Catherine M. "Cathy" Hudgins (born 1944) is an American politician who served as a member of the Board of Supervisors for

Fairfax County, Virginia Fairfax County, officially the County of Fairfax, is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is part of Northern Virginia and borders both the city of Alexandria and Arlington County and forms part of the suburban ring of Washington, D.C. ...

, from 1999 to 2019, representing the Hunter Mill district, which includes Reston and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. She is a member of the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

and was the first African American and non-white person elected to the Board of Supervisors.

Political career

Hudgins served as a Virginia national committeewoman on the Democratic National Committee for two terms starting in 1984. She supported

Jesse Jackson Jesse Louis Jackson (né Burns; born October 8, 1941) is an American political activist, Baptist minister, and politician. He was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988 and served as a shadow U.S. senator ...

for president in the 1988 primaries. In 1993, Hudgins was selected as Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board, where she served until 1994. In 1995, she became Chief of Staff for Board of Supervisors Chair

Katherine Hanley Katherine Keith "Kate" Hanley (born March 5, 1943) is an American Democratic politician in Virginia. She currently serves as Secretary of the Fairfax County Electoral Board. She previously served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Virginia from ...

. Hudgins was elected to the Board of Supervisors in November 1999 in an upset. She defeated incumbent Republican supervisor Robert B. Dix, Jr. Dix's share of the vote was split by an independent conservative candidate, John Thoburn, the owner of several Christian private schools and longtime opponent of the Supervisor. In 2003, Hudgins faced Republican J.D. "Doug" Bushee and defeated him 63%–36%. In 2007, Hudgins faced no major party opponents and defeated three independent candidates, including Marie T. Huhtala, a retired career foreign service officer who had previously served as Ambassador to Malaysia from 2001 to 2004. Michael Williams was also an independent, but later ran for office as a Republican and served in county Republican leader. Geraldine A. Butkus appeared on the ballot as an independent but was affiliated with the

Independent Green Party The Independent Greens of Virginia (also known as the Indy Greens) was the state affiliate of the Independence Party of America in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It became a state party around 2003 when a faction of the Arlington local chapter o ...

. In that year's campaign, the major issue was development in the Hunter Mill district, including the construction of high-density residences. In her last two campaigns for reelection, Hudgins was unopposed. In January 2019, she announced she would not run again in that fall's county election. She was succeeded by fellow Democrat Walter L. Alcorn.

Personal life

Born in

Pine Bluff, Arkansas Pine Bluff is the eleventh-largest city in the state of Arkansas and the county seat of Jefferson County. It is the principal city of the Pine Bluff Metropolitan Statistical Area and part of the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Pine Bluff Combin ...

in 1969, Hudgins was married to Willie L. Hudgins, Jr. for 48 years In 1969, the Hudgins family moved to Reston, becoming some of the first residents of the planned community. Hudgins worked for twelve years in the private sector for

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

as a programmer, consultant, and analyst. Willie Hudgins was a lawyer who was at one time section chief and chief litigator for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice and later joined

Kelley Drye & Warren Kelley Drye & Warren LLP is an international law firm founded in 1836 and is one of the oldest firms in the United States. It operates in New York; Washington; Los Angeles; Chicago; Stamford, Connecticut; Parsippany, New Jersey; Houston, Texas; ...

. In April 2013, Cathy Hudgins was diagnosed with noninvasive

breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

Electoral history

References

External links

Fairfax County - Cathy M. Hudgins''Washington Post'' bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudgins, Cathy M. Living people Virginia Democrats Politicians from Pine Bluff, Arkansas Women in Virginia politics African-American people in Virginia politics African-American women in politics People from Reston, Virginia George Mason University alumni University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff alumni Members of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors American computer programmers American women computer scientists American computer scientists AT&T people 1944 births 21st-century Virginia politicians 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century African-American women 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women