Libby Garvey is a municipal politician in Virginia, currently serving as a member of the Arlington County Board.

Robert G. Smith, who served as the Board's most senior administrator for most of her tenure, described a key exchange they had when he was being interviewed for the job of supervisor.

[4][5] He said they discussed the common attitude that those students coming from an impoverished family background, were predetermined to have low academic performance.

Since Arlington is considered a heavily Democratic county, it was widely expected that the winner of the caucus would prevail in the general election.

[9] When Garvey announced her opposition to the streetcar, she found herself at odds with local Democratic party members who supported the plan.

In 2014 tension grew to anger when she endorsed and helped raise campaign funds for John Vihstadt, who sought an open seat on the Arlington County Board.

[13] Vihstadt was able to use the streetcar and tap into growing voter resentment over what he called "vanity projects" such as an aquatics center, an over-budget dog park and an infamous "million dollar bus stop[14][15] and won the election handily.

[17][18] In June 2016 Garvey easily defeated challenger Erik Gutshall in a local Democratic Party Primary which was a rare challenge to unseat an incumbent's bid to win reelection [19] Voters rejected efforts by the Democratic establishment to punish Garvey for her support of Republican-turned-independent John Vihstadt, whose election in 2014 ended 15 years of an all-Democratic board.