The GOP Wins One Over George Soros
A progressive prosecutor loses in Loudoun Country, Virginia.
The Wall Street Journal
Editorial
November 18, 2023
https://www.wsj.com/articles/
Buta Biberaj this week conceded she lost to Republican Bob Anderson in her bid for re-election as Loudoun County’s Commonwealth Attorney. It was a small margin—300 votes—but a big victory in an election that otherwise saw Democrats keep the state Senate and take the House.
Ms. Biberaj is a progressive, George Soros-financed prosecutor, and Mr. Anderson campaigned as a law-and-order candidate. Ms. Biberaj had stopped prosecuting some misdemeanors, and she pointed to the drop in violent crime during her watch as evidence of her success.
But there were high-profile botches. A man who had been arrested for beating his wife was released on bond after Ms. Biberaj agreed. The man was given an ankle bracelet, and he then returned to his wife’s apartment and killed her with a hammer.
Most infamously, Ms. Biberaj chose to prosecute Scott Smith after he was wrestled to the floor at a contentious school board meeting. Mr. Smith said he showed up to complain about how officials handled his daughter’s sexual assault in a school bathroom. The boy had been released and then transferred to another school—where he assaulted another girl.
The case generated national attention, especially after the National School Boards Association invoked Mr. Smith in a letter to the White House saying such parents should be considered domestic terrorists. Ms. Biberaj won convictions and defends the prosecution. But the conviction for obstruction of justice was tossed on appeal and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin rightly pardoned Mr. Smith on the disorderly conduct charge.
Loudoun County voters tired of her antics, and she was defeated despite outspending Mr. Anderson 10 to 1. Voters don’t want politicized prosecutions, and the Virginia vote shows that progressive prosecutors can be defeated even in Democratic-leaning areas no matter how much Soros cash they may have.