Fairfax County Gives 65 Percent of Vote to Mitt Romney

Even though two of its residents were missing from the ballot on Tuesday, voters in Fairfax County still came out to cast their votes for Mitt Romney and Ron Paul in the Virginia Republican presidential primary.

Of the county residents who voted in the Super Tuesday primary, 65 percent cast their votes for frontrunner Romney, the former Massachusetts governor. Despite a slow start, voter turnout in Fairfax Count was ultimately about 5.6 percent.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling endorsed Romney and campaigned with him in Fairfax City and Fairfax County last month. McDonnell also campaigned with Romney in South Carolina and Florida and is often discussed as a possible running mate.  

While Ron Paul campaigned in Virginia last week, making an appearance at a , Fairfax County only gave him 35 percent of their votes.

Candidates Newt Gingrich, a former speaker of the House and resident of McLean, and Rick Santorum, a former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania who lives in Great Falls, are both residents of Fairfax County and were not on the ballot after failing to submit enough signatures to qualify.

In the last Republican presidential primary, in 2008, Fairfax County voted for:

• John McCain: 63.2 percent
• Mike Huckabee:  23.73 percent
• Mitt Romney: 5.74 percent
• Ron Paul: 4.88 percent
• Rudy Guiliani: less than 1 percent
• Fred Thompson: less than 1 percent

In 2008, statewide, Virginia voters in the Republican primary selected Paul over Romney. McCain won the state with 50.4 percent of the vote; Mike Huckabee received 40.7 percent; Paul received 4.5 percent and Romney received 3.7 percent. Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson were also on the ballot and ea‬ch received less than 1 percent of the vote.