Within a week of Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup (R) announcing his run for state Senate, five Republicans and one Democrat have already come forward with the hopes of taking his spot on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

Manassas residents Martha Hendley and Steven Botello, Haymarket residents Michael High and Suzanne Miller and Gainesville resident Peter Candland are all seeking the GOP nomination, according to The Virginia Public Access Project Web site.

Haymarket resident Ann Wheeler is the only declared Democrat in the race, having replaced Democrat Carl Genthner of Heritage Hunt after he decided to challenge Del. Bob Marshall (R-13th) in the state House of Delegates instead. Wheeler is the Gainesville District representative to the county's Social Services Board.

In the GOP contest, Hendley has the highest public profile. She serves as the district's planning commissioner and lost a three-candidate race to former Supervisor Ed Wilbourn III (R) by 11 votes in the 1999 GOP primary. Stirrup defeated Wilbourn in 2003 and won re-election in 2007.

As of May 30, only Candland and High had campaign Web sites on Facebook. Wheeler had a regular Web site, but it only had a link soliciting campaign contributions and an e-mail subscription form. Candland actually announced his candidacy on Facebook four days before Stirrup announced his race switch.

Prince William County Chairman Corey Stewart (R) said on Monday that he will not make an endorsement in the Gainesville District Republican primary but did say he plans on endorsing Stirrup in the state Senate's newly-created 13th district.

Stirrup faces Deputy Clerk of the Circuit Court of Prince William Bob FitzSimmonds (R) and former Del. Dick Black (R) of Loudoun County in the Republican race.

Stewart said he has not formally announced his endorsement of Stirrup yet but plans to do so at an event some time in the near future.

"Well, my general feeling is that it's not a good idea to get involved in Republican nomination battles," said Stewart, later adding, "But when it comes to John Stirrup, he's been such a strong ally and friend over the last eight years... that I'm going to make an exception and I expect to endorse" him.

While Stewart listed lowering taxes and spending among some of the issues tying the two of them, their partnership over illegal immigration created national headlines in 2007 and 2008 and is their largest legacy to date.

The pending endorsement of Stirrup comes despite Stewart showing support for FitzSimmonds in November 2010. At the time, it appeared FitzSimmonds would be running in the 29th district.

Stewart said back then that he wanted to promote the general candidacy of FitzSimmonds rather than specifically pick him for office.

"No endorsement yet," said Stewart. "It's kind of a fine line. And here's the reason: We don't know what district it's going to be."

Once the General Assembly completed the redistricting process this year and Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the bill with the new districts into law, majority Democrats in the state Senate gerrymandered the Bristow resident FitzSimmonds out of the 29th district and into the 13th district, which takes up northern Prince William County and a large chunk of lower Loudoun County.

With Stirrup also declaring for the same race, Stewart decided to back his own strongest supporter on the county board.