Free Republic

A Republican underdog snapped hard at a Democratic incumbent’s heels at the opening debate of the Arlington campaign season Tuesday night. The debate kicked off the battle for Northern Virginia’s Senate seats in a year Republicans are hoping to snatch control of the state Senate, putting both houses of the General Assembly and the governor's office in Republican hands. Patrick Forrest accused Virginia state Sen. Janet Howell of using her 19 years in the Senate’s 32nd district seat to increase spending and hand out favors to lobbyists while remaining silent on the issue of funding for the Dulles Metro rail...