Government and politics

The county is governed by a five-person County Board; members are elected at-large on staggered four-year terms. They appoint a county manager, who is the chief executive of the County Government. Like all Virginia counties, Arlington has five elected constitutional officers: a clerk of court, a commissioner of revenue, a commonwealth's attorney, a sheriff, and a treasurer. The budget for fiscal year 2009 was $1.177 billion.^[66]
For the last two decades, Arlington has been a Democratic stronghold at nearly all levels of government.^[67] However, during a special election in April 2014, a Republican running as an independent, John Vihstadt, captured a County Board seat, defeating Democrat Alan Howze 57% to 41%; he became the first non-Democratic board member in fifteen years.^[68] This was in large part a voter response to plans to raise property taxes to fund several large projects, including a streetcar and an aquatics center. County Board Member Libby Garvey, in April 2014, resigned from the Arlington Democratic Committee after supporting Vihstadt's campaign over Howze's.^[69] Eight months later, in November's general election, Vihstadt won a full term; winning by 56% to 44%.^[70] This is the first time since 1983 that a non-Democrat won a County Board general election.^[71]
In 2009, Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell won Virginia by a 59% to 41% margin, but Arlington voted 66% to 34% for Democratic State Senator Creigh Deeds.^[72] Turnout was 42.78%.^[73]

County Board

Position		Name	Party	First Elected
	Chair	Libby Garvey[74]	Democratic	2012
	Vice-Chair	Jay Fisette[75]	Democratic	1998
	Member	John Vihstadt[76]	Independent Republican[77]	2014
	Member	Katie Cristol[78]	Democratic	2015
	Member	Christian Dorsey[79]	Democratic	2015

Constitutional Officers

Position		Name	Party	First Elected
	Clerk of the Circuit Court	Paul Ferguson[80]	Democratic	2007
	Commissioner of Revenue	Ingrid Morroy[81]	Democratic	2003
	Commonwealth's Attorney	Theo Stamos[82]	Democratic	2011
	Sheriff	Beth Arthur[83]	Democratic	2000
	Treasurer	Carla de la Pava[84]	Democratic	2014

Arlington elects four members of the Virginia House of Delegates and two members of the Virginia State Senate. State Senators are elected for four-year terms, while Delegates are elected for two-year terms.
In the Virginia State Senate, Arlington is split between the 30th and 31st districts, represented by Adam Ebbin and Barbara Favola , respectively. In the Virginia House of Delegates, Arlington is divided between the 45th, 46th, 47th, 48th districts, represented by Rob Krupicka, Patrick Hope, Rip Sullivan, and Alfonso Lopez, respectively. All are Democrats.
At the federal level, Arlington was once a GOP stronghold, supporting the Republican candidate in every election, but one, from 1948 to 1980. However, in 1984, it supported Democrat Walter Mondale, despite Republican Ronald Reagan's electoral landslide. It has gone Democratic in every presidential election since then. In fact, in 2016, Republican candidate Donald Trump received the fewest number of raw votes in the county since Adlai Stevenson in 1956. Arlington is part of Virginia's 8th congressional district, represented by Democrat Don Beyer.
The United States Postal Service designates zip codes starting with "222" for exclusive use in Arlington County. However, federal institutions, like Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and The Pentagon use Washington zip codes.