Wage initiative that most leaders opposed passes while incumbents sweep primary races

The District’s Democrats gave incumbents dominating victories Tuesday even as voters in Tuesday’s low-turnout primary election ignored the advice of elected officials by passing Initiative 77 to eliminate the separate minimum wage for tipped workers.

Several of the incumbents — namely DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and at-large Council member Anita Bonds — survived challenges from the left. “The election was a vindication for pragmatic progressivism,” Mendelson said in an election night interview.

Though some political observers have speculated that arguments for a pragmatic approach will sway Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council to move at some point to counteract Initiative 77 in whole or in part — as officials have done with past ballot measures, such as one imposing term limits — the victory was pronounced, with 55.14 percent voting yes according to unofficial election results posted on the DC Board of Elections website. Broken down geographically, wards 2 and 3 on the western end of the District opposed the measure, though narrowly — 51.34 percent in Ward 3, and 50.15 percent in Ward 2. Support for Initiative 77 varied in the other six electoral wards, from 66.33 percent in Ward 8 to 52.63 percent in Ward 6.

Supporters of the ballot measure, including Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, had rallied around several talking points under the banner “One Fair Wage”: Workers deserve livable salaries upfront, tipping culture perpetuates harassment against women and minorities, and other states without the tipped minimum wage have seen their restaurant industries thrive.

“We just want basic job equity,” Diana Ramirez, director of Restaurant Opportunities Center United for DC, said in an interview ahead of the election.

Critics had dismissed the claims, warning that an increased cost of doing business could lead some restaurants to close or reduce the size of their staff. Although existing law requires that tipped workers who fall short of the full minimum wage receive the difference from their employers, the new mandate — if allowed to take effect — would increase payroll. Though many restaurant and bar workers took a visible role in rallying opposition, the National Restaurant Association and the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington contributed large sums to the Save Our Tips campaign, leading opponents to dismiss the objections as industry-supported rhetoric.

“They are seeing that we’re gaining momentum,” Restaurant Opportunities Centers United co-founder and current co-director Saru Jayaraman said in a pre-election interview. “It has to do with a lot of employers joining forces with us. I think there’s fear, fear of change that maybe they see is on the horizon.”

Despite siding with proponents of change with Initiative 77, the city’s Democratic voters gave incumbents a vote of confidence elsewhere on the ballot. The party’s nominees will square off in November against any independents who qualify for the general election ballot, as well as nominees from the Republican, DC Statehood Green and Libertarian parties. Although the GOP had only one candidate on the primary ballot — Ward 6 council hopeful Michael Bekesha — write-ins for other positions could end up qualifying for November.

In the DC Council chairman’s race, Mendelson bested challenger Ed Lazere, on leave from his post as executive director of the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, for the Democratic nomination by a margin of 62.37 percent to 37.13 percent. Lazere’s strongest areas were a handful of precincts in Ward 1 and one precinct in Ward 5.

Democrats again nominated Bonds — who chairs the local Democratic State Committee in addition to her legislative post — for one of the two at-large council seats up in November, with the incumbent winning 52.04 percent to environmental activist Jeremiah Lowery’s 23.78 percent and real estate professional Marcus Goodwin’s 23.43 percent. Bonds carried all eight wards, though her share ranged from 69.04 percent in Ward 7 to 38.36 percent in Ward 3.

“Thank you! I am so grateful to DC. On to victory in November!,” Bonds tweeted on election night on her campaign handle.

Goodwin won 10 precincts west of Rock Creek Park; Lowery led in four Ward 1 precincts. In election night remarks, first-time candidate Goodwin said he plans to run again for office. In his address to about 50 supporters, Goodwin said the District needs to prevent the displacement of “working-class” residents.

“We’ve become a city where only the wealthy can subsist,” he said.

In the DC Council’s ward races, Ward 1 incumbent Brianne Nadeau was the only sitting legislator to fall short of majority support. In a four-way race, she won 47.92 percent of the votes, with Kent Boese trailing with 25.33 percent, Sheika Reid with 13.39 percent and Lori Parker with 13.05 percent. In Ward 5, incumbent Kenyan McDuffie reached 69.03 percent to dominate a five-way race, with Gayle Hall Carley finishing second with 14.98 percent of the vote. With 68.17 percent of the votes cast, Ward 6 incumbent Charles Allen reached nearly the same mark to defeat sole challenger Lisa Hunter, who drew 31.49 percent. The other ward council member up for re-election — Ward 3’s Mary Cheh — won 94.93 percent of the votes in an uncontested race.

