Fairfax County Supervisor John Foust (D-Dranesville) announced Aug. 2 that he will not seek a fifth four-year term in 2023.
“I will have much more to say about this when we get closer to the end of my term,” Foust said in a statement delivered during the Board of Supervisors’ only August meeting.
“For now, I just want to say that it’s been an honor to serve on this board for the past almost 15 years and I want to assure my constituents that my staff and I will continue to work hard to represent you until my term ends on Dec. 31, 2023,” he said.
An attorney and former president of the McLean Citizens Association, Foust first was elected in 2007 when he unseated one-term incumbent Joan DuBois (R-Dranesville). DuBois narrowly had defeated Foust four years earlier.
A frequent presence at community events, Foust has overseen Dranesville District through a time of transition. During his tenure, the Board of Supervisors has approved new zoning rules for McLean’s Community Business Center and a revised comprehensive plan for Tysons, which kicked off an ongoing building boom in the urban center.
During this period, the county also expanded and renovated Dolley Madison and Tysons-Pimmit Regional libraries, McLean Community Center and McLean Governmental Center; built three new fire stations and 16 synthetic-turf athletic fields; expanded Spring Hill RECenter; and added a senior center and 82 affordable-housing units at Lewinsville Center.
Foust called for stronger stormwater-management measures after a powerful storm in July 2019 caused flooding and significant road damage in Dranesville District.
The supervisor also has responded to residents’ complaints about cut-through traffic and illegal parking along Georgetown Pike. He advocated a cautious approach regarding the Virginia Department of Transportation’s I-495 Express Lanes Northern Extension (495 NEXT) project, saying Maryland officials first needed to firm up their complementary plans on the other side of the Potomac River.
The supervisor advocated for higher teacher pay and expanding full-day kindergarten countywide and helped obtain funds for widening Route 7.
Foust chairs the Board of Supervisors’ Economic Advisory Commission and Economic Initiatives and Housing committees and is vice chairman of its Budget Policy and Health and Human Services committees. He also represents the board on the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission.
Foust, who will turn 71 in September, made an unsuccessful bid for higher office in 2014 when he lost to then-Del. Barbara Comstock (R) in a bid to succeed retiring longtime U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th).
Born in Johnstown, Pa., Foust recalled working on a Christmas tree farm, in steel mills and on railroad tracks.
Foust graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh in 1973. In 1976, he received a master’s in business administration from West Virginia College of Graduate Studies and earned a law degree from George Washington University in 1981.
Foust also graduated from the University of Virginia’s Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership in 1998.
He married his wife, Marilyn Jerome, in 1984. They have two sons, Matthew and Patrick.
Foust previously served as president of the McLean Planning Committee and chairman of the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council’s Legislative Committee, Chain Bridge District of the Boy Scouts of America and the advocacy committee of Fairfax County’s Medical Care for Children Partnership.