Baird Claims Dems’ Endorsement for School Bd.
Victory over more experienced Davis sets up two-woman race in November.
By Seth Rosen
May 24, 2006

Political novice Sally Baird rode a wave of grassroots support to a narrow victory over long-time Democratic activist Sharon Davis in the party’s School Board endorsement caucus last Saturday.

Baird won the Democratic endorsement by a mere 69 votes, 1,135 to 1,066. Turnout for the caucus, which was held at the NRECA building in Ballston, was 25 percent lower than last May’s heated contest between Democrats Ed Fendley and Jim Rock.

Baird will now face Independent Cecelia Espenoza – who garnered 20 percent of the vote in last year’s School Board race – in November for the right to replace retiring School Board Vice Chair Mary Hynes.

If Baird wins in November she will become the first lesbian elected to a School Board in the state of Virginia.

Baird Wins Democratic School Board Nod
by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
Saturday, May 20, 2006

A relative political newcomer shook up the Arlington Democratic Party establishment on May 20, winning the party’s endorsement for the School Board seat currently held by retiring Mary Hynes.

Sally Baird defeated Sharon Davis in the endorsement process, making her the odds-on favorite in the November general election.

Baird received 1,135 votes, or 51.6 percent, to Davis’ 1,066 votes. Turnout was about two percent of Arlington’s registered voters in a seven-hour firehouse primary held at the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association conference center.

With the exception of County Board member Jay Fisette and School Board member Ed Fendley, who supported Baird, most top Arlington Democrats who chose sides in the campaign went with Davis, a long-time Democratic and schools activist and the wife of Del. Albert Eisenberg, D-47th. Davis also had the support of 13 current or former School Board members, including Hynes. But when polls closed, Baird had the votes.

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Baird’s Keys to Victory
by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
(Created: Sunday, May 21, 2006 8:00 PM EDT)

As political insiders began to dissect the victory of Sally Baird over Sharon Davis, they pointed to the following factors in the victory:

Ongoing support for Democratic “semi-outsiders.” The traditional Arlington Democratic establishment in recent years has seen itself being challenged by those inside the party but with fresh perspectives. Baird continues a string of semi-outsider victories that includes Commissioner of the Revenue Ingrid Morroy, County Board member Walter Tejada and School Board member Ed Fendley.

Pounding the pavement. Baird spent much more time knocking on doors and talking to voters than Davis did, we’re told. “She just wanted it more,” one insider (and Davis partisan) said of Baird’s outreach effort.

Read the full article on here.