Mayor Muriel Bowser, with only two little-known opponents on the Democratic ballot, captured 79.83 percent of the vote. The District’s longtime delegate to the House of Representatives, Eleanor Holmes Norton, reached similar heights, prevailing over challenger Kim Ford with 76.16 percent of the vote to Ford’s 23.18 percent. Attorney General Karl Racine won 67,964 votes — the most of the night — for a 98.53 percent tally in his uncontested race.

At the mayor’s election party, loud chants of “four more years” at times drowned out yells from a group of anti-crime demonstrators. Police escorted a handful of protesters who were repeating “Who do you protect?” as Bowser delivered her victory speech.

Former Mayor Adrian Fenty — Bowser’s mentor — attended the party but declined comment when leaving.

In the closest citywide race outside of the Democratic State Committee positions, Michael D. Brown — the incumbent shadow U.S. senator — won 51.04 percent of the vote, compared to 47.3 percent for newcomer Andria Thomas. Shadow Rep. Franklin Garcia was uncontested for the Democratic nod.

The down-ballot Democratic State Committee races had produced two competing slates seeking to control the party’s local organizational structure: “DumpTrump-Dems4Action,” which sought to challenge the status quo, and “Democrats Moving Forward #Resist,” which stressed experience and touted the District as having one of the most successful state committees in the country.

The latter slate prevailed in the top races — national commiteeman and national commiteewoman. Ward 2 DC Council member Jack Evans won 63.4 percent to Ward 8 State Board of Education member Markus Batchelor’s 36.6 percent. With 43.58 percent, Silvia Martinez appeared to prevail in a three-way race against Nikki M.G. Lewis (41.39 percent) and Marie Johns (15.03 percent), although absentee ballots and special ballots could prove enough to swing the results

Democratic voters were allowed to vote for up to seven at-large committeemen and up to seven at-large committeewomen. As of the unofficial election night count, the top finishers for the committeeman posts were John Green, Mario Cristaldo, Dave Donaldson, Charles Gaither, Charles E. Wilson, Philip Pannell and James S. Bubar; the percentages for those seven ranged from 8.66 percent for Green to 7.53 percent for Bubar. Of these seven, Wilson and Pannell were the only “DumpTrump” members; the others were on the “Democrats Moving Forward” slate.

The top finishers for the committewoman posts had a somewhat more pronounced variation, with Patricia Elwood garnering 8.85 percent as the leading vote-getter and the only one to top 8 percent. The next six, in order, were Alexa Wertman Brown, Latifa Lyles, Reta Jo Lewis, Sharece Crawford, Monica Roaché and Chioma Iwuoha. Of these seven, Crawford and Iwuoha were “DumpTrump” members; the others belonged to “Democrats Moving Forward.”

Voters in each ward could cast select two committeewomen and two committeemen, with fields of two to four candidates vying for each seat.

In Ward 1, Angelica Castanon (“DumpTrump”) and Anita Bellamy Shelton (“Ward One Democrats”) were the two top finishers for the two committeewoman slots; Tony Donaldson Jr. (“DumpTrump”) and Stanley J. Mayes (“Ward One Democrats”) were the leading vote-getters for committeeman.

In Ward 2, Susana Baranano (“Democrats Moving Forward”) and Sherri Kimbel (“Democrats Moving Forward”) prevailed in the committeewoman race; John E. Lazar (“Democrats Moving Forward”) and John Fanning (“DumpTrump”) were the top two finishers for committeeman.

In Ward 3, Elizabeth Mitchell and Shelley Tompkin were the top two finishers for committeewoman; Hugh Allen and Beau Finley led the field for committeeman. All four victors were listed on the ballot as “Ward 3 Blue Wave Democrats.”

In Ward 4, Linda L. Gray (“Democrats Moving Forward”) and Renee L. Bowser (“DumpTrump”) prevailed for committeewoman; Todd Brogan (“DumpTrump”) and James J. Sydnor (“Democrats Moving Forward”) won for committeeman.

In Ward 5, Romaine B. Thomas (“Democrats Moving Forward”) and Andra Wicks (“DumpTrump”) were the top two for committeewoman; Timothy Thomas (“Democrats Moving Forward”) and Gordon-Andrew Fletcher “DumpTrump”) led the field for committeeman.

In Ward 6, Andria Thomas and Wendy Cronin (both “DumpTrump”) were the only two candidates on the ