One year into President Trump’s second term, a sampling of voters in Fauquier County said they are pleased with his accomplishments, yet some question his priorities.
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This Northern Va. county backed Trump again. How do voters feel now?
One year into President Donald Trump’s second term, a sampling of voters in Fauquier County, Virginia — where approximately 60% backed Trump in the 2024 election — are pleased with his accomplishments, yet some question Trump’s priorities.
During WTOP’s Friday visit at the Old Salem Cafe in Marshall, Virginia, a majority of those willing to pause between bites of omelets and hash browns, and sips of hot coffee, expressed satisfaction with Trump’s performance.
“We’re primarily a country farming county, although there’s been some urban sprawl,” said Oliver, a military veteran born in Belfast, Ireland, who lived most of his adult life in Fauquier County. “We’re an old school farming community out here — we like it that way.”
Located about 45 miles from the White House, Fauquier County was the closest Virginia county to support Trump, a Republican, in the November 2024 election, while Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties, as well as the City of Alexandria, voted for Kamala Harris, a Democrat.
The economy
“It’s getting better,” said Abigail, as she strained her tea bag, trying to warm herself from the recent stretch of subfreezing temperatures. “I think he’s putting us on a better footing, so that he’s bringing industry back to the United States and making it so we’re not so dependent on other countries.”
Oliver acknowledged Trump’s reelection didn’t quickly affect what he pays at the grocery store.
“Change doesn’t happen overnight. You know, with our president, he’s only one man. He has to deal with the Senate and the House,” he said.
An area firefighter, who waiting for his order of country fried steak and eggs, was asked what was important to him when he cast his ballot in 2024: “The no tax on overtime was very appealing,” he said.
However, in 2026, “It’s hard to afford to live. You’ve got to work four jobs. I’ve seen a 16.8% increase on my property taxes.”
After years in the auto business, and now as a first responder, “Firefighters aren’t making enough money,” he said. “I don’t know if that’s Trump, specifically, but I know there was a lot of promises and I don’t know if they’ve all been fully realized.”
Immigration
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2019-2023 data, 8.7% of Fauquier County’s population is foreign born.
For Abigail, “getting rid of these people that have sexually assaulted people,” and committed “homicide, burglary, child neglect, domestic violence,” was her top priority.
From the Trump administration’s push to remove criminals in the U.S. illegally to the ongoing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement presence in cities including Minneapolis, Oliver thinks the criticism is unfair.
“I’ve been in this country long enough to remember the left cheering when Clinton sent ICE to deport Elián González back to Cuba, and everyone was cheering. But now that it’s the other side doing everything, ‘Oh, it’s terrible,’” he said, referring to the former President Bill Clinton.
Federal job cuts
After ordering his breakfast while sitting on a counter stool, a man who voted for Harris, because “I was just trying to avoid Trump,” said the mass federal job cuts affected more than just federal employees.
“It’s difficult anymore to get assistance through the Veterans Administration programs, nobody answers the phones. It’s difficult for friends to sign up for Social Security. Nobody answers the phones.”
The firefighter empathizes with those who lost their jobs.
“It’s devastating for a lot of people that went to college, like me, I have two bachelor’s degrees,” he said. “And my friend who lost her job, she’s very smart, and just lost her job (with U.S. AID) because it was not in the funding anymore.”
Referring to his friend who lost her job, and her husband, “They’re great friends, great neighbors and they had to completely reestablish themselves.”
Foreign affairs
With President Donald Trump’s goal of quickly ending Ukraine’s war with Russia, as well as using military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling votes from Venezuela, Abigail believes U.S. involvement “is always important.”
“Like with Greenland, we don’t want to just take over a country, or something,” she said. “Russia and China have opened up shipping lanes there, they could establish a base there. Putin’s got hypersonic missiles, if they set up a base on Greenland, they could hit the United States.”
In principle, Oliver doesn’t support the U.S. intervention: “I think you get your own house in order before you start telling other people how to live their lives.”
The diner who voted against Trump described a discussion with a person in Cuba, during a recent trip. “They said, ‘We never know what he’s going to do. He’ll do one thing in the morning, and another thing at night.’”
Renaming the Kennedy Center
“I think it’s a little silly,” said Abigail. “But apparently the place was a dump and it was falling apart and it was bankrupt.”
The bankruptcy claim was made by the administration, after the president fired several existing Kennedy Center board members and replaced them with loyalists who elected Trump as chairman of the board.
Oliver isn’t a fan of the renaming, either.
“I think it’s unnecessary. I’m not a big Trump fan. He is a fatuous egotist,” Oliver said. “However, sometimes that is exactly what you need as a country. We’ve gotten so soft.”
The anti-Trump voter joked, “I think he’s going to put his name on the Lincoln Memorial next.”
“It doesn’t affect me personally,” said the firefighter. “I took my wife to the Kennedy Center to see an opera, and we had a great time, but that was three years ago and I haven’t been back to D.C. since.”
Federal law surge in DC
On the topic of Trump’s federal law enforcement surge in the nation’s capital, including National Guard members from several states, Oliver was unequivocal.
“It was the safest D.C. has been in decades,” he said.
Asked if he visited the nation’s capital more during the law enforcement surge, he said, “Oh, I don’t do District. It’s not safe. Draconian firearms laws, rampant crime.”
Life in Fauquier County is different, he suggested. “You walk around here with a bag and a sign that says ‘carrying money,’ people will offer you a ride to where you’re going so you won’t get robbed.”
The firefighter, whose last trip to the District was his visit to the Kennedy Center three years ago, said he wasn’t affected by the law enforcement surge.
“I have zero interest in wasting a day sitting in traffic, or possibly getting mugged, or deported,” he joked.
What does the future hold
Abigail thinks the economy and affordability will continue to improve under Trump. “You can’t push a button and make it happen,” she said. “Nobody can do that.”
Oliver fears that political divisiveness, both on Capitol Hill, and in society, will make it more difficult than necessary for the president’s agenda to be implemented: “Anything that comes from him is immediately a bad idea, no matter who it benefits, or who it takes away from, simply because it’s from him.”
“I don’t really watch the news,” said the firefighter. “I just know what comes out of my paycheck and what I don’t see.”
The Fauquier County diner who voted against Trump said he isn’t sure what the future holds.
“You know, we’ve got to live through this,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
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