Housing Market Struggles Push Local Realtor Toward Politics

October 15, 2026 - 01:23

Leila Longcor never planned to run for office. As a realtor with Kline May Realty, she spent years helping families find homes across the Shenandoah Valley, and she believed the work spoke for itself. But watching the local housing market swing from boom to bust changed her mind. The shifts were not abstract numbers to her. They were clients losing bids, young couples priced out of their own hometowns, and longtime residents unable to afford rising rents.

Longcor now serves as chair of the Rockingham County Board of Supervisors, a role she says grew directly out of her real estate career. Sitting across kitchen tables, she heard the same concerns again and again. People wanted reasonable property taxes. They wanted growth managed carefully so farmland and small towns would not disappear. They wanted decisions made by someone who understood what a zoning change actually means for a family's budget.

She brought that perspective into public service. Her colleagues on the board describe her as practical rather than partisan, focused on budgets, infrastructure, and the details that shape daily life. For Longcor, the path from selling houses to shaping policy was not a leap. It was a natural extension of the same job. Both require listening, negotiating, and knowing that every decision lands on someone's front porch.