Guess what? There’s a primary election June 14, the last Democratic presidential primary on the schedule.
By that time, after the California primary, it’s fair to say that the issue of who will be the Democratic nominee to face Donald Trump, the presumptive and apparently actual GOP presidential nominee, will have gone a long way toward being settled.
But District of Columbia voters — especially Democrats — have a number of decisions to make in the race for the Democratic Council nominations for an at-large seat and for seats in Wards 2, 4, 7 and 8. (David Grosso is running as an Independent.)
The issue of who wins the Democratic nomination to the various available Council seats is no small matter. For one thing, barring the appearance of a miracle Republican or non-Democratic candidate in the general election in November, the winners of the Democratic primaries are usually the election winners. We say usually, because this primary season across the country has been anything but usual.
The elections are also important for the city’s future, and who holds sway on critical issues: the Council (and its chairman) or Mayor Muriel Bowser. These days, there are indications of a shift in the balance of power, or at least the presence of a critical moment.
Despite an economic prosperity trend in the city, which bodes well for its future, there are looming, ongoing problems, over which the mayor and the Council, as well as its chairman, have clashed. Crime is perceived to be on the rise across many neighborhoods. The issue of closing DC General Hospital as a housing center for the homeless has hit a snag, with the mayor’s proposed plan replaced by a new, Council-approved plan that focuses on city financing rather than private funding for new shelters. The Pepco-Exelon merger — actually an acquisition by Exelon — resulted in a divided Council.
Bowser — after a contentious but impressive electoral win over then Mayor Vincent Gray in the Democratic primary and over David Catania in the general election — appeared to be consolidating her victory when the candidates she backed in special elections in Ward 4 and Ward 8 won. These were Brandon Todd, her former Ward 4 constituent services chief, and LaRuby May, who won a special election in Ward 8 by only a handful of votes over challenger Trayon White, a self-styled people’s candidate. In the 2015 election, White lost by 78 votes, receiving strong support from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine. Todd is generally considered a heavy favorite in Ward 4, but Trayon White is once again in the lists against May and it could be a close race again.
Meanwhile, in the at-large race, perennial candidate Vincent Orange (sometimes mayor, sometimes Council) is facing a serious challenge from Robert White, who once worked for Racine. Ward 2 Councilman Jack Evans, who retains the title of the Council’s longest-serving member, is running unopposed.
Perhaps the most watched race for any number of reasons is the one in Ward 7, where Vincent Gray, the former mayor, is running against his former protégé Yvette Alexander, who has now become a regular supporter of the mayor on the Council. This is shaping up as a not-so-friendly contest. Gray, under a cloud of potential indictment for most of his tenure as mayor in the wake of an election scandal, lost his bid for reelection. With the attorney general’s office refusing to indict him, Gray has launched a political comeback by choosing to run against Alexander (as opposed to running in the at-large race against a vulnerable Orange).
These races appear especially critical for the mayor. Orange, Todd and May are all considered incumbent supporters of Bowser, while the chances are that Gray is likely not to be her consistent ally.
