Northern Virginia
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Northern_Virginia".

Reston, an internationally-known planned community, seen from the Dulles Toll Road.

Northern Virginia (colloquially referred to as "NOVA" or "NoVA") consists of several counties and cities in the U.S. state of Virginia in a widespread region generally radiating southerly and westward from Washington, D.C. Northern Virginia is the most populous region of Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area.¹²

Communities in the region form the Virginia portion of the Washington-Arlington-Alexandria DC-VA-MD-WV MSA or the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia DC-MD-VA-WV CSA. Northern Virginia is the most diverse (in terms of both the number of ethnic groups and nationalities represented) and highest-income region of Virginia, having six of the twenty highest-income counties in the nation, including the two highest as of 2007.³

Northern Virginia's transportation infrastructure includes major airports Washington National and Dulles International, the Virginia Railway Express (VRE) suburban commuter rail system, several lines of the Washington, D.C. Metro subway system, transit bus services, and an extensive network of Interstate highways and expressways.

Notable features of the region include the Pentagon and the Central Intelligence Agency, and the many companies which serve them and the federal government. The area's attractions include various monuments and Colonial and Civil War-era sites such Mount Vernon and Arlington National Cemetery.

History

Source of the name

The name "Northern Virginia" does not seem to have been used in the early history of the area.⁴ According to Johnston, some early documents and land grants refer to the "Northern Neck of Virginia" and describe an area which began on the east at the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay and include a territory which extended west including all the land between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, with a western boundary called the Fairfax line⁴. The Fairfax line, surveyed in 1746, ran from the first spring of the Potomac, still marked today by the Fairfax Stone, to the first spring of the Rappahannock, at the head of the Conway River.⁴ Thus the Northern Neck was officially composed of 5,282,000 acres, and was larger in area than five of the modern U.S. states.⁴

This monument, at the headspring of the Potomac River, markes one of the historic spots of America. Its name is derived from Thomas Lord Fairfax who owned all the land lying between the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. The first Fairfax Stone, marked "FX", was set in 1746 by Thomas Lewis, a surveyor employed by Lord Fairfax. This is the base point for the western dividing line between Maryland and West Virginia.

– Fairfax Stone inscription⁴

Early development of the northern portion of Virginia was in the easternmost area of that early land grant, which encompasses the modern counties of Lancaster, Northumberland, Richmond, and Westmoreland. At some point, these eastern counties came to be called separately simply "the Northern Neck", and, for the remaining area west of them, the term was no longer used. (By some definitions, King George County is also included in the Northern Neck, which is now considered a separate region from Northern Virginia).⁵

One of the most prominent early mentions of "Northern Virginia" (sans the word "Neck") as a title was the naming of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia during the American Civil War (1861-1865). However it came about, at some point in the past, the description "Northern Virginia" became a common label for a portion of the state, one that is used widely in modern times.^{citation needed}

Colonial period

Historically, in the British Colony of Virginia first permanently settled at Jamestown in 1607, the area now generally regarded as "Northern Virginia" was within a larger area defined by a land grant from King Charles II of England on September 18, 1649, while the monarch was in exile in France during the English Civil War. Eight of his loyal supporters were named, among them Thomas Culpeper. ⁶

On February 25, 1673 a new charter was given to Thomas Lord Culpeper and Henry Earl of Arlington. Lord Culpeper was named the Royal Governor of Virginia from 1677-1683. (Culpeper County was later named for him when it was formed in 1749; however, history does not seem to record him as one of the better of Virginia's colonial governors). Although he became governor of Virginia in July 1677⁷, he did not come to Virginia until 1679, and then, seemed more interested in maintaining his land in the "Northern Neck of Virginia" than governing. He soon returned to England.⁸ In 1682, rioting in the colony forced him to return, but by the time he arrived, the riots were already quelled. After apparently misappropriating £9,500 from the treasury of the colony, he returned to England and the King was forced to dismiss him. During this tumultuous time, Culpeper's erratic behavior meant that he had to rely increasingly on his cousin and Virginia agent, Col. Nicholas Spencer.⁹¹⁰ Spencer succeeded Culpepper as acting Governor upon Lord Culpeper's departure from the colony. For many years, Lord Culpeper's descendants allowed men in Virginia (primarily Robert "King" Carter) to manage the properties. ¹¹

