Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent
Election 2026

Election Day: November 3

In-person during the final week recommended.

More election information:

National Virginia Loudoun
Ballotpedia Vote.org

Virginia Special Notice:

Vote NO on Question 1
U.S. Congress (Virginia)
Virginia Const. Amendments
Loudoun Bond Referendums

U.S. House, Virginia, 2026

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Seal of the U.S. House of Representatives

All seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are up for election every two years. There are 435 seats representing each of the fifty states in rough proportion to their population as recorded in the most recent national census. There are six non-voting delegate seats representing U.S. territories and the District of Columbia.

The Republican Party currently holds a 218-214 majority over the Democratic Party. There is one independent member who caucuses with the Republicans and two seats are vacant. Virginia has eleven seats, with six held by Democrats and five by Republicans.

Tenth District

In the race to represent Virginia’s 10th District in the United States House of Representatives, incumbent Representative Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA 10th) is challenged by Dave Beckwith (R) and Ahsen Malik (I). The 10th District encompasses Fauquier County, Loudoun County, Rappahannock County, the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, and parts of Fairfax and Prince William counties.

Read more . . .

Virginia Questions 2 and 3, 2026

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Seal of Virginia

Citizens of Virginia will be voting on three proposed constitutional amendments this year. This endorsement article considers only the second and third. An endorsement article addressing the first, which is especially important and deserves extra attention and analysis, is published separately.

There are two methods for amending the Constitution of Virginia described in Article XII. These come to us through the Section 1 method, which is most commonly used: The proposal is passed by both houses of the General Assembly, and then, after an intervening House of Delegates election, passed again, then presented to the voters in a referendum.

Read more . . .

Loudoun Referendums, 2026

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Seal of Loudoun County

Citizens of Loudoun County, Virginia, will be voting on three bond referendums this year.

Under Article VII, Section 10, of the Constitution of Virginia, local governments must obtain voter approval through referendums to issue general obligation bonds. Bonds are debt; the issuing government sells them to investors and receives an immediate influx of cash, but, like a bank loan, those funds must be repaid over time with interest.

Generally, I believe governments should only incur public debt when:

  • a project is necessary for the public good,
  • its benefits will far outlast the repayment period, and
  • it cannot be reasonably funded through other means.

Read more . . .

Slaves Waiting for Sale (Eyre Crowe)
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Citizens of Virginia will be voting on three proposed constitutional amendments this year. This endorsement article considers only the first, which is especially important and deserves extra attention and analysis. An endorsement article addressing the second and third will be published separately.

There are two methods for amending the Constitution of Virginia described in Article XII. This one comes to us through the Section 1 method, which is most commonly used: The proposal is passed by both houses of the General Assembly, and then, after an intervening House of Delegates election, passed again, then presented to the voters in a referendum.

Read more . . .

Senator Graham Dead at 71

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Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) died yesterday of an aortic dissection at the age of 71.

Graham was a longstanding and influential figure in the Republican Party and in broader American politics. He first rose to national prominence as a House “impeachment manager,” or prosecutor, during President Bill Clinton’s (D) 1999 impeachment trial, and ultimately served more than thirty years in Congress.

After graduating from high school in Central, South Carolina, Graham became the first member of his family to attend college. His original plans were disrupted after his parents died over a period of fifteen months, leaving his thirteen-year-old sister orphaned. Graham transferred to the University of South Carolina in Columbia and became his sister’s legal guardian. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in psychology, then a law degree, and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force in 1982. He first served as a defense attorney in the Judge Advocate General (JAG) corps, and later became a prosecutor.

Graham left active-duty service in 1989, but continued to serve in the South Carolina Air National Guard and then the U.S. Air Force Reserve. He was an assistant county attorney for Oconee County, South Carolina, and city attorney for Central, South Carolina. During the First Gulf War he was briefly recalled to active duty and served with the JAG corps at McEntire Air National Guard Station in South Carolina. He was deployed as a reservist to Iraq in 2007 and Afghanistan in 2009 to deal with legal issues concerning enemy detainees; for his service he received the Bronze Star medal. Graham retired from the Air Force Reserve in 2015 at the rank of colonel.

Read more . . .

Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.