30th State Senate District Democratic Primary Race Heats Up

The 30th State Senate district Democratic primary race (to succeed Sen. Patsy Ticer, who is retiring) heated up significantly today. Two of the candidates, Libby Garvey and Rob Krupicka, went at each other, while the third candidate - Del. Adam Ebbin - has so far (wisely?) stayed out of it. The sequence of events was as follows:1. The Garvey campaign sent out a press statement (see the "flip") at around 1:30 pm, expressing her "outrage" over the "BRAC" (Base Relocation and Closure) facility slated to open this September on Seminary Road in Alexandria off I-395 at the "Mark Winkler site". According to the Garvey campaign, the Mark Center is "an absolutely unacceptable site for this building," in particular due to the expected, horrendous traffic mess this is expected to produce when it opens for operations. The Garvey campaign specifically points the finger at the Alexandria City Council, of which Rob Krupicka is a member, for not preventing this situation. 2. The Krupicka campaign responded with a short statement (see on the "flip" as well) stating that, "Like everyone in our community, I'm opposed to the BRAC location and think it should have been located near a Metro." The statement added, "I'm disappointed that Libby has decided to take her campaign on the attack." 3. The Krupicka campaign sent out a fundraising email, charging the Garvey campaign with going "on the attack, distorting my record of protecting the Winkler Botanical Preserve and dismissing my record of leadership on transit and transportation for our community." I'm attempting to figure out what the truth is behind all these charges, back and forth. So far, what I've concluded is two things: a) that this is a thorny, complicated, and highly charged issue; and b) that this could be a hard-hitting primary campaign for months to come. I also find it interesting that this heated back-and-forth is coming so early in the campaign, when hardly anybody's paying any attention. Obviously, there's "strategery" going on here, I'm just not sure what it is exactly.