Final legal claim to the land was finally established by Lord Culpeper's grandson, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who became well-known in the colony as "Lord Fairfax", in a survey authorized by Governor William Gooch in 1736.^{citation needed} The lands of Lord Fairfax (and Northern Virginia) were defined as that between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers, and were officially called the "Northern Neck".¹² In 1746, a back line was surveyed and established between the headwaters of the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers, defining the west end of the grants. According to documents held by the Handley Regional Library of the Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, the grants contained 5,282,000 acres. They included the 22 modern counties of Northumberland, Lancaster, Westmoreland, Stafford, King George, Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, Fauquier, Rappahannock, Culpeper, Madison, Clarke, Warren, Page, Shenandoah, and Frederick Counties in Virginia, and Hardy, Hampshire, Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson Counties in West Virginia. ¹³

Lord Fairfax was a life-long bachelor, and became one of the more well-known persons of the late colonial era. In 1742, the new county formed from Prince William County was named Fairfax County in his honor, one of numerous place names in Northern Virginia and West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle which were named after him. ¹⁴ Lord Fairfax established his residence first at his brother's home at "Belvoir" (now on the grounds of Fort Belvoir in Fairfax County). ¹⁵

Not long thereafter, he built a hunting lodge near the Blue Ridge Mountains he named "Greenway Court" ¹⁶, which was located near White Post in Clarke County, and moved there. Around 1748, Lord Fairfax met a youth of 16 named George Washington, and, impressed with his energy and talents, employed him to survey his lands lying west of the Blue Ridge. ¹⁷

Lord Fairfax stayed neutral during the American Revolutionary War. Just a few weeks after the surrender of British troops under General Cornwallis at Yorktown, he died at his home at Greenway Court on December 9, 1781 at the age of 90. He was entombed on the east side of Christ Church (Episcopal) in Winchester.¹⁸ While his plans for a large house at Greenway Court never materialized, and his stone lodge is now gone, a small limestone structure he had built still exists on the site. ¹⁹

Statehood, Civil War

Arlington House, a mansion commissioned by a step-grandson of George Washington, last used as a home by Robert E. Lee.

Following the American Revolutionary War, when the Thirteen Colonies formed the United States of America, war hero and Virginian George Washington was the choice to become its first president. Washington had been a surveyor and developer of canals for transportation earlier in the 18th century. He was also a great proponent of the bustling port city of Alexandria, which was located on the Potomac River below the fall line, not far from his plantation at Mount Vernon in Fairfax County.

With his guidance, a new federal city (now known as the District of Columbia) was laid out straddling the Potomac River upon a square of territory which was ceded to the federal government by the new states of Maryland and Virginia. Alexandria was located at the eastern edge south of the river. On the outskirts on the northern side of the river, another port city, Georgetown, was located.

However, as the federal city grew, land in the portion contributed by Maryland proved best suited and adequate for early development and the impracticality of being on both sides of the Potomac River became clearer. Not really part of the functioning federal city, many citizens of Alexandria were frustrated by the laws of the District government and lack of voting input. Slavery also arose as an issue. To mitigate these issues, and as part of a "deal" regarding abolishment of slave trading in the District, in 1846, the U.S. Congress passed a bill retro-ceding to Virginia the area south of the Potomac River, which was known as Alexandria County. That area now forms all of Arlington County (which was renamed from Alexandria County in 1922) and a portion of the independent city of Alexandria.

Slavery, states rights, and economic issues increasingly divided the northern and southern states during the first half of the 19th century, eventually leading to the American Civil War from 1861-1865. Although Maryland was a slave state, it remained with the Union, while Virginia seceded and joined the newly formed Confederate States of America, with its new capital established at Richmond, Virginia.

With less than 100 miles separating the two capital cities, Northern Virginia found itself in the center of much of the conflict. The area was the site of many battles and saw great destruction and bloodshed. The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary army for the Confederate States of America in the east. Owing to the regions proximity to Washington D.C and the Potomac River, the armies of both sides frequently occupied and traversed Northern Virginia. As a result, several battles were fought in the area.

In addition, Northern Virginia was the operating area of the famed Confederate partisan, John Singleton Mosby, and several small skirmishes were fought throughout the region between his Rangers and Federal forces occupying Northern Virginia.

