In Virginia, Boards of Supervisors govern counties and members are elected to four-year terms.  Among other duties, they oversee the county budget, set tax rates, and approve zoning regulations. Louisa County’s Board of Supervisors has seven members, one for each district. This year, four of the seven are up for reelection. 

In the Louisa County’s Mountain Road District, incumbent Tommy Barlow is running against John Trammell. This is the first time Barlow has been challenged, having won this district unopposed four times since 2009. Both Barlow and Trammell are running as independents. 

Charlottesville Tomorrow designed a questionnaire for the candidates based on more than 160 responses we received to a voter survey. Only Trammell responded. 

Responses have been lightly edited and fact checked by a Charlottesville Tomorrow reporter.

Louisa County residents who responded to our voter survey were overwhelmingly concerned with the construction of data centers in the county. So we are devoting our first four questions to data centers. The first is fairly basic: What is your perspective on the presence and growth of data centers in Louisa County?

John “Jack” K Trammell: Louisa County is an attractive place for larger businesses due to low energy costs, availability of large tracts of land, existing tax incentives, increasing connectivity, and the geographic location along Interstate I-64 between Richmond and Charlottesville. But there should be extreme caution exercised before opening the floodgates to big business without the guardrails being in place. I am opposed to additional data centers, for example, until more care and leadership are exercised in considering the consequences of the two data centers that have already been approved.

Tommy Barlow: Did not respond.

What is your perspective on the economic impact of data centers in Louisa County?

Trammell: I believe the impact has been overstated. Many of the jobs are temporary and filled by people who already work for the big companies in question. After setting things up, they leave for the next one. And if we reduce their taxes further, and balance that with our infrastructure costs, it’s not an economic sweetheart deal at all.

Barlow: Did not respond.

How do you view the potential impact of data centers on local water, electricity, farmland and the environment? And do you see any ways of mitigating any negative impacts?

Trammell: I already have seen enough anecdotal and hard data to see the underappreciated impact. We will pay more for electricity; there is erosion and watershed damage at sites; there will be only difficult ways to mitigate this, such as asking companies to address this retroactively.

Barlow: Did not respond.

What is your perspective on how the county currently approves or rejects data center projects and how community input is considered in those decisions?

Trammell: The community has spoken; and the board is starting (kind of) to listen. We need more transparency and community participation before ANY new center is contemplated.

Barlow: Did not respond.

In the last decade, Louisa County’s population has grown significantly — and that population growth continues as folks are priced out of larger metro areas and move out into the counties. How do you think the county should handle this growth?

Trammell: Many words come to mind when you talk about economic development in a border county (between Charlottesville and the Richmond metro area) like Louisa County: sustainable; controlled; sensible; equitable; forward-looking; community-based; consensus-built; community-planned; collaborative; and environmentally-sound. Louisa County already is naturally attractive to both big and small businesses. Our job as supervisors is to ensure that it is done in the ways just described above. On the small business side, the Mountain Road District is already home to many small business entrepreneurs — particularly agricultural entrepreneurs such as winemakers, fresh produce cultivators, flower farms, organic meat and egg producers, wild-game processors, tree farms, etc. And if elected, I would push for greater incentives to keep those small businesses growing — tax breaks; road improvements; excellent schools; continued improvement of technology infrastructure; and farm to table initiatives.

Barlow: Did not respond.

Many Louisa County residents also expressed concerns about the county’s infrastructure: roads, water and sewer, for example. Do you see issues you’d like to help improve in the county’s infrastructure? If so, how would you go about it?

Trammell: When Louisa County ran city water lines out the reservoir, that was FORWARD looking. When they increased tractor trailer traffic on [U.S. Route] 522 by encouraging certain businesses*, that was BACKWARDS looking. I would move slowly, look further into the future than we currently do, and listen to our residents who are telling us what they think about our infrastructure.

Barlow: Did not respond.

*Editor’s note: In response to a follow-up question from Charlottesville Tomorrow, Trammell clarified the following: “Venezia has over 700 big rigs, and they have an approved refueling spot in Culpeper right before the turn on 522 through Louisa County. Several dozens come every day.”

