Corey Stewart, RepublicanCorey Stewart served as Chairman At-Large of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors since 2006. Today he announced that he will not be running for reelection.
Stewart, who is a Republican, ran for U.S. Congress against incumbent Tim Kaine (D) in 2018 and lost by a 15 point plus margin. He failed to carry his own county in that election, winning only a little more than 34% of the vote.
Stewart hitched his wagon to Donald Trump in 2016 and served as his Campaign Manger in Virginia. He was let go from that position after encouraging a celebratory “deplorable” party. Stewart said it was his Republican party who turned against him.
Next, Stewart also ran for include Governor in the Republican primary in 2017. He narrowly lost to Ed Gillespie. During that campaign he criticized “mainstream” Republicans as being the same as the Democrats and called Gillespie “Establishment Ed” and a “cuckservative" on Reddit.
In 2017 and 18, Stewart posed with Confederate flags, claiming it was about heritage, and supported the prominent displace of existing Confederate monuments. He even met with Jason Kessler, who later that year organized the white nationalist "Unite the Right" protest at Charlottesville in 2016, which ended in tragedy.
Stewart was hard on illegal immigration and promoted working with ICE and turning over criminal illegal aliens in the county. In 2007, his anti-illegal immigration policy was one of the strictest in the nation and helped Stewart make a name for himself.
However, Prince William’s demographic had changed over time. The county went for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and only turned more blue since the presidential election. Backlash from the presidential election also increased voter turnout among nonconservative voters.
The tide had been turning against Stewart in his own party as he became more of a bombastic conservative. Already Republican Marty Nohe, representative of the Coles District, had announced he would be running for Chairman in November. Other candidates are Ann Wheeler, a Democrat, and Don Scoggins, an independent.
Nohe professed his disdain of Stewart’s antics. Many said they felt that Stewart was trying to ride the Trump train and taking Virginia in the wrong direction.
During Stewart’s tenure as Chairman the county had become more diverse, more populated and more prosperous. It became more suburban and urban and gained a minority-majority in terms of ethnicity.
In 2006, Stewart ran for chairman claiming to curb development, but he later claimed the county should embrace growth. He sometimes aligned himself with fiscal moderates on the board and sometimes with fiscal conservatives.
Stewart made various improvements to roads and infrastructure and building new schools, police and fire stations and attracting new businesses. Growth in the business sector included retail, restaurants, tourism, science and technology, higher education and data centers. Stewart pushed to prioritize safety in the county included funding for police and fire fighters as the county emerged from the recession of 20089.
But county schools continued to have the highest class sizes in the state, which rests upon the supervisors, as they levy taxes and allocate funding to the schools. The board has been working more cooperatively with the school board of late on construction of new schools and other needs and has made some significant strides since coming out of the recession.
Stewart has been a conservative on social issues and voted against a LGBTQ day for Prince William County though he choice not to grandstand on the issue.
Stewart made a formal announcement during the Board of County Supervisors meeting Tuesday at 2 p.m. at the McCourt Building in Manassas during the State of the County. Meeting are aired on public television and on the county's pwcgov.org website.
This article has been updated to reflect that the announcement had been made official. More information to follow on the State of the County.
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