Kathleen Kenna Seefeldt (born November 12, 1934) is an

American politician In the United States, politics functions within a framework of a constitutional federal democratic republic with a presidential system. The three distinct branches share powers: Congress, which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legis ...

who served as Chairman of the

Prince William Board of County Supervisors The Prince William Board of County Supervisors is the policy-making body for the government of Prince William County, Virginia Prince William County lies beside the Potomac River in the Commonwealth of Virginia. At the 2020 census, the popul ...

from 1992 to 1999. She is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...

Personal

Born in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

, Seefeldt earned her undergraduate degree from St. Scholastica College (1956) and did graduate work at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

. With Robert A. Seefeldt, her husband, she moved to Prince William County in 1970. They reside in Woodbridge and

Chincoteague, Virginia Chincoteague ( or ) is a town in Accomack County, Virginia, United States. The town includes the whole of Chincoteague Island and an area of adjacent water. The population was 3,344 at the 2020 census. The town is a tourist gateway to the Ch ...

. She is a mother and grandmother who gives stain removal advice and reads for pleasure.

Board of Supervisors

Kathleen Seefeldt was first elected to the

in 1975, and served as the Occoquan

District A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Supervisor from 1976 to 1991. In 1991, she was elected the first at-large Chairman of the Board. Previously, the Chairman had been elected by the Board from among its membership. When Seefeldt took office as Chairman in 1992, she assumed the Board's eighth seat, the first time the Board had grown since it was enlarged to seven Supervisors in 1967. During her tenure on the Board, she was a fairly strong advocate for greater growth and development in the County, which was still very rural when she first entered office in 1976. She was instrumental in the construction of the

Prince William Parkway The Prince William Parkway is a road in Prince William County, Virginia. The road carries two designations. Starting in the east at the intersection with U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Woodbridge to the west until intersecting with Dumfries Ro ...

, a stretch of which bears her name. The Parkway, begun in 1990, provided a major arterial thoroughfare connecting the county's eastern and western ends, beginning at

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, north to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the ...

near

Woodbridge Woodbridge may refer to: Places Australia *Woodbridge, Western Australia formerly called ''West Midland'' *Woodbridge, Tasmania Canada *Woodbridge, Ontario England *Woodbridge, Suffolk, the location of **Woodbridge (UK Parliament constituency ...

and continuing on through

Dale City Dale City is a census-designated place (CDP) in Prince William County, Virginia, United States, located south west of Washington, D.C. It is an annex of Woodbridge, Virginia. As of 2020, the total population was 72,088. The community is roug ...

Manassas Manassas (), formerly Manassas Junction, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. The population was 42,772 at the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Prince William County, although the two are separate jurisdi ...

. Later additions to the Parkway included an eastern extension providing a link-up with

US Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, ma ...

and a western extension that connected with

Interstate 66 Interstate 66 (I-66) is a 76.32 mile east–west Interstate Highway in the East Coast of the United States, eastern United States. The highway runs from an interchange with Interstate 81 in Virginia, I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its w ...

and those parts of the county west of Manassas. In 1988, Seefeldt became involved in a battle between the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

and real estate development compan
Hazel/Peterson
over the proposed construction of a large, regional shopping mall near the

Manassas National Battlefield Park Manassas National Battlefield Park is a unit of the National Park Service located in Prince William County, Virginia, north of Manassas that preserves the site of two major American Civil War battles: the First Battle of Bull Run, also calle ...

. Seefeldt expressed concerns over the environmental and traffic impact of the proposed development, but supported the mall as a strong economic development tool, one that might compete with the large, popular, and profitable

Tysons Corner Center Tysons Corner Center is a large shopping mall in the unincorporated area of Tysons in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States (between McLean and Vienna, Virginia). It opened to the public in 1968, becoming one of the first fully enclosed, clim ...

in neighboring

Fairfax County Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. With a population of 1,150,309 as of the 2020 census, it is the most populous county in Virginia, the most populous jurisdiction in the Washington ...

. Relations between Seefeldt and the Park Service soon deteriorated over longstanding county government concerns regarding the Park Service's stewardship of the Manassas Battlefield and the Park Service's opposition to the new mall. Ultimately, the mall was never built. Mrs. Seefeldt lost reelection to a third term in 1999 to Republican Sean Connaughton who successfully targeted her as the architect of the County's burgeoning growth. Development that was once welcome had brought greater traffic and placed a strain on county services, fueling voter disenchantment in a historic election; the Democrats lost control of the

Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...

for the first time in a century. In Prince William County, once the Democrats' bastion in

Northern Virginia Northern Virginia, locally referred to as NOVA or NoVA, comprises several County (United States), counties and independent city (United States), independent cities in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. ...

, the

County Sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland, the , which is commonly ...

Commonwealth's Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

, and two members of the Board of Supervisors were the only Democrats left in County Government. Seefeldt was the last Democrat to chair Prince William County's government, despite the county's gradual and increasing return to the Democratic fold in presidential and gubernatorial elections until Ann Wheeler twenty years later won in the

2019 Virginia elections The 2019 Virginia elections took place on November 5, 2019. All 40 seats of the Senate of Virginia and 100 seats in the Virginia House of Delegates were up for re-election, as were many local offices. As of June 30, 2018, incumbents in both par ...

a Democratic Party majority of 5-3 on the County Board—the first time since Seefeldt's departure that Democrats held a majority on the governing board of Virginia's third largest local government.

Prince William Parkway

In April 2001, a portion of the

was dedicated as the "Kathleen K. Seefeldt Parkway". The portion named after Seefeldt stretches from I-95 to the intersection of Liberia and Fairview Avenues near Manassas; this segment is the original Parkway and was completed entirely during Seefeldt's tenure as Chairman. Mrs. Seefeldt was a key force in securing the parkway, and its unusual (for Virginia), mix of local with state financing. Stone monuments to Seefeldt can be found at the intersection of the Parkway and Davis Ford Road (no longer an arterial road) and again at the intersection of the Parkway and the border with the City of Manassas.

Other public service, politics

*1986 Governor

Gerald Baliles Gerald Lee Baliles (July 8, 1940 – October 29, 2019) was an American lawyer and Democratic politician from the Commonwealth of Virginia whose career spanned great social and technological changes in his native state. The 65th Governor of V ...

appointed her to the Commission on Transportation *1990 Governor

Doug Wilder Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction ...

appointed her to the Virginia Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations *1992 Joined the Transportation Coordinating Council for Northern Virginia and was a member of its executive committee *1996–1998 Western Transportation Corridor MIS Policy Advisory Committee *1998 Joined the Northern Virginia 2020 Transportation Plan Policy Advisory Committee *1999

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

– National Capital Region Congestion and Mobility Task Force *1992–1999 represented the County on the

Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG) is an independent, nonprofit association designed to address regional issues confronting Washington, D.C., suburban Maryland, and Northern Virginia. It was founded in 1957. MWCOG comprises 24 ...

’ Transportation Planning Board *1985 Joined Virginia Association of Counties

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

*1992 Elected president, Virginia Association of Counties *1999 Elected as vice chairman of the Virginia Municipal League’s Legislative Committee and Transportation Policy Committee *1998–1999 Chairman of the

Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission OmniRide is a public transit service in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., serving 3 counties and 3 independent cities along the Potomac and Rappahannock rivers. OmniRide service is provided by the Potomac and Rappahannock Tra ...

*2003–2007 Chairman of Virginia's Commission on Local Government under

governors A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th gove ...

and

Tim Kaine Timothy Michael Kaine ( ; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...

. *2006–2008 Board of Supervisors appointed her to the County's Future Commission 2030. The board adopted their report in early in 2008. *2008

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...

Virginia Women’s Steering Committee

Civic and community organizations

Chambers of Commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to adv ...

Girl Scouts of the USA Girl Scouts of the United States of America (GSUSA), commonly referred to as Girl Scouts, is a youth organization for girls in the United States and American girls living abroad. It was founded by Juliette Gordon Low in 1912, a year after she ...

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du&nbs ...

American Heart Association The American Heart Association (AHA) is a nonprofit organization in the United States that funds cardiovascular medical research, educates consumers on healthy living and fosters appropriate Heart, cardiac care in an effort to reduce disability ...

*Prince William Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs

Awards and commendations

* Prince William Chamber of Commerce Community Service Award *Potomac News Citizen of the Year *Woodbridge

Soroptimist Soroptimist International (SI) , founded in 1921, is a global volunteer service for women with almost 66,000 members in 118 countries worldwide. Soroptimist International also offers Associate Membership and E-Clubs. Soroptimist International h ...

s Woman of the Year *several distinguished public service recognitions

References

External links

VDOT Woes Cause Worry About Local Projects, Prince William and Fairfax Parkways
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seefeldt, Kathleen Boston University alumni County supervisors in Virginia Living people People from Woodbridge, Virginia College of St. Scholastica alumni Virginia Democrats Women in Virginia politics People from Chincoteague, Virginia 1934 births 21st-century American women