Well after the war, the Lost Cause remained popular among the regions residents and many area schools, roads, and parks were named for Confederate generals and statesmen, including:

• Lee Highway – U.S. Route 29
• J.E.B. Stuart High School
• Jefferson Davis Highway – U.S. Route 1
• Leesylvania State Park
• Robert E. Lee High School
• Stonewall Jackson High School
• Stonewall Middle School
• Lake Jackson

In addition, several schools are named for Civil War battles, including Bull Run Middle School and Antietam Elementary School in Prince William County.

Virginia literally split apart during the American Civil War. The population of fifty counties in the western, mountainous portion of the state, did not agree with the others, and rather than support the Confederacy, they split from the rest of Virginia and eventually joined the Union as a new state, West Virginia, in 1863. During this process, a provisional government of Virginia was headquartered in Alexandria, which was under Union control during the war.

As a result of the formation of West Virginia, part of Lord Fairfax's colonial land grant which defined Northern Virginia, was ceded in the establishment of that state in 1863. Now known as the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, the area includes Berkeley County, West Virginia and Jefferson County, West Virginia.

20th century and beyond

The Pentagon.

The Department of Defense's increasing reliance on information technology companies during the Cold War started the Northern Virginia economy and spurred urban development throughout the region.²⁰ After the Cold War, prosperity continued to come as the region positioned itself as the "Silicon Valley" of the Eastern United States. Symbolic history was made in early 2001 when local Internet company America Online bought Time Warner, the world's largest traditional media company, near the end of the dot-com bubble days. After the bubble burst, Northern Virginia office vacancy rates went from 2% in 2000 to 20% in 2002.²⁰

After 2002, vacancy rates fell below 10% due to increased defense spending as the War on Terrorism began and the government's continued and increasing reliance on private defense contractors.²⁰

Defining "Northern Virginia"

"Northern Virginia" is more of a functional name than a rigidly defined area. Much like Virginia's second largest region, Hampton Roads, there is no single entity which clearly defines the boundaries of the region for all purposes in a manner such as the legal boundaries of states, counties, cities and towns.

For statistical purposes, the federal government defines certain portions of the area in its definition of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Presently included in the Virginia portion of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area (MSA) are Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties, and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park.

Businesses, governments and non-profit agencies may define the area considered "Northern Virginia" differently for various purposes. Beyond the areas closest to Washington, DC, many communities also have close economic ties, as well as important functional ones regarding transportation issues such as roads, railroads, and airports. For example, up to fifteen percent of the population in the formerly rural northwestern counties of Virginia, such as Frederick, Warren and northern Fauquier, commute into work locations in Loudoun and Fairfax counties.^{citation needed}

Under broad and varying criteria, especially for commuting purposes, additional jurisdictions which may be considered part of Northern Virginia which are outside the MSA-defined area include (alphabetically) Clarke, Culpeper, Fauquier, Frederick, Madison Page, Rappahannock, Shenandoah, Spotsylvania, Stafford and Warren counties, as well as the independent cities of Fredericksburg, and Winchester.^{citation needed}

Demographics

As of 2006, the United States Census estimates that there are 2,432,823²³ people in Northern Virginia, around 32% of the state's population. This figure includes the exurban Clarke, Fauquier, Spotsylvania, Stafford, and Warren counties as well as the independent city of Fredericksburg. Together, these jurisdictions account for 377,809 residents. The combined population of Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William counties and the independent cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax, Manassas, and Manassas Park is 2,055,014, which is 26.89% of Virginia's estimated population in 2006.

