Janet Oleszek

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Janet Oleszek

Candidate for Virginia State Senator

Born	March 26, 1947 (1947-03-26) (age 61) Sacramento, California
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Walter
Profession	educator

Janet Oleszek was the Democratic candidate for the 37th District of the Virginia Senate, who ran against Republican Ken Cuccinelli in 2007. She was unsuccessful.

[edit] Career

After earning a master's degree in Special Education from American University, Oleszek began working as a teacher in Fairfax County public schools.
Oleszek was elected an at-large member of the Fairfax County school board in 2003, with more votes than any other Democratic school board candidate has received in Fairfax (88,000 votes). While serving on the school board, Oleszek advocated full-day kindergarten, and considers its implementation one of her major successes as a school board member.

Oleszek was unable to translate her county wide popularity to the Senate race. She came out of the race down 92 votes, and Cuccinelli was officially declared the winner on 9 November 2007. After Oleszek's requested recount on 9 December 2007, it was evident that Cuccinelli had won by 101 votes, so Oleszek conceded.