Arlington County

Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Favola has been a state senator since 2011. Prior to her election as a state Senator, she served on the Arlington County Board of Supervisors from 1997 to 2011, serving as chair three times. Senator Favola was the Board's leading advocate for children, youth and families, and her contributions to the community include establishing mental health services in the public schools during her service.

Favola’s prioritizes healthcare in her campaign. She passed legislation that bans medical providers and insurance companies from billing patients for out-of-network emergency care or surgery in excess of their deductible and/or co-payment. She also passed the Care Act, which allows patients to designate their own caretakers. Senator Favola supports access to abortion and reproductive health care for all. She sponsored legislation that requires that the pre-natal, delivery and postpartum care provided in our jails meet the standards set by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Favola also champions workforce training, believing in supporting workers in order to rebuild Virginia’s economy. When she served on the Arlington County Board, where she was able to issue county contracts to businesses who paid their employees livable wages. She also avidly supports wage protection laws and the right of workers to participate in collective bargaining. In an effort to support workers trying to re-enter the workforce, Senator Favola patroned legislation to introduce paid family and medical leave.

Senator Favola has made efforts to reduce the gun violence in our community. Favola has passed the protection order violation legislation which makes carrying a firearm a class six felony for abusers. Additionally, Favola helped to establish the Virginia Gun Violence Intervention and Prevention Fund. She also serves on the Virginia Advisory Committee on Sexual and Domestic Violence to implement policies to reduce the incidence of sexual and domestic violence.


Senator Favola is dedicated to criminal justice reform. She supports anti-racist policing and even played a large role in the implementation of universal bodycam use and encourages comminuty policing strategies. Favola has advocated for Citizen Police Review Boards, a measure to be taken to increase accountability in law enforcement as well as funding to enlist the help of mental health professionals to work alongside the police.

Favola is running against Reublican David Henshaw. Henshaw is running on transphobia. He wants to ban trans children from playing in school sports in schools. He also is against teaching accurate history in schools and doesn’t trust our teachers and educational professionals to do their job. Henshaw prioritizes increasing prosecution across the Commonwealth, a very dangerous policy to enact due to the current lack of accountability in law enforcement when it comes to increased violence and targeting Black people and communities of color. Henshaw also would repeal the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Clean Car law, both of which were put in place to combat climate change and keep the Commonwealth moving towards a safer, cleaner environment. This candidate is a dangerous choice for the Commonwealth.

Senator Favola is the progressive choice because of her prioritization of economic growth, gun violence prevention, and access to affordable healthcare.

Incumbent Delegate Patrick Hope has represented the 47th District in the House of Delegates since 2009. He is a healthcare attorney who received his law degree from the Catholic University of America Columbus School of Law. Before practicing law, Hope was a congressional staffer for several years. As an attorney, he worked with various healthcare organizations to increase access and affordability for patients. He has lived in the Buckingham community of Arlington with his wife and three daughters since 2000.

With three kids in Arlington Public Schools, Hope has served as a dedicated advocate for public education. In 2021, he voted in favor of a 5% pay raise for teachers. During the pandemic, he advocated for increased funding to help schools reopen safely and increased counselors and nurses. Hope received a 100% rating for his voting record from the Virginia Education Association. He also advocated for kids’ mental health in schools, carrying legislation to allow excused absences in public schools for mental health.

Hope also serves as the chair of the Joint Commission on Health Care, which is a bipartisan group working to make healthcare affordable and accessible to all Virginians. He voted in favor of Medicaid expansion in 2018, which granted affordable health coverage to nearly 750,000 Virginians. He voted to expand Medicaid coverage to include dental insurance in 2021. He also voted to cap the cost of insulin to $50 per month and to expand insurance coverage to include abortions.

Hope understands the urgency of the climate crisis and has voted to support environmental protections in the state. He voted for the Virginia Clean Economy Act, which commits Virginia to 100% clean energy by 2050. He supported the passage of a bill to require the production of low-emission and electric vehicles. He also helped create the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Areas to preserve Virginia’s natural environment for future generations. He has received multiple 100% ratings from the Sierra Club and the Virginia League of Conservation Voters during his time in office.