Race in Northern Virginia's five largest jurisdictions according to the American Community Survey demographic estimates:

• 67.2% White
• 13.9% Black or African American
• 12.1% Asian
• 11.6% Hispanic or Latino (of any race)
• 2.4% Two or more races

Background

Northern Virginia is home to people from diverse backgrounds, with significant numbers of Arab Americans, Afghan Americans, Korean Americans, Indian Americans, Iranian Americans, American Jews, Pakistani Americans, and Vietnamese Americans, along with other Americans of Asian descent especially a growing Chinese American and Filipino American population.^{citation needed} Annandale, Chantilly, and Fairfax County have large Korean communities. Falls Church has a large Vietnamese community.^{citation needed}

There is a sizable Latino population, primarily consisting of Salvadorans, Peruvians, Dominicans ,Bolivians, and Colombians.^{citation needed} Arlington is the center of the largest Bolivian community in North America (mostly immigrants from Cochabamba).^{citation needed}

Northern Virginia is also home to one of the largest African immigrant populations in America, with significant numbers of Nigerians, Kenyans, Ethiopians, Eritreans, Somalians, and Ghanaians.^{citation needed}

Of those born in the U.S. and living in Northern Virginia's four largest counties, their place of birth by Census region is:^26272829

• 60.5% from the South (includes 33.7% from this state)
• 21.0% from the Northeast
• 11.5% from the Midwest
• 7.0% from the West

Educational attainment

The core Northern Virginia jurisdictions of Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William comprising a total population of 1,973,513 is highly educated, with 55.5% of its population 25 years or older holding a bachelor's degree or higher. This is comparable to Seattle, the most educated large city in the U.S. with 53.4% of residents having at least a bachelor's degree.³⁰³¹ The number of graduate/professional degree holders in Arlington is relatively high at 34.3%, nearly quadruple the rate of the U.S. population as a whole.³²

Affluence

The region is becoming known in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area for its relative affluence. Of the three large places or counties in the nation that have a median household income in excess of $100,000, the top two are in Northern Virginia, representing over half of the region's population.³³ In 2008, luxury home service Sotheby's International Realty, having three offices in Virginia serving the rest of the state and two in Washington, DC serving the Washington metropolitan area, opened a new office in McLean to sell more high end real estate in Northern Virginia.³⁴

Many upscale fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton and Tiffany & Co. have regional presence primarily in Tysons Galleria and Fairfax Square despite having boutiques in nearby Washington, D.C. or Maryland neighborhoods. Some brands such as Versace have relocated their regional stores to Northern Virginia, while others including Breguet, De Beers, Ferrari, and Hermès have their only Virginia/Baltimore-Washington location in Northern Virginia.

Economy

Rosslyn is home to the tallest high rises in the Washington, D.C. area, some of which rank among the tallest in the state.³⁵³⁶

In recent decades, Northern Virginia has become home to many technology companies, especially in the Dulles Technology Corridor.^{citation needed} These companies included Sprint Nextel and formerly AOL. Other large corporate employers include ExxonMobil near Falls Church, Micron in Manassas, Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in Reston and Electronic Data Systems (EDS) in Herndon.

Employment

The federal government is a major employer in Northern Virginia, which is home to numerous government agencies; these include the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters and the Pentagon (headquarters of the Department of Defense), as well as Fort Myer, Fort Belvoir, Marine Corps Base Quantico, the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the United States Geological Survey.

As of September 2008, the unemployment rate in Northern Virginia is 3.2%, the lowest of any metropolitan area if ranked, or state tied with South Dakota.

This article or section may be inaccurate or unbalanced in favor of certain viewpoints. Please improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the talk page.

³⁷³⁸ While the U.S. as a whole had negative job growth from September 2007 to September 2008, Northern Virginia gained 12,800 jobs, most of which were in the professional and business services sector representing half of Virginia's new jobs.³⁹

Notable companies

Gannett Company headquarters in Tysons Corner.

Northern Virginia has twelve Fortune 1000 companies, the second highest number in the state after the Richmond area. The following Northern Virginia companies appear in the Fortune 1000 list:⁴⁰

• AES Corporation
• BearingPoint
• CACI
• Capital One
• Computer Sciences Corporation
• DynCorp International
• FHLMC (Freddie Mac)
• Gannett Company
• General Dynamics
• NII Holdings
• NVR
• SLM Corporation (Sallie Mae)

Other notable companies headquartered in the region:

• Airbus North America
• BearingPoint
• Booz Allen Hamilton
• CACI
• Chevy Chase Bank
• DynCorp International
• FNH USA
• Mars, Incorporated
• Navy Federal Credit Union
• NII Holdings
• Orbital Sciences
• Rolls-Royce North America
• Space Adventures
• USA Today
• Verizon Business
• Volkswagen Group of America

Additionally, ExxonMobil's downstream division is based in the region. Companies formerly headquartered in the region include AOL, Mobil, and Nextel/Sprint Nextel.

