Marro drops out of District 27 state senate race

The race for the State Senate District 27 seat just got a third smaller.

Offbeat independent Donald Marro of The Plains announced this week he was withdrawing his name from the now two-way contest. He did not bow out without a few sour grapes swipes at the establishment.

“There was no groundswell of support for an issues campaign from the press, the people or the parties,” he said in a news release of his reason for quitting.

“The press, except the Clarke Daily News, uniformly supports money politics. The people … were either indifferent to me or perhaps even to an opposition candidate that doesn’t titillate or intimidate, and Democrats are such a shadow of their former selves that the party clanks around like the Ghost of Christmas Past.”

Marro called out local Democrats for what he perceived as their lack of support for Stephens City resident Shaun Broy, running as a Democrat for the District 27 seat, saying, “Democrats decided it was safer to only go through the motions … rather than work with him to promote their values.”

As for the incumbent, Jill Vogel, a Republican, Marro characterized her as “a culture warrior with ambition.”

Marro said he was running because he felt it wrong for Vogel to run unopposed after winning election to her first term “by a whisker.” Among her “first-term” achievements, Marro listed: turning back the clock on women’s reproductive rights, denying healthcare to the disadvantaged and pandering “to NRA extremists who just can’t have enough weaponry in enough places to really feel safe.”

Per the newly drawn lines, District 27 in Culpeper County includes the Jeffersonton precinct and part of Brandy Station. District 27 also includes all of Clarke, Fauquier and Frederick counties as well as the city of Winchester, and parts of Loudon and Stafford counties.

The Democrat

A first time political candidate, Broy works for Shenandoah University as a box office manager.

According to his web site, he is a political strategist and consultant who previously worked on congressional and mayoral campaigns.

Broy is former manager at the GAP, where at the age of 21 he became the youngest store manager in the company’s history, according to his web site.

Broy is former coordinator of student activities and athletics at Lord Fairfax Community College, where he served as coach of the men’s soccer team.

Among his legislative priorities, Broy listed fiscal responsibility and economic success, saying Virginians who make more than $300,000 “should pay their fair share. He supported reduction of “the state’s tax loopholes, which allows the wealthiest Virginians to pay far less than their fair share.”

Broy supports penalizing businesses that hire undocumented workers and limiting General Assembly terms to two consecutive terms. He also takes issue with “the pay-to-play political game” in Virginia, saying the problem with the financing of campaigns is “who pays for them, what they get in return, and how that affects public policy and spending priorities.”

Broy, on his web site, said he supports a woman’s right to choose abortion, fair employment practices and the legalization of medical marijuana for terminally ill patients. He also said he is passionately against uranium mining.

The Republican

Vogel was elected to District 27 in 2007, defeating Democrat Karen Schultz by 659 votes – 24,960 votes to 24,301.

Marro also ran that year, earning 2,170 votes or 4.2 percent, according to the state board of elections.

Vogel, an attorney from Fauquier, serves on the Prison Re-Entry Commission and the Governor’s Transportation Workshop. She was appointed Deputy Whip of the Republican Senate Caucus earlier this year and to the Domestic Violence Prevention and Response Advisory Board.

According to her web site, Vogel’s Healthcare Freedom bill was signed into law last July, making it illegal to impose insurance mandates on Virginians.

“The passage of the bill is a simple bipartisan statement about where Virginians believe that their healthcare decisions should be made. More importantly, the bill presents an opportunity for Virginia to prevent the federal government from usurping power over matters that are clearly left to individuals and the states under the U.S. Constitution,” she said.

Vogel said she supports more opportunities and resources for veterans, and making college more accessible. In a questionnaire from the Loudon County Chamber of Commerce, she named jobs and the economy as her priority.

“Our biggest challenge by far is to legislate in a way that incentives investment and economic growth,”
Vogel responded.

She said she would address the economic challenge by offering tax incentives for investment, making changes in the corporate income tax and energy policy, allocating regional transportation resources more appropriately, utilizing public private partnership more and investing in education and the workforce.

Meet Jill Vogel, and eat free pizza

Incumbent District 27 State Senator Jill Vogel, R-Fauquier, hosts a luncheon at the Brandy Station Fire Department, 1961 Church Rd., Thursday starting at 11:30 a.m. Bring a side dish or dessert and have free pizza at the meet and greet. The Jeffersonton precinct and part of Brandy Station are part of the newly drawn District 27.