Hope has also introduced common sense gun violence prevention legislation. Serving as chair of the House Public and Safety Committee, he has passed bills to make universal background checks obligatory and require gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms. He helped pass a bill to re-establish a one-handgun-purchase-a-month rule and increased penalties for leaving firearms unsecured in environments where they may endanger children. Additionally, he supported a successful bill to prevent individuals convicted of domestic violence offenses from owning guns.

Hope has also advocated for criminal justice reforms while in office. He strongly opposes the use of solitary confinement and the construction of for-profit private prisons in the Commonwealth. He is working to introduce a mechanism of independent oversight in Virginia’s correctional centers, such as a prison Ombudsman, as Virginia is the only state without one. In 2021, he helped pass a bill that eliminated “child support” payments charged to the parents of incarcerated youths. He also advocated for reducing crowding in prisons during COVID-19, vaccinations for incarcerated people, and the reintroduction of visiting hours during the pandemic.

Hope is running unopposed. Due to his support of affordable healthcare, criminal justice reform, gun violence prevention, and public education, Delegate Patrick Hope is the most progressive candidate.

Delegate Lopez has represented the 49th District since 2012 and has advocated for progressive causes his entire career. The son of an undocumented father from Venezuela, Lopez attended Vassar College and Tulane University Law School. He served as an appointee in the Obama administration and in Senator Tim Kaine’s office. In the House of Delegates, he serves as the Minority Whip of the Virginia House Democratic Caucus. He currently lives with his wife and two sons in Arlington.

As the founder and co-chair of the Virginia Latino Caucus, Delegate Lopez is a dedicated advocate for immigrant rights. He was critical to the passage of a bill to expandin-state college tuition and financial aid to all Virginia students, regardless of immigration status. He also helped pass legislation allowing undocumented Virginians to receive IDs and driver privilege cards. During the 2021 legislative session, Lopez carried legislation to expand emergency Medicaid to undocumented immigrants so that they could receive testing, treatment, and vaccination for COVID-19.

Lopez also fights to ensure Virginia remains affordable for people to live in and a great place to work. He created the Virginia Affordable Housing Trust Fund, which has been critical to preventing evictions and providing rental assistance for families, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. He voted for legislation strengthening the rights of tenants and to increase Virginia’s minimum wage. He supports protecting workers’ rights by repealing Virginia’s right-to-work laws, which undermine the strength of unions, and voted for collective bargaining rights for Virginia public employees.

Lopez works to expand environmental protections and options for renewable energy in Virginia, serving as the founder and co-chair of the Virginia Environment and Renewable Energy Caucus. He helped pass the Virginia Clean Economy Act and the Solar Freedom Act, which are critical to moving the Commonwealth to 100% clean energy. He helped pass the Virginia Green Jobs Tax Credit, incentivizing job creation in renewable energy and electric vehicles. He worked to increase funding for the Stormwater Local Assistance Fund and the Agricultural Best Management Practices program which work to reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

Del. Lopez also advocates for making the promise of democracy real for us all by expanding voting access to all Virginia voters. He voted for the Voting Rights Act of Virginia, which prohibits discrimination at the polls. He helped expand access to absentee voting and passed legislation that allows 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote. He voted to extend early voting in Virginia and remove the requirement for an excuse to cast an absentee ballot. He supports voting rights restoration for returning citizens.

Delegate Lopez is running against conservative Independent Mike Webb. Though not much is available on his actual stance on the issues, we were able to find out that Webb, is a native of Jersey City, New Jersey, graduated from Washington & Lee University in 1988. With experience as a conservative advocate, he served in the United States Army from 1990 to 2010. Webb is associated with organizations such as the Army and Navy Club and the 75th Ranger Regiment Association.

Due to his support of immigrants, working families, the environment, and voting rights, Delegate Lopez is the most progressive choice in this race.