Attractions

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (September 2008)

The United States Air Force Memorial.

The region's large shopping malls, such as Potomac Mills and Tysons Corner Center, attract many visitors, as well as its Civil War battlefields.^{citation needed} Old Town Alexandria is known for its historic churches, townhouses, restaurants, gift shops, artist studios, and cruise boats. The waterfront and outdoor recreational amenities such as biking and running trails (the Washington and Old Dominion Rail Trail is the longest paved path in the U.S.;^{citation needed} the Mount Vernon Trail, and trails along various stream beds are also popular), whitewater and sea kayaking, and rock climbing areas are focused along the Potomac River, but are also found at other locations in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. Scenic Great Falls Park and historic Mount Vernon (which opened a new visitor center in 2006) are especially noteworthy. Woodbridge is home to two minor-league sports franchises, the Northern Virginia Royals soccer team and the Potomac Nationals baseball team.

Politics

Background

From the mid 1880s until the mid 1960s, Virginia politics were dominated by Conservative Democrats. After World War I, under the leadership of Harry Flood Byrd, who became Governor of Virginia and later a U.S. Senator, this group became known as the Byrd Organization. With a power base in a network of the constitutional officers of most of Virginia's counties, they controlled Virginia's state government. The Byrd Organization largely followed conservative and anti-debt principles espoused by Byrd, who had grown up in a rural setting during the fiscally-stressed era following Reconstruction. Although a member if the Democratic Party and an initial supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Senator Byrd became a bitter opponent of the New Deal and related national policies, particularly those involving fiscal and social issues. He became Virginia's senior senator after the death of Senator Carter Glass of Lynchburg in 1946.

The period following World War II saw substantial growth of Virginia's suburban areas, notably in the regions of Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton Roads. The population became more diverse. People of the emerging middle class were increasingly less willing to accept the rural focus of the General Assembly, nor Byrd's extreme positions on public debt and social issues. The latter was nowhere more graphically illustrated than with Byrd's violent opposition to racial integration of the state's public schools. His leadership in the failed policy of Massive Resistance to racial desegregation of the public schools and efforts to circumvent related rulings of the United States Supreme Court ultimately caused closure of some public schools in the state and alienated many middle class voters. The Byrd Organization had never been strong in Virginia's independent cities, and beginning in the 1960s, city and suburban factions increasingly supported efforts to make broad changes in Virginia. In this climate, the Republican Party of Virginia began making inroads.

Rulings by both state and federal courts that "Massive Resistance" was unconstitutional and a move to compliance with the court orders in early 1959 by Governor James Lindsay Almond, Jr. and the General Assembly could be described as marking the Byrd Organization's "last stand," although the remnants of the Organization continued to wield power for a few years longer.⁴¹

When Senator Byrd resigned in 1965, he was replaced by his son Harry F. Byrd, Jr. in the U.S. Senate. However, the heyday of the Byrd Organization was clearly in the past, ending 80 years of domination of Virginia politics by the Conservative Democrats with the election of a Republican governor, Linwood Holton, in 1969 for the first time in the 20th century, succeeding a longtime member of the Byrd Organization, Democrat Mills E. Godwin. To the amazement of many observers, Godwin changed parties and was elected again as governor in 1974, but as a Republican.

During the last quarter of the 20th century, Virginia's Republicans gained ground against the Democrats. Republican John Warner from Northern Virginia gained one of the seats in the U.S. Senate in 1978. After longtime state senator L. Douglas Wilder became Governor in 1989, the first African American to become a Governor in the United States, Republicans subsequently gained control of both houses of the General Assembly and the Governor's mansion beginning in 1993.

For a number of years, the recurring Republican theme was to reduce waste in state government and taxes. However, this seemed to reach a peak during the administration of Jim Gilmore, with a move to repeal an unpopular car tax accompanied by a failure to provide promised replacement funds to the counties, cities and towns. Subsequently, two Democrats were elected consecutively as Governor, and control in the General Assembly shifted back to a more bipartisan balance of power. As governor, both Mark Warner and Tim Kaine were confronted with stabilizing state economics and dealing with a deteriorating transportation funding situation partially caused by the state's failure to index state fuel taxes to inflation, with a "cents per gallon" tax rate unchanged since the administration of Democratic Governor Gerald Baliles in 1986.

