This week, Dranesville Supervisor Jimmy Bierman — a Democrat — helped launch a new group, “Communities First VA,” to protect Fairfax from top-down mandates out of Richmond.

He is protecting Fairfax from his own party. Read that again.

Fairfax conservatives have said for years what one-party Democrat rule would come to: state politicians steamrolling local communities on land use, on housing, and on a casino Tysons never wanted. The casino was just the fight that finally pushed a Democrat to admit it out loud.

Here’s how Fairfax got here.

Surovell Hand-Picked Tysons. His Own Governor Said No.

State Senator Scott Surovell, the Senate Majority Leader, spent four years trying to drop a casino into Tysons. It took a veto from his own Democrat governor to stop him.

His bill, SB 756, wrote Tysons in by name — the only one of Virginia’s five casino sites the General Assembly hand-picked.

It fixed the spot within a quarter-mile of a Silver Line Metro station, split the gambling taxes to favor the state over Fairfax, and muscled through 25-13 in the Senate and 55-41 in the House.

Governor Abigail Spanberger vetoed the bill in April. Surovell’s answer: “I have worked on this legislation for four years. I will not stop.”

This Is What One-Party Rule Costs You

When Democrats run the Governor’s mansion, the Senate, and the House, the only thing between your community and a state mandate is whether a Democrat decides to spare it. Tysons got a veto. Your neighborhood might not.

Even Board Chairman Jeff McKay — the Democrat who runs Fairfax’s 9-to-1 Board — called his own party’s bill “a direct attack on local government.”

Supervisor Bierman says his group stands up for residents “too often ignored by top-down decision-making from Richmond.” He is describing his own party.

Former Democrat Delegate Kathleen Murphy, on the group’s board, said Tysons spoke “with one voice — and still having to fight to be heard.”

Translation: in one-party Virginia, even Democrats can’t get Richmond to listen.

The Fairfax Board only voted to oppose the casino 5 to 4. It took four years and a veto from inside his own party to stop Surovell once. He is not done.

Scott Surovell is the Senate Majority Leader, and he is on the ballot in November 2027. Next year, there may be no veto to stop him. He already promised the casino will be back.