The chairwoman of the Loudoun County, Virginia board of supervisors criticized murdered political activist Charlie Kirk while expressing compassion for his family during roundtable remarks at September’s meeting.

Loudoun, about 30 miles west of Washington, is a formerly-Republican bastion that has swung hard to the left and become ground-zero in recent election seasons as a prominent site for culture war battles – including transgender school restroom policies that have marked the 2021 and 2025 statewide contests.

Several members of the Democratic-majority board spoke during their monthly public huddle in Leesburg, offering differing remembrances of Kirk, who was murdered during one of his famous collegiate speaking engagements.

Chairwoman Phyllis Randall, an at-large Democrat, said Wednesday that as a therapist by-trade, she understands people can hold more than one emotion at a time and the «wonderful complexity of humanity.»

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«Obviously, no person should be gunned down. No person should be murdered. Not kids in schools, not lawmakers in their homes, not political antagonists,» she said.

«At the same time, I don’t feel the need to sugarcoat or ignore or gloss over some of the behavior that Mr. Kirk, himself, engaged in while he was living … A death, even a horrible death, does not automatically erase the harm a person did in his life. In my opinion, Charlie Kirk engaged in promoting political violence and division.»

EXPERTS WARN LEFTIST CELEBRATIONS OF CHARLIE KIRK’S DEATH SIGNAL A DANGEROUS MAINSTREAM SHIFT IN POLITICS

«While I hold empathy for Mr. Kirk — In fact, I hold empathy and compassion for our entire nation right now. And I pray for our nation as a person of faith … God understands that I’m struggling with these feelings,» she said.

She reiterated that Kirk should not have been murdered but that while in life, Kirk «pressed against my community.»

Randall, who is Black, alleged Kirk also «put many communities in increased danger.»

TA-NEHISI COATES CALLS CHARLIE KIRK A ‘HATEMONGER’ WHO SHOULDN’T BE CELEBRATED

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Phyllis Randall speaks at IAD in 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Supervisor Caleb Kerschner of Hamilton, one of two Republicans on the board, said in his public remarks that the nation hadn’t seen a political figure murdered so publicly since the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Kennedy brothers.

«What makes it even more chilling is it appears to be done in political ideological reasons: Something we would see in other countries, but not America,» Kerschner said.

Kerschner added that the most disturbing development following Kirk’s murder has been «internet trolls and radical individuals» celebrating the killing.

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«It is one thing to oppose and argue the ideology of someone you disagree with. It is quite another to promote violence towards such individuals. America was built on the principles of freedom of thought, freedom of speech, freedom of debate, and individual liberty. No one can deny or disagree that Charlie lived by this and openly encouraged discourse from any who would engage,» he said.

The board’s vice chairman, Michael Turner, a Democrat from Ashburn, echoed Kerschner in recounting growing up in the 1960s when political violence was last at its peak.

«We are in a tit-for-tat across the board at every level of our society for hatred,» said Turner. 

In the wake of Kirk’s murder, he said he wants to be more understanding of opposing views. 

«I have a friend who’s a MAGA — he is a friend, but he’s a MAGA — I don’t quite know how to reconcile that, but I do every day because he’s a friend,» he said.

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Past government shutdowns have been more political theater than economic shock, with markets and jobs bouncing back quickly.

This time, though, President Donald Trump‘s warning that some furloughed workers may not return to their jobs raises the stakes, turning a routine disruption into a threat to an already fragile labor market.

If Trump carries out that threat, it would almost certainly face an immediate court challenge. But if it stands, a shutdown usually dismissed as partisan brinkmanship rather than financial disruption could deliver lasting economic consequences. 

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Robert Conzo, CEO and managing director at The Wealth Alliance, a financial advisory firm, said that such a move would mark uncharted territory.

«If the U.S. federal government dismisses workers instead of furloughing them, I believe the labor market may see a shock with a higher unemployment rate and initial jobless claims,» Conzo told Fox News Digital.

«The big question to me is whether Trump is using this as a headline negotiation tactic or as a turning point to lower federal spending in the future. I believe using a government shutdown to dismiss federal workers would be unprecedented and face a myriad of questions. Federal workers typically are covered by civil service protections, as such, they need to be dismissed with cause,» he added.

The government is set to shut down at 12:01 a.m. ET on Wednesday if Congress fails to approve a funding extension. A shutdown requires federal agencies to send home workers in roles that are not considered essential. These furloughs are temporary; once Congress resolves the standoff, employees are brought back and receive back pay. 

Each week of a shutdown trims about 0.2% from U.S. economic growth, though that loss is typically recouped once federal workers return and agencies reopen.

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The job market is already on shaky ground. The Washington, D.C. area, home to a large share of federal workers, has been hit especially hard after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory board pushed for layoffs earlier this year.

Asked how many federal workers could be laid off, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, «We may do a lot,» placing the blame squarely on Democrats for the stalemate.

President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media on the South Lawn of the White House before boarding Marine One in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025. (Francis Chung/Politico/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The Trump administration is preparing to oversee what could be the largest mass resignation in U.S. history, with more than 100,000 federal employees scheduled to leave under its deferred resignation program. 

At the same time, federal agencies have drafted plans for sweeping layoffs if lawmakers fail to strike a deal, raising the stakes for a workforce already bracing for upheaval.

And the timing couldn’t be worse: those workers are stepping into a job market that has been losing momentum, with unemployment rising to 4.3% in August — the highest since 2021.

The weak August report came on the heels of another soft reading in July, which prompted Trump to fire the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Erika McEntarfer. Her removal came hours after the agency released new data showing that job growth had been significantly overstated. The bureau revised its May and June figures downward by 258,000 jobs, marking an unusually large correction that drew sharp criticism from Trump.

WHITE HOUSE SLAMS 911K JOBS REVISION, THE LARGEST ON RECORD, DEMANDS FED RATE CUT

The latest BLS revisions now suggest earlier reports overstated employment by more than 900,000 jobs. The adjustment, the largest correction on record and at the higher end of Wall Street forecasts, comes as Trump intensifies pressure on the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates to prop up growth.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talks to reporters following the regular Federal Open Market Committee meetings at the Fed on July 30, 2025, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Against that backdrop, the threat of a government shutdown looms large. Analysts warn that sidelining federal workers could add another layer of strain to a labor market already showing cracks.

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Brian Mulberry, senior portfolio manager at Zacks Investment Management, told Fox News Digital as many as 100,000 jobs could be at risk if a shutdown occurs, with Washington-area workers hit hardest.

Still, he noted the broader economic effect may be muted: 

«Would losing 100,000 federal workers move the unemployment rate higher? The answer is no,» Mulberry said, estimating that it would add just 0.06 percentage points if private-sector hiring failed to offset the losses.