21st century politics

In the 21st century, Northern Virginia is becoming increasingly known for favoring candidates of the Democratic Party in its voting patterns at both the state and national level. Fairfax County voted for John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, the first time the county supported the Democratic candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. The area also voted for Democrats Jim Webb in 2006 for U.S. Senate, Tim Kaine in 2005 for governor, and Mark Warner in 2001 for governor. In these three races for statewide office, the margins tallied in Northern Virginia provided the Democratic candidate with a winning margin of victory.

Junior Senator from Virginia Jim Webb.

The most recent election in Virginia was an extremely close one statewide. Democrat Jim Webb defeated incumbent Senator George Allen by the slim margin of 49.6% to 49.2%.⁴² However, that margin increased to 58.1% to 40.7% in favor of the Democratic challenger in the counties and cities of Northern Virginia, whereas Webb ran behind Allen somewhat, 46.1% to 52.7%, in the remainder of the Commonwealth. Webb carried Fairfax County, Prince William County, and Loudoun County, as well as the more urban areas of Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church. Allen's sole wins in Northern Virginia were the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park, winning the latter two only by the narrow margins of 3.54% and 2.38%, respectively.

In the 2004 presidential election, 53% of Northern Virginia voters voted for John Kerry, the Democratic candidate, and 46% voted for George W. Bush, the Republican candidate. This contrasted with the rest of Virginia, where 43% of voted for John Kerry and 56% for George Bush. Kerry also carried Fairfax County, the most populous county in Virginia, and Fairfax City, the first time those jurisdictions had voted Democratic since Johnson's national landslide in 1964. The strongest support in the area for the Democrats lies inside the Beltway, in Arlington, Alexandria, and parts of Fairfax County. The more distant areas (i.e., Loudoun County and Prince William County) are generally more conservative though as they have increased in population they have also become more liberal. Both Mark Warner in 2001, and John Kerry in 2004, lost Loudoun and Prince William. Tim Kaine won both counties in 2005. And in 2006, despite not polling as strongly as Mark Warner statewide, Democratic senate candidate Jim Webb won both Loudoun and Prince William. In 2005 65% of the voters of Northern Virginia voted for Democrat Tim Kaine for governor over Jerry Kilgore, who received only 32% of the vote, easily 14 points lower than George W. Bush's showing only a year earlier.

The 8th, the 10th, and the 11th congressional districts lie within Northern Virginia. The 8th district votes overwhelmingly Democratic while the other two districts generally elect Republican congressmen but by smaller margins.^{citation needed} The current congressman from the 8th district is Jim Moran (D), the current congressman from the 10th district is Frank Wolf (R), and the current congressman from the 11th district is Tom Davis (R). The 10th is slightly more Republican than the 11th,^{citation needed} although both districts have awarded re-election to the incumbents by comfortable margins, and both were won by George W. Bush in 2004. However, all three districts voted for Jim Webb in the 2006 Senate election.

In the 2005 gubernatorial election, the entire region continued to move away from the Republicans. Fairfax County, Arlington County, the cities of Alexandria, Fairfax City, and Falls Church, and for the first time,^{citation needed} Loudoun County and Prince William County, went to Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate. The area continued to be more Democratic the closer it was to Washington, D.C., but Richmond resident Kaine was able to accomplish what Northern Virginian Mark Warner had been unable to do just four years earlier in 2001: carry Loudoun County and Prince William County (as well as win over 60% of the vote in Fairfax County).

In 2006, Democrat Mark Herring swept every precinct in the 33rd state Senate District Tuesday, Jan. 31, en route to beating Republican Loudoun County Supervisor Mick Staton by a wide margin of 62 to 38 percent, providing evidence for the claim that Loudoun is transforming into a liberal county.^{citation needed} The district sits primarily in Loudoun County but also includes nine precincts in western Fairfax County: Floris, Fox Mill, Frying Pan, McNair, Franklin, Kinross, Navy, Lees Corner East, and Lees Corner West.

