Scott Hirons, candidate for the Falmouth seat on the Stafford County School Board, has been a professional project manager for over 19 years. He currently works as a contractor for the U.S. Army at Fort Belvoir.

Hirons says his leadership experience and educational background will make him a beneficial candidate for the school board.

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Laura Sellers is the Democratic candidate running for the Garrisonville seat of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, and she is no stranger to the political scene. She first ran for the Board of Supervisors in 2009 and is currently a member of the Stafford Democratic Committee. She says she is determined to bring the board a new perspective.

“I was not happy with the county,” says Sellers. “With a young child, I have to think about what I want the county to look like as I raise him here. This wasn’t really it.”

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Irene Egan believes every child deserves a good education, which is why she is running to fill the Aquia seat on the Stafford County School Board. Egan has two sons on her own, both which are attending Stafford County schools.

“I want them to have the best learning experience they can, and not just my children, but also for my friend’s children and my neighbor’s children,” says Egan. “These are the people that are going to be running our county, the people that are going to be running our schools. We’ve got to pay it forward.”

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William “Bill” Howell has served as the 54th Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates since 2003. He was first elected as a delegate representing the 28th House district in 1987 and remains unopposed.

Howell has a juris doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and is an attorney practicing trust and estate law in Falmouth, Va.

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NOKESVILLE, Va. – On Tuesday night, the Prince William County Police Department held a seminar to discuss digital safety, “sexting” and cyberbullying. Officers James Conway, Joshua Peters and Matthew Martz and Sergeant D.M. Smith delivered one clear message to parents throughout the event: be wary of what your children are doing online.

Conway said that internet and new technology shouldn’t be looked at as a bad thing, however, he said that bad decisions can lead to lasting consequences.

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Jeremy McPike, democratic candidate for the 31st Virginia House District, seeks to unseat openly conservative Delegate Scott Lingamfelter in the upcoming 2013 General Election.

McPike’s campaign will focus on issues including transportation, education and health care. He currently serves as the Director of General Services for the City of Alexandria.

With 15 years of service as a volunteer firefighter for the Dale City Fire Department, McPike is an active member of his community.

“I spend a lot of time serving the community and I look forward to continuing to do so,” says McPike. “It’s important that prince William County has a voice and we get our priorities addressed.”

Transportation

Transportation supported the recent transportation reform signed by Gov. Robert F. McDonnell, which abolished the gas tax and raised Virginia’s sales tax to promote funding for roads.

“I was happy to see a bipartisan transportation bill passed,” says McPike. “With every bipartisan (legislation), not everyone gets exactly what they want and I was frankly disappointed to see that an overwhelming majority of the Prince William delegation did not vote for that bipartisan transportation bill.”

McPike says that any delegate session challenging transportation bipartisan legislation can have consequences for the Prince William County area.

“We’ve got to stop it. We’ve got to help our families. We’ve got to help bring people to their services, and that’s the key,” McPike says. He says the transportation reform will help fuel the economy and jobs in the Northern Virginia area.

“We spend too much time on the roads,” McPike said. “We need an active voice in the community that’s making that sure we get a candidate that is going to hear our voices and take care of our transit and road issues.”

Education

Through his campaign, McPike has been able to hear the concerns from teachers, parents and students firsthand.

“We’ve got to let the teachers teach not just teach to a test,” says McPike. “We need students to come out and use their critical thinking and creative abilities. We live in a creative economy now and we’ve got to make sure (students) have the resources they need to support a future generation.”

Another goal of McPike is to figure out a practical way to measure the performance of schools in Virginia.

“We need to make sure we invest well in education and continue to develop the best and the brightest and work to retain the best and the brightest here (in Virginia).”

He was recently endorsed by the Virginia Education Association.

Jobs

“We’ve got tremendous assets to offer companies but we also have to make sure that we’ve got a good business climate,” said McPike. “We’ve got to maintain that, but we also need to invest in infrastructure, and the state has neglected that responsibility.”

He says his goal is to maintain the bipartisan transportation approach in maintaining business development.

“Businesses realize that you have to be able to move people, goods and services. We’ve got some great talent in this area but we’ve got poor infrastructure. We need to continue to build businesses that are closer to home.”

Medicaid Expansion

McPike says he believes the health care expansion in Virginia is an important impact and will positively impact Virginia’s economy at a lower cost for the state budget.

“The Medicaid expansion in Virginia is an important aspect. It’s set to impact almost 400,000 Virginians and create 30,000 jobs,” he said.

Redistricting and Gift Laws

Another issue McPike says he plans to tackle is the current redistricting process and that the Virginia General Assembly should be looking at a bipartisan approach.

“We need to take the gerrymandering out of the picture and leave it to demographers and professors to provide representative districts,” says McPike.

“Give [the General Assembly] options to vote on and that’s it,” he says “Don’t let them draw the lines anymore in the background.”

McPike says he hopes to further address the current gift law, which allows elected officials to receive gifts and take trips as long as they disclose gifts over $50. McPike calls for reform and says that voters should be the top priority of public officials.

