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Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephen Descano is facing a forceful rebuke from a former federal prosecutor who extensively criticized his record after announcing her bid to unseat him.
Descano, a Democrat, has faced criticism over what opponents describe as lenient prosecutorial decisions, particularly in serious cases involving illegal immigrant suspects. Former federal prosecutor Brittany Dunn-Pirio said that if there weren’t systemic problems in his office, she would want to work there.
“If this office were doing its job, I wouldn’t be running against it. I’d be applying to work for it. But it isn’t,” Dunn-Pirio said on her new campaign website after Washington, D.C.-area media reported her bid late Wednesday.
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“I’m a Democrat. This race isn’t about whether reform was right. It’s about whether the office can tell the difference between a first-time nonviolent offender who deserves a second chance and a violent or sexual offender who doesn’t,” Dunn-Pirio said on her website.
“It’s about whether deadlines are met, evidence is given to the defendant, and victims are spoken to.”
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Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, left, and Fairfax County Sheriff Stacey Ann Kincaid, right, testify before Congress. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
Digital reached out to Descano and Dunn-Pirio for further comment.
Descano campaign spokesman Nathan Kiker defended the incumbent’s record, telling Digital that “Steve Descano has spent his tenure proving that you can reform the justice system and keep our community safe at the same time.”
“Today, Fairfax County is recognized as the safest large county in the nation because Steve focused on accountability and the root causes of crime rather than failed policies of the past. We are proud to put that record before the voters,” Kiker said.
Dunn-Pirio also pointed to “botched sexual assault cases” and prosecutors declining to meet with victims, along with her contention that the justice system too often favors the “well-connected.”
One case that has drawn scrutiny of Descano’s office involves Abdul Jalloh, an illegal immigrant from Sierra Leone charged with murdering Stephanie Minter. Minter was stabbed and killed at a Hybla Valley bus stop in February after Jalloh had cycled through the criminal justice system following numerous previous arrests.
Descano has pushed back on claims that his office simply allowed Jalloh to walk free, telling Congress his prosecutors obtained convictions against him “wherever possible.”
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Nine of the illegal immigrants charged with serious crimes in Fairfax County in 2026, left to right from top: Juan Arevalo Mendez, Moises Domingo Rico Rosales, Cristian Wilfredo Alvarenga Aguilar, Walvin Victor Hugo Garcia, Roni Mendez-Escobar, Israel Christopher Flores-Ortiz, Misael Lopez Gomez, Maldin Anibal Guzman-Videz, Luis Alonzo Sort-Portillo. (DHS)
Dunn-Pirio previously served as a prosecutor in Frederick County, Virginia, and as a federal prosecutor in the district covering Lexington, Kentucky. She said she resigned from the DOJ in 2025 after working on COVID-related fraud and similar cases.
“I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct,” she said, according to a release obtained by FairfaxNow.
She also said Descano’s office has spent too much time “failing the people I care about.”
A carousel on her new campaign website highlights cases that have drawn public scrutiny of Descano, including:
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“We need a Commonwealth’s Attorney who can make this office work,” Dunn-Pirio said. “Every person in Fairfax should feel safe, and every person in Fairfax should be able to trust the office that’s supposed to protect them.”
Descano’s campaign did not immediately respond to an additional request for comment on Dunn-Pirio’s criticism.
Dunn-Pirio, most recently an associate at the civil litigation firm Harman, Claytor, Corrigan & Wellman, served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Kentucky for two years before resigning in November 2025. At the Justice Department, she specialized in COVID relief fraud and public corruption cases, according to her LinkedIn profile.
“Most recently I was a federal prosecutor, and I resigned from the Justice Department because I couldn’t stomach propping up a system that gave pardons to the well-connected while prosecuting average Americans for the same conduct,” Dunn-Pirio said.
Before becoming a federal prosecutor in 2023, Dunn-Pirio served as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Frederick County, an assistant attorney general in the state criminal appeals courts and a law clerk to Judge Randy Bellows in Fairfax County Circuit Court.
Dunn-Pirio emphasized that she is a “cradle Democrat,” distinguishing her candidacy from a challenge to Descano from the political right.
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She said she volunteered for former Vice President Al Gore at age nine, helped lead the College Democrats at the University of Notre Dame, remains active in local Democratic groups and previously managed a campaign for Virginia Del. Marcus Simon, D-Falls Church.
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Republicans hold only one seat on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, while Democrats hold the remaining seats. Dunn-Pirio’s challenge to Descano will be decided first in the Democratic nomination contest ahead of the 2027 election.