In 2008, Nancy Pfotenhauer created controversy by referring to the areas of Virginia not included in Northern Virginia as "real Virginia", picking up on a GOP talking point that Sarah Palin promoted; namely that red states (or counties that lean Republican) are the "real America" and more "pro-America." ⁴³

Culture

Owing to its status as a suburb of Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia is considered to be more cosmopolitan in its culture than the rest of Virginia. This can be attributed to the movement of people from the rest of the country to the area and its location near Washington D.C, as well as the fact that more urban areas in Virginia tend to have more frequent migration and mixing of cultures.

Northern Virginia's population is ethnically diverse with significant numbers of immigrants. There are large numbers of restaurants, and international food of nearly any type is easy to find. Immigrants have established many shops and many in ethnic centers, such as the Eden Center. Some are highly-educated doctors, engineers, diplomats, and other professionals, while others work in construction, landscaping, airport services, restaurants and convenience stores, vendors, taxi drivers, custodial services, and parking garages.

Due to the proximity to the capital, many Northern Virginians go to Washington D.C. for cultural outings and nightlife. The Kennedy Center is a popular place for performances as is Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts near Vienna. Nissan Pavilion (near Manassas), the Patriot Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, and the Verizon Center in Washington serve as popular concert venues, and the Verizon Center also serves as the home of sporting events. Smithsonian museums also serve as local cultural institutions with easy proximity to Northern Virginia, and the new Udvar-Hazy center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly is popular as well.

Journalists Memorial at Freedom Park.

Tysons Corner Center ("Tysons I") is one of the largest malls in the country and is a hub for shopping in area. Tysons Galleria ("Tysons II"), its counterpart across Route 123, carries more high-end stores. Tysons Corner itself is the 12th largest business district in the United States.^{citation needed} Other malls include Springfield Mall, Fair Oaks Mall, Manassas Mall, and The Fashion Centre at Pentagon City. Dulles Town Center is the region's newest mall, serving the eastern Loudoun County area. Reston Town Center is a high-density mixed-use retail, commercial, and residential development located just off the 267 Toll Road in Reston. Potomac Mills, located in Prince William County, is the largest outlet mall in the region. The town of Leesburg, in Loudoun County contains the Leesburg Corner Premium Outlets outlet mall.

Since the mid-1990s, Loudoun County has become known as America's fastest-growing county, having grown by almost 50% from 2000 though 2005. Since the 2000 census, both Loudoun and Fairfax counties are the top large U.S. counties by median household income. Loudoun County has branches of at least five higher education institutions.

Secession

Due to the political and economic differences between Northern Virginia and the rest of the commonwealth, some secessionist sentiments have emerged with those persons wishing that the area could become the separate state of "North Virginia." Delegate Jeannemarie Devolites (R-35) expressed a common sentiment when she said "The formula for funding school construction in Northern Virginia requires that we pay 500 percent more than the actual cost of a project. We have to pay 500 percent because we give 400 percent away to the rest of the state." The state government's funding level for transportation projects in Northern Virginia is also a perennial issue that often causes consternation in the region's politicians and citizens.^{citation needed}

Secession would require consent from the Virginia General Assembly and the admission of a new state by the U.S. Congress, neither of which is a practical possibility. Consequently, the idea is a rhetorical one used to express frustration with the treatment of Northern Virginia by the state government as well as the occasional opposing political sentiments between it and the rest of Virginia. Critics of this movement often point out that many supporters of secession fail to realize that all U.S. states include regions of varying income, political, and cultural discrepancies within their borders. ⁴⁴

Conversely, some citizens in the rest of the state would like to separate from Northern Virginia.⁴⁵

Transportation

Washington Dulles International Airport.

The area has two major airports, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport. While flights from the older National Airport (a focus city for US Airways) are restricted for distance, frequency, and flight paths due to the proximity to federal facilities, Dulles is the number five airport^{citation needed} in terms of aircraft movement, and also a hub for United Airlines. In recent years it has become a major center for low-cost flights, as it is a major hub for jetBlue, Ted, and others.

Commuters are served by the Washington Metro subway and the Virginia Railway Express, a commuter railroad. Metro is the second-busiest subway system in the nation; only New York City's subway system carries more passengers.^{citation needed} A planned expansion project will, if built, extend the system past Dulles Airport. Bus service is provided by WMATA's Metrobus, and many local jurisdictions also provide bus service. Parking lots at metrorail stations fill up very early in the morning, but are gradually being expanded. Virginia Railway Express commuter trains have also seen increased ridership but are plagued by frequent delays for various reasons.

