second term on the Board of County Supervisors.

Here’s the full press release from LaCroix:

Republican Jeannie announced today that she is running in the 2023 general election for the Prince William County (PWC) Board of Supervisors for the Woodbridge District.

LaCroix, a Prince William County resident for over a decade and a Northern Virginia native, will face incumbent Supervisor Margaret Franklin in the November election. 

Her priorities include: (1) smart growth rather than unchecked overdevelopment; (2) robust law enforcement that meets and exceeds the needs outlined in the comprehensive plan; (3) assistance to PWC taxpayers by (among other things) repealing the new meals tax enacted without citizen referendum; (4) preserving neighborhood character; and (5) beautification of the Route 1 corridor and long-overdue maintenance of neighborhood roads and sidewalks.

Jeannie LaCroix’s strong Virginia roots have enabled her to start her own business and raise her two children, David and Ashland, to be solid thinkers and influential community members. She wishes to ensure that similar opportunities abound for all Woodbridge citizens.  “I intend to bring back the voices of this community that have been drowned out by partisan politics and policies. Having diverse cultural backgrounds, opinions and thoughts makes this county unique and great, but only if the Board of Supervisors listen, learn, and live up to their duty to represent their constituency.”

LaCroix has been an outspoken proponent of smart growth to the PWC Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission. Her position is “We need to preserve a healthy, balanced way of life here in Woodbridge to allow our citizens to flourish, rather than encourage overdevelopment to flood our schools, roads and jails, which create a strain on our existing infrastructure, the environment, and our quality of life.”

As owner and operator of her own court reporting firm for 30 years and presently working as a realtor for Long and Foster, where she has won numerous awards for outstanding realty work, LaCroix understands the issues facing the Woodbridge community. She is an active member of the Belmont Bay community, having served as the chairperson of both the Belmont Bay Homeowners Association Social Committee and the Neighborhood Watch. 

LaCroix emphasizes “I want to help. I want to listen. I want to improve the Woodbridge that we have now; only then should we take smart, measured paths into our future–paths that give our citizens a voice in what happens in their own communities.”