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.