Major highways include interstates 495 (Capital Beltway), 95, 395, and 66; US routes 1, 29, and 50; and local routes Fairfax County Parkway, Prince William Parkway, Virginia Routes 7, 28, 120, 123, 193, 234, 236, 244, 544, 545, and 620, the George Washington Memorial Parkway, and Franconia-Springfield Parkway. High-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are used for commuters and buses in I-66 and I-95/395. (Also see slugging.)

Northern Virginia suffers from severe road congestion. The congestion consistently ranks with Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City as one of the worst four areas in the nation.^{citation needed} To alleviate gridlock, local governments encourage using Metrorail, HOV, carpooling, slugging, and other forms of mass transportation. The conditions are only getting worse, however, as the population skyrockets. The roads are one of the biggest local issues. The current reconstruction of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge near Alexandria on the portion of the Capital Beltway which also carries Interstate 95 into Maryland (250,00–300,000 vehicles daily) will double the traffic lanes at that bottleneck when completed in 2008. Reconstruction of the large Springfield Interchange was completed in 2007. Several public-private partnership proposals to increase capacities of the Beltway and Interstate 95 south of Springfield to be funded through collection of tolls are under consideration by VDOT.

On November 5, 2002, voters rejected a referendum to raise the sales tax to pay for transportation improvements.⁴⁶ The measure was criticized as a subsidy for developers, who would merely build more houses along the new roads and add to the congestion.⁴⁷ In such a highly competitive and expensive region (much like urban California), many workers with families feel they cannot afford suitable homes near their jobs and so commute from more affordable, far outlying counties, which creates severe traffic congestion, as does the limited number and capacity of bridges over the Potomac River (no new bridges have been built since 1965). All proposals to add more Potomac bridge crossings (such as near Leesburg or Quantico as part of a long-proposed "outer beltway") are opposed by communities near the suggested bridge sites who want continued peace and quiet, and by Marylanders who fear that new bridges would bring new housing development to "open spaces". Furthermore, large-acreage, low-density residential zoning restrictions in parts of Fairfax County such as Great Falls, Dranesville, Clifton and Fairfax Station, also prevent people from living near the highest-density job centers, forcing commuters to leapfrog out to find housing instead in Prince William, Loudoun, and to a lesser extent Stafford, Fauquier, Warren, Clarke, Shenandoah, and Frederick counties in Virginia and Jefferson County, West Virginia and causing worse traffic. Workers from these outlying counties face daily commutes that exceed well over an hour each way.

A jurisdictional restriction that prohibits Virginia-based versus Washington and Maryland-based taxicab companies from picking up passengers on their empty return trips to and from Dulles and Reagan National airports also needlessly adds millions of additional trips to congested roads.^{citation needed} A U.S. Army proposal made in 2006 to relocate 18,000 additional employees to Fort Belvoir, which is already choked with traffic and has few public transportation options, is the newest major area of concern to planners.^{citation needed}

Education

George Mason University's Center for the Arts.

Fairfax County's public school system includes the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, an award-winning magnet school.

Although Northern Virginia contains a large portion of the Commonwealth's population, there are only a handful of colleges and universities in the region. The largest and most well-known is George Mason University in Fairfax, the second largest university in Virginia.

Other higher education institutions include Northern Virginia Community College (colloquially known as NOVA) in Annandale (with several branch campuses throughout Northern Virginia), and Marymount University in north Arlington. A relatively new addition to the roster of colleges and universities in the region is the University of Northern Virginia in Manassas, established in 1988. In addition, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech maintain a Center in Falls Church, and George Washington University has a campus in Loudoun County. Virginia Commonwealth University Health Systems has a satellite campus in Fairfax at the INOVA healthcare system.

At the celebration of the opening of Volkswagen Group of America's new headquarters in 2008, the group announced a five year philanthropic campaign targeting four Virginia colleges, Fairfax County Public Schools, and an automotive institute in Washington, DC.⁴⁸

See also

• List of federal agencies in Arlington County, Virginia
• Northern Virginia trolleys
• Potomac primary

References