Days after Election Day in Virginia, incumbent Loudoun County Commonwealth’s Attorney Buta Biberaj has conceded to challenger Bob Anderson.
The county’s election office certified the results on Tuesday with the final tally of 68,068 votes for Anderson and 67,768 for Biberaj.
“After counting more than 136,000 votes, we were short 300,” said Biberaj during a news conference Wednesday outside the Leesburg courthouse. “That is less than one quarter of 1% of all the ballots submitted.”
The results of the race are close enough for her to request a recount under Virginia law, but Biberaj said she will not pursue one “in order to conserve the taxpayer funds, as well as to expand the transition period better serve the people of Loudoun County.”
Biberaj became the first woman to be elected as the county’s top prosecutor when she won four years ago.
Calling it an “honor of my life” to serve the county, she said she was proud of her service.
Biberaj touted her office’s ability to reduce “mass incarceration without increasing recidivism,” and said violent crime in the county is down 31%.
“Loudoun remains one of the safest places to raise a family. We have laid the groundwork for continued progress for years to come,” she said.
Biberaj has been criticized for prosecuting a father of a Loudoun County rape victim. Gov. Glenn Youngkin later pardoned that father. She was also criticized for the decision to stop trying certain misdemeanor crimes in January of this year.
In a tweet, Anderson, who was the county’s commonwealth’s attorney from 1996 to 2003, said, “I am ready to get to work restoring transparency to the office and to deliver on my promise to protect our community from violent crime.”
Biberaj said that her next steps is to ensure a smooth transition in the county commonwealth’s office. “That’s my sole focus at this moment.”
WTOP’s Thomas Robertson contributed to this report.
