Fairfax County VA

[Kevin]

I'm orginally from this county in Northern VA which has along with it's booming population played a big part in recent elections due to this. Fairfax as I have watched over the years has changed from a more surberban conservative place with a large miltary population into a more semi-urban liberal plae with a large immigrant population. The question is, Is Fairfax out of the Republicans reach in elections across the boared it certainly looks so to me.     

[Alcon]

My (uneducated) opinion:

It's at the point where Fairfax is always going to be a detriment to the Republican margin, yes, unless the political playing ground shifts significantly.

But it's a fairly suburban area nonetheless, and is probably more likely to be willing to give smaller margins to popular Republicans.  But any Republican moderate and Fairfax-friendly enough to get those much smaller margins (or small wins) won't have to worry about the statewide situation anyway.

[Smash255]

Fairfax is pretty much out of reach for the GOP.  Even the most moderate of Republicans would have serious trouble in Fairfax at this point.  And the only type of Republicans who can be competitive in Fairfax have very little shot at getting past a GOP primary (nationally or state level).  Someone running a county wide position possible, but not statewide.

Fairfax has become slightly more urban and their has been a demographic shift due to an increase in the immigrant population.  However, that has only had a small impact on the changes in Fairfax.  The changes in Fairfax have been similar (though a few years later) to the changes that have occured in the NYC suburban area (especially Long Island and Westchester) and the suburban Philly area, in that the old base of the GOP has left in droves.  Highly educated middle to upper middle class white suburbanites for a long time was the base of the GOP.  However, the hard right turn the GOP has taken over the years has turned this group off, and they have left the Republican Party in droves.  So not only has the GOP lost ground because of demographic shifts, but it really has taken a beating because their old base in this part of the country (the Lincoln Chafee wing of the party) no longer votes Republican.

[Kevin]

I'm from the Burke area of Fairfax and I can tell you by just going there and looking at my old area that it vote's Democratic. 

[Alcon]

I'm from the Burke area of Fairfax and I can tell you by just going there and looking at my old area that it vote's Democratic. 

It does, but not by much.