Delegate Richard Anderson, R-Prince William County, was first elected to the Virginia House of Delegates in 2009. He serves the 51st district, which includes a vast amount of Prince William County. He is running up against Democrat, Reed Heddleston for reelection this fall.

Anderson says that Prince William County deserves a candidate that is going to represent and address their needs in the General Assembly.

Anderson is no stranger to the political scene in Virginia. He served for the U.S. Air Force for 30 years and received his education at Virginia universities. He has served two terms as a Delegate for the 51st House District.

Recent Legislation

Anderson says he is pleased with the changes he helped influence in the last legislative session. He proposed the driving-while-texting bill after he was approached by three Prince William County sisters who lost their brother to a texting driver.

He also is responsible for helping to initiate the “Virginia Values Veterans” program, focused on reducing veteran unemployment in Virginia by bringing in 4,000 increased job opportunities to the state.

Transportation

Anderson says that his opponent, Heddleston, is not politically in sync with the Prince William voters.

“He has called himself a progressive and moderate Democrat but in reality he is at the very left edge of the political spectrum,” he says.

Further, Anderson says he’s concerned Heddleston’s choices will end up hurting businesses and families rather than help them.

Anderson refers to the transportation reform package signed by Gov. Bob McDonnell last winter. Heddleston supported the legislation, but Anderson did not.

“I voted against the bill, as did most of the Prince William County delegation, because I had heard from literally several thousand people over the last four years, and they were not ready for any sort of tax increase in a down economy,” Anderson says.

“I do not subscribe to the premise that the way we will work our way out of these problems centers on tax increases,” Anderson says.

“I think it’s crucial though that even though it passed, we have to make sure that those monies are focused toward one final goal, and that is the relief of traffic congestion as much as humanly possible,” he says. “It’s all about quality of life.”

Education

Anderson says he devotes a lot of time to public education and school-related events. He says one important topic that needs to be addressed is class sizes.

“I think we’ve got to address the issue of student to teacher ratios in Prince William classrooms. The numbers are at 32-24 (students) and I have been in some classrooms as high as 36,” says Anderson. “The dialogue has to center around: how we do this? I’m not in favor of doing that with a tax increase.”

Anderson also says it is imperative that the state needs to come up of more effective ways to evaluate student and school performance. Gov. Bob McDonnell recently signed off on legislation that will use a performance rating system to assign schools a letter based on test scores and measures of the school’s improvement over time. Anderson did not vote for this method.

“I thought it was an overly simplistic method for evaluating schools,” says Anderson.

Obamacare

Anderson says the new health care expansion is going to be tremendous cost increase for individuals, families and businesses, despite what it’s promoting.

“There are so many private employers who are dropping insurance policies, dropping coverage on their employees, consequently, they’re going to be in a worse place than they were before Obamacare,” says Anderson. “I have a daughter who was formerly working a large number of hours and was pushed back to 29 hours of work so that (her employer) would remain below that threshold, so I am concerned about that.”

Anderson says that it is important that congress study the new healthcare law and work to reform and fix its shortfalls.

Jobs

Anderson says Virginia thrives as a small business state, despite Virginia’s fluctuation on a number of major ranking lists, for example, the Forbes Best States for Business list.

“In the ebb and flow of state performance among the 50 states, you’re going to see Virginia up and then down,” says Anderson. “But there is one fundamental reality, and that is that we stay up there nudged right at the top.”

Virginia has held its AAA bond rating for over 70 years and Anderson says only a handful of states have achieved that ranking.

“By the measured of any yardstick, Virginia is a good place to live, work, retire, raise a family, get an education and invest.”

Atif M. Qarni, a Democrat running for the 13th district seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, says that the main goal of his campaign is to improve the lives of the families within his district. Qarni resides in Dale City with his wife, Fatima and his two sons, Zane and Saber. He is running up against Republican Delegate Robert G. “Bob” Marshall, who is currently serving his 11th term.

Education

As an eighth-grade math teacher at Beville Middle School in Prince William County, Qarni says education is a top priority on his agenda.

“We need to really restore the budget levels to where they were in 2009 and before,” says Qarni. “As a teacher, I have seen resources being cut from our (public) schools first-hand. The state funding and county funding have been significantly reduced.”

Qarni says reducing class sizes and raising teacher salaries are two important solutions to tacking the issues facing education in Virginia.

“My average class size this past school year (2012-2013) was 34 kids,” Qarni says. “You can only imagine 34 eighth graders in a class room. It’s not fair to the kids. They’re not getting the full attention that they deserve.”

Regarding teacher salaries, Qarni says that in order to retain qualified teachers, Virginia needs to offer a better pay for its teachers, specifically, “where the cost of living is very high but the teacher salaries are not very competitive.”

Transportation

Qarni’s other priorities include traffic reduction and improving job formation.

“I would like to help people spend less time on the roads and more time with their families,” says Qarni.

He says it’s important to monitor the new transportation funds that were generated from the transportation reform bill last winter in order to ensure they are being utilized properly.

“[Transportation reform funds] don’t necessarily only have to be applied to spending on roads,” says Qarni. “We can also pump in that money into mass transit. We can pump in that money to creating parking facilities [and] we can encourage the use of satellite locations.”

Additionally, Qarni says the funds can be used to encourage people work remotely and utilize their Real Estate.

Jobs

When it comes to job creation in Virginia, Qarni says more can be done to serve the individual talents of those entering the workforce. He says that if you look at Virginia, many graduates are likely to leave and take their talents to other states.

“We need to have these individuals start their businesses here in Virginia or work for existing companies here in Virginia, and retain the talents here,” Qarni says. “I really believe that this is where job growth and economic growth tie together, retaining the talents that future generations have.”

In the future, Qarni says he hopes that his sons will choose to attend universities, work and develop their own careers in Virginia.

Medicare

With health care reform gradually expanding into Virginia, significant changes are expected to be made to Medicaid and Medicare. The Affordable Care Act, commonly called Obamacare, has received a large amount of press and mixed reactions in recent months.

“One of the issues with Medicare is that we have a fragmented health system in Virginia,” Qarni said. “With that expansion coming, the communication between the pharmacies and hospitals can become really efficient, which can really save money that can be applied to more health care needs.”

He adds: “If applied properly, Obamacare will be beneficial for the state.”

Military

As a former sergeant for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves, Qarni says he knows what it takes to serve as a combat veteran. Qarni joined the Marine Corps in 1996 and served for eight years. Qarni says the Military teaches many skills that are beneficial to the workforce and Virginia should continue to build upon being a military job center.

“We need to look out for those veterans that have fought for our freedom,” says Qarni.

Along with these issues, Qarni campaign has also focused on women’s health and reducing gun violence. He has recently received an endorsement from the Virginia Chapter of the National Organization of Women (NOW) and NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia.

“The 13th District deserves a Delegate who will focus on solving problems, not on an extreme social agenda,” said Sen. Mark Herring. “That’s why I am proud to support Atif Qarni. I know Atif will put his energy and his experience to work to do what’s right for the people of Prince William County and the people of Virginia.”

Meet Richard Cabellos, a Democrat running against Delegate Jackson Miller, R-Manassas, for the 50th seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Cabellos lives in Manassas with his wife of five years, Yolanda, and their 3-year-old son, Cruz. He is currently working as the director of the Southgate Community Center in Reston, where he oversees youth leadership and volunteer programs, facilitates job-training programs for adults, and helps to conduct ESL classes, among other programs.

“My current job is so rewarding. I work with children as well as adults every day in a very diverse community,” says Cabellos.

Cabellos hopes to use his experience as a community leader and apply it towards his campaign. Cabellos says that he feels his opponent, Miller, has his own agenda. On issues such as education funding, transportation and women’s rights, Cabellos says Miller illustrates the stark contrast between the two candidates.

Education

“We definitely need to invest more in our schools and pay our teachers a fair salary,” Cabellos says. “I definitely would have done something different instead of voting and supporting taking away almost $620 million dollars from education,” says Cabellos. “I feel we need to invest more in education. My opponent has voted against education [funding].”

Further, Cabellos says it is important to consider early childhood education.

“Studies have shown that when children have access to quality early education, they have a better chance to do better in school and have a better opportunity in college,” he said.

“We need to invest more in what we take away from public education.”

Transportation

Cabellos supports the recent transportation reform package that was adopted July 1, though he says more still needs to be done to fix transportation issues in the Northern Virginia area.

“We have a lot of cars on the road, so I think public transportation should be looked at as one of the options,” he says. “We can also look at having a metro extended to Prince William County. I think that’s an option that a lot of people in this area and in my district would love.”

Cabellos says it is important to listen to the voters when deciding what areas of transportation need to be looked at.

“Talking to voters in my district, (transportation) is a main issue for them. It’s part of everyday life,” he says. “We can always think about more roads but also smarter construction.”

Jobs

Cabello’s parents came as immigrants to the U.S. over 50 years ago looking for new opportunities and eventually became small business owners. Cabellos says that growing up in a small business family inspired his desire to improve his community.

“I know that if my mom and dad didn’t get the opportunity to get loans and be able to afford to have a business in the area and bring in jobs, I wouldn’t be here today,” says Cabellos. “There has to be more infrastructure and investment in small businesses, because that’s what brings jobs to the state.”

Cabellos also says that having nondiscriminatory policies, job-training programs for those entering the workforce and creating more jobs locally will help drive business expansion and job creation.

“We need to be inclusive and invite commuting to businesses. We want to make sure the environment is conducive for businesses, first of all.”

Medicaid Expansion

As a proponent of Medicaid expansion, Cabellos says the new changes will benefit low-income families that would not be able to afford healthcare without it.

“We have a positive opportunity to make sure we get thousands of Virginians coverage. It’s a great opportunity for [Virginia] and I definitely support the expansion of it.”

Women’s rights

“I feel that government should not be in the business of telling a woman what she can or cannot do with her body,” says Cabellos.

“I would like to bring a new perspective to Richmond, says Cabellos. “Not just in representing my district but I also want to represent the Commonwealth as a whole.”