Phyllis Joycelyn Randall (born )
is an American politician and mental-health therapist. 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 ...
, she is chair
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
of the
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors
Loudoun () is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the remainder o ...
,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
, and the first
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
woman to chair a county board in Virginia. She was also the defendant in a notable 2019 lawsuit, ''Davison v. Randall'', in which the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...
ruled that the
First Amendment
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
precludes government officials from
blocking constituents on official government
social media
Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...
accounts.
Biography
Randall grew up in Denver and moved to
Ashburn, Virginia
Ashburn is a unincorporated settlement and census-designated place (CDP) in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 46,349, up from 3,393 in 1990. It is northwest of Washington, D.C., and par ...
from Colorado in the early 1990s.
She began her career as a
mental health counselor A mental health counselor (MHC), or counselor (counsellor in British English), is a person who works with individuals and groups to promote optimum mental and emotional health. Such persons may help individuals deal with issues associated with add ...
,
working with juvenile and adult offenders both in and outside of incarceration.
Governor
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 ...
, 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 ...
, appointed her chair of the Virginia Fair Housing Board, a role she continued in under
Republican Governor
Bob McDonnell
Robert Francis McDonnell (born June 15, 1954) is an American politician, attorney, businessman, academic administrator, and former military officer who served as the 71st governor of Virginia from 2010 to 2014. He is a member of the Republica ...
.
Democratic Governor
Terry McAuliffe
Terence Richard McAuliffe (born February 9, 1957) is an American businessman and politician who served as the List of governors of Virginia, 72nd governor of Virginia from 2014 to 2018. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...
appointed her chair of the State Board of Corrections.
Randall ran unsuccessfully for
Loudoun County school board in 2003 and for district supervisor in 2007 before being elected chair
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather tha ...
in 2015.
In the four-way race that year, Randall defeated the incumbent Scott York as well as the other challengers, winning with 37% of the vote. Her election made Randall the first African American woman in Virginia’s history to be an elected chair of a county board, as well as becoming one of the first two African Americans to serve on the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, along with Sterling District Supervisor Koran Saines.
She was re-elected in 2019, overseeing a growing jurisdiction which by 2019 had 413,000 residents.
With 56% of the vote, she defeated Republican
John Whitbeck, despite Whitbeck fundraising more than $950,000 to Randall’s $616,000 in the last reporting period before the election.
Also in 2019, Randall was the
defendant
In court proceedings, a defendant is a person or object who is the party either accused of committing a crime in criminal prosecution or against whom some type of civil relief is being sought in a civil case.
Terminology varies from one juris ...
in a lawsuit, ''Davison v. Randall'', that established public officials may not block constituents on government social media accounts, as a matter of
First Amendment
First most commonly refers to:
* First, the ordinal form of the number 1
First or 1st may also refer to:
Acronyms
* Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array
* Far Infrared a ...
rights. The
United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (in case citations, 4th Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court located in Richmond, Virginia, with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district cou ...
decision found that Randall had converted her
Facebook
Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...
page into a public forum by inviting, in a post she wrote, “ANY Loudoun citizen on ANY issues, request, criticism, complement or just your thoughts” as well as encouraging constituents to use her “county Facebook page” to contact her.
Consequently, the court said, when she deleted a critical post alleging corruption by the county board and blocked its author, she violated the poster’s First Amendment rights.
Randall tried to justify her actions by claiming her Facebook page was "private" despite using her government-paid chief of staff to administer the page. The case drew particular attention because at the time US President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
was also blocking critics on social media.
Randall lives in
Lansdowne, Virginia
Lansdowne is a census-designated place and planned community located near Leesburg, Virginia in Loudoun County, Virginia. The population as of the 2010 United States Census was 11,253.
It is north of State Route 7 and south of the Potomac River ...
.
She is married with two children.
Electoral history
References
External links
Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Randall, Phyllis J.
Virginia Democrats
People from Loudoun County, Virginia
Politicians from Denver
African-American people in Virginia politics
1960s births
Living people
21st-century African-American people
20th-century African-American people
County supervisors in Virginia