WASHINGTON — Tuesday Democratic primaries in heavily Democratic Washington will focus largely on crime, police and law enforcement – timely issues in a city where violent crime increased dramatically last year.
While murders and carjackings have declined so far in 2024, the political dynamics and tensions of last year’s crime wave continue to play out this year, with left-wing and centrist wings of the Democratic Party facing off in multiple races.
Five of the thirteen council seats are on the ballot, with the most competitive by far being the race to replace retiring Ward 7 Councilman Vincent Gray. Gray, a former mayor of Washington, served on the council for 13 years in two separate terms. A total of ten candidates are vying to become his successor: Wendell Felder, Nate Fleming, Ebbon Allen, Kelvin Brown, Roscoe Grant, Eboni-Rose Thompson, Villareal “VJ” Johnson, Ebony Payne, Veda Rasheed and Denise Reed.
No clear frontrunner has emerged, although Gray has endorsed Felder, a longtime local political figure and city government official.
Gray, then chairman of the DC Council, was elected mayor in 2011. But he served only one term before being defeated in the 2015 Democratic primary by current Mayor Muriel Bowser. After his defeat, Gray returned in 2016 to his old council seat in Ward 7, which represented one of the poorest and blackest neighborhoods in a rapidly gentrifying capital.
The 81-year-old has suffered from declining health for years and has resisted quiet speculation that he is no longer physically able to carry out his council duties. His office announced last month that Gray had suffered a second stroke.
The primaries are largely seen as a de facto election in a city where the Democratic Party dominates political life. However, losing primary candidates have regularly been reclassified as independents to have another shot November general election.
In other races, Ward 4 councilor and mainstay of the council’s left wing, Janeese Lewis George, is seeking a second term against a pair of challengers: Lisa Gore and Paul Johnson. Both have criticized George’s policies as being soft on crime.
A pair of Bowser’s most recent mayoral challengers — Ward 7 Councilman Trayon White and at-large Councilman Robert White (no relation) are expected to keep their seats. Trayon White is being challenged by former high school principal Rahman Branch and Salim Adofo, a representative of DC’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions at the district level. Robert White is being challenged by comedian and community activist Rodney “Red” Grant, a frequent candidate for multiple elected positions.
Ward 2 Councilor Brooke Pinto is unopposed.
Two other D.C. Council members whose seats are uncontested this year — Charles Allen of Ward 6 and Brianne Nadeau of Ward 1 — are facing recall campaigns aimed at gathering enough signatures to force a special election. In both cases, the council members’ main criticism focuses on their criminal justice policy.
Bowser, a former council member currently in the midst of a third mayoral term, generally does not get publicly involved in council races and has not endorsed any candidates. A notable exception occurred in 2018, when she openly supported a failed effort to oust then-Councilwoman Elissa Silverman.
Bowser has spoken regularly to the DC Council on public safety issues, arguing that overly progressive policies have fueled rising violent crime rates in 2023 and damaged police morale.
Those disagreements came to a head last year when Bowser vetoed a major rewrite of the criminal code, citing objections to lowering maximum sentencing guidelines for several crimes. The council quickly overrode her veto, but the new criminal code was later overturned by the US Congress — with several Democratic members citing Bowser’s opposition as evidence that the council had strayed from mainstream Democratic policy.