Voters on Tuesday will also select a candidate for the non-voting House delegation seat held by Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), as well as candidates for D.C.’s shadow senator and representative, non-voting congressional positions that typically play a role in pushing for statehood for the district.
Voting will be open until 8 p.m.
The 7th District is the center of one of this year’s most closely watched races, with 10 candidates vying to replace Gray, who is not seeking reelection due to health issues.
Crime, education, the ward’s economy, and the future of the RFK Stadium complex are key issues in the race. Even more interesting is that the 7th Ward’s redistricting expanded its boundaries westward across the Anacostia River, adding several thousand residents to the ward. Recently, some candidates have tried to differentiate themselves from the others through strategic advertising and last-minute endorsements, including from incumbent City Council members.
In Ward 8, Councilman Treyon White Sr. (Democrat) is being challenged by two community leaders, former Barrow High School Principal Rahman Branch and Advisory District Committee Member Salim Adofo.
White has a strong base in the district and a long record of service and activism, pitching to voters that she is the only candidate with the experience to advocate for D.C.’s most disadvantaged neighborhoods. But White’s opponents question her record as a council member and say it’s time for a new approach to solving the district’s intractable problems, including reducing violence and poverty and improving economic outcomes for residents.
Ward 4 Councilwoman Janes Lewis George (D) is seeking re-election for the first time since joining the council in 2020. George, a self-described democratic socialist, is being challenged by Advisory District Committee Member Lisa Gore and local investment banker Paul Johnson.
Johnson and Gore tried to portray Louis George as too liberal on issues of public safety, but George countered. She is believed by voters to be the only candidate in the race with experience working as a prosecutor, and she has accused her opponent of misinterpreting her record on the city’s police budget and has defended her voting record.
Election Day in the 4th District got off to a slow start at Powell Elementary School in Columbia Heights, with voters streaming through the school gates every few minutes, many of them casting their ballots before work.
In the Democratic primary, Robert C. White Jr. (Democrat) is challenging entertainer Rodney “Red” Grant, who ran unsuccessfully with White for mayor of Washington two years ago. White is hoping to keep his seat and is touting his leadership on the Assembly’s housing committee and other legislation to voters. Grant, who runs two youth-focused programs in the city, claims he is more sympathetic to young people than White and has promised to further that cause if elected.
At the federal level, voters on Tuesday will choose candidates for D.C.’s non-voting council positions. Norton is seeking re-election to his 17th term. Kelly Mikel Williams, who has worked in local and federal government and previously ran against Norton, is challenging him again. Rounding out the ballot is a tightly contested race for the city’s “shadow” senator, pitting candidate Ankit Jain against Eugene D. Kinlaw, and a tightly contested race for shadow representative, pitting incumbent Oye Oworewa against Linda L. Gray.
This story is developing and will be updated.
