On April 8, Arlington County, Virginia, held a special election to fill a vacant seat on the County Board. Independent candidate John Vihstadt won with an absolute majority, even though there were four candidates on the ballot. This is the first time since 1999 that any Democratic nominee ran and failed to win election to this office. Arlington County has a population of 207,627 and is directly across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The county has five board members. All seats are elected at-large. Although this is a partisan office, Virginia does not print party labels on general election ballots for county partisan office. Here is a link to the unofficial election returns. Here is a story about the outcome. Although the story says Vihstadt is a Republican, Virginia does not have registration by party. Because Vihstadt qualified for the ballot under the independent candidate procedures, and was not nominated by the Republican Party, that statement in the story is somewhat misleading. Thanks to Brandon Payne for the link.