Several Louisa County residents expressed concerns about the school system, including paying teachers a living wage and providing adequate educational opportunities for students. As a supervisor, how would you balance the funding needs of the local school system against other priorities?

Trammell: Schools are top priority. We have great schools… But they need nurturing and official support. Cutting community college aid, and refusing to pay teachers a living wage is a leadership mistake.

Barlow: Did not respond.

What do you think about local law enforcement working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement?

Trammell: I think Louisa law enforcement should police in a way consistent with how they know the community.

Barlow: Did not respond.

Like many areas in central Virginia, Louisa County has and could face challenges from severe weather events, including heavy rainstorms and prolonged droughts that climate scientists predict will become more frequent in the future. What do you think the county’s Board of Supervisors should do to prepare?

Trammell: They should be replacing culverts with bridges (ex. Route 629) and enhancing emergency preparedness (where is our Louisa alert app??)

Barlow: Did not respond.

Are there any other pressing issues facing Louisa County that you would like voters to be aware of?

Trammell: We should incentivize easements and riparian buffer zones*. Growth is natural under most circumstances, but we can control growth to preserve the heritage and environment that many consider inseparable from what Louisa County is. We should require sensible reforestation. While the easy way might be to cut all the mature hardwoods and replant fast growing pines, is that sustainable over the long run if we want to preserve what has been our natural environment for centuries? The early colonists cut down the Virginia Yellow Pine to extinction — our legacy to the residents in Louisa County should be the opposite. We also have many villages, crossroads, cemeteries and sites that are lost to time. As supervisor, I would champion reclaiming those sites and making them more accessible to everyone. I would go so far as to suggest creating a Louisa Commission to place our own markers, just as the state does.

Barlow: Did not respond.

Editor’s note: A riparian buffer zone is a strip of land with native vegetation, such as trees, shrubs and grasses, located next to a stream, lake or other body of water. These buffers act as a natural filter to improve water quality by preventing pollution and sediment from entering waterways. They also provide wildlife habitat, reduce erosion and can help mitigate flooding.

More about the candidate and issues

• Virginia Public Access Project campaign finance profile: John Trammell
• Virginia Public Access Project campaign finance profile: Tommy Barlow
• Videos of Tommy J. Barlow and John “Jack” K. Trammell at a Louisa County Fair “candidates hour” (Central Virginian, Aug. 5 2025, paywalled)

Here are key dates and deadlines in the 2025 elections

Friday, May 2, 2025	Early voting for primaries begins weekdays at local registrar’s offices.
Tuesday, May 27, 2025	Deadline to register to vote or update an existing registration for the primary election. You can still vote in the primary if you miss this deadline by registering at the polling place and casting a provisional ballot. You do not have to be a member of a political party to vote in that party’s primary election. However, you can only vote in one party’s primary election each year.
Friday, June 6, 2025, 5:00 p.m.	Deadline to apply for your ballot to be mailed to you. Requests must be received by your local registrar’s offices by 5 p.m.
Friday, June 6, 2025, 5:00 p.m.	Deadline to apply online for an absentee ballot using the Citizen Portal.
Saturday, June 7, 2025	Local voter registration offices open on Saturdays for early voting for primaries.
Saturday, June 14, 2025, 5:00 p.m.	Early voting for primaries ends at local registrar’s offices.
Tuesday, June 17, 2025	Primary Election Day!
Friday, Sept. 19 to Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025 5:00 p.m.	Check with your local registrar’s office for early in-person voting.
Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, 5:00 p.m.	Deadline to apply with your local registrar’s office for a ballot to be mailed to you.
Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025	Election Day!

We will update this list periodically as deadlines approach or we receive new information.

Register to vote, check your registration, find your polling places and apply to vote absentee at the Virginia Department of Elections here. Remember, even if you miss registration deadlines, you can register through Election Day and vote using a provisional ballot.

Need to know if you’re eligible to vote? Here are resources from the Virginia Department of Elections.