It's election day for Wards 4 and 8; and though it's not being talked about, this could have big

[Chathamization]

Last edited Wed Apr 29, 2015, 11:15 PM - Edit history (1)

consequences. The (perceived) front-runners in both wards (Todd and May) are Mayor Muriel Bowser's allies (subordinates might be a better term), and if the "Green Machine" succeeds in getting them elected it's likely that they'll help Bowser push through her agenda. To pick a recent example, the city council narrowly blocked a deal (6-5) for inmate care to be provided by Corizan, on account of Corizan's poor inmate treatment. Bowser's in favor of the deal, and if May and Todd are win it's likely that the deal will go through.

Bowser is a bit of a corporatist and autocrat (see her recent effort to diminish the power of the elected attorney general), so I'm not looking forward to seeing her end up in an even stronger position. I'm hoping I'll be surprised, but expecting to be disappointed.

I should note that DC for Democracy (our local DFA group) has endorsed Renee Bowser (not relation to Mayor Muriel Bowser) for the Ward 4 election (Trayon White got the most votes for the Ward 8 endorsement, followed by Eugene Kinlow, but both fell short of the needed 2/3's).

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1. Low-turnout (14.78% so far); Mayor Muriel Bowsers well funded ally in Ward 4 won, and her well

funded ally in Ward 8 looks like she's going to win (there's about a thousand provisional ballots that still have to be counted).

Trayon White put up a very good fight in Ward 8, despite being outspent about 15 to 1 (second place winner in Ward 4, Renee Bowser, also put up a good showing while being massively outspent). He's already announced that if he loses the recount, he'll run again next year (this was a special election; these two seats will be up voted on again in 2016, during their normal cycle).

As always, it's amazing how important elections get completely ignored. Right now White is behind May in Ward 8 by just 152 votes. Bowser in Ward 4 lost to Todd by just 2,118 votes. These two Councilmembers are likely to have a big impact on policy. We saw how the Walmart minimum wage bill, for instance, ended up losing by just one member of the city council. Likewise, the Corizon contract might end up getting approved now, despite concerns over the treatment for inmates. And yet the vast majority of voters decided they didn't care one way or another and didn't bother voting. We need to change that if we want to see progress.

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2. Ward 8 race is now down to an 80 vote difference; recount likely. Result will have a big impact on

the council. It's come down to the well financed ally of Mayor Bowser LaRuby May, and the community organizer Trayon White, who's openly opposed the mayor. White's and interesting candidate (I've liked his positions so far), and also an anti-police brutality activist. You can read some of his positions on the DC for Democracy (DC's DFA chapter) questionnaire that he answered (as I understand it, LaRuby May didn't answer her questionnaire).

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3. LaRuby May ended up beating Trayon White by 79 votes. They will face off against each other again

next year (and Christopher Barry said he'll run again as well), since this election was only to finish Barry's term. The Board of Elections ended up backtracking on the recount (since the difference was just above 1%), so the final tally reflects the absentee and provisional ballots that weren't in the initial count.