Mary Petersen: A Lifelong Advocate for Fairfax City’s Homeless Community

I am running for Mayor because I love this city and care deeply about its future. Fairfax has tremendous opportunities to remain a great place to live and become even better. But that will depend on important decisions and collaboration over the next few years among our community, the City, the City Council, and our many private and community partners. I believe Fairfax needs a Mayor who is experienced, skilled, patient and trusted to help people with different perspectives work together to achieve what is best for our city. Serving as a City Council member has taught me that there is no substitute for experience as an elected official. The decisions become very real. People depend on you—their safety, finances, neighborhoods, children and future. I have cast more than 200 votes affecting our residents, including many difficult ones, and I understand both the responsibility Council members carry and the support a Mayor can provide through active facilitation and collaboration. I also bring 44 years of experience across government, business, nonprofit leadership and higher education, including work at the White House, U.S. Senate and EPA. Much of my career has involved helping diverse people and organizations work through difficult public decisions. Through my service on eight regional boards and commissions, I also understand that Fairfax is part of a larger regional community requiring strong coordination and collaboration.

My name is Kirsten Lockhart and I’m running for mayor of the City of Fairfax. I am currently the Vice Chair of the City’s Planning Commission, on which I have served for more than five years. Professionally, I have worked in management and strategy consulting for more than twenty years, predominately in federal and defense markets in the DC metropolitan area. I have lived in the City of Fairfax with my husband and two children since 2017, although I actually grew up just over the city-county line. Understanding that readers of the Independent obviously care deeply about development and environmental issues in the City, I’d like to take this opportunity to share my Planning Commission voting record on those items, as well as my other policy positions, all of which can be reviewed here: www.lockhartforfairfax.com/blog. Thank you for your consideration – I look forward to earning your vote, and to representing the best interests of all City of Fairfax residents going forward.

On August 31,2026, The Independent News Press invited the City of Fairfax Mayoral and City Council Candidates Questionnaire to participate in our very first questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to give City of Fairfax voters an opportunity to hear directly from the candidates seeking to lead their City on matters of public affairs.

Beginning July 1, a typical Dominion residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each month saw bills increase by about $8 because of higher fuel costs. Combined with an earlier approved base-rate increase of $8.51 per month, average monthly bills are expected to rise by nearly $19, or about 14%, in 2026.