When is representative government not really representative? When citizens are too apathetic to vote and when independent candidates split the vote.  November 3 was election day across the US and many local elections took place. Loudoun County, Virginia one of the larger counties, and the richest county in the US, within commuting distance of the nation’s capitol, will now be lead by a new Chairperson of the County Supervisors.

Phyliss Randall, a therapist by profession and a Democrat by party, received less than 25,000 votes. Her two Republican opponents, one running as an independent, split a combined 39,000 votes. Randall will now lead a county with one of the fastest growing populations in the nation, now at over 350,000.  She will be the leader of the Board of Supervisors but she has never served on the Board of Supervisors. Of every person living in Loudoun, only 1 in 14 voted for Randall, but this inexperienced black Democrat will now become the leader of an overwhelmingly white Republican county.  She’ll certainly need her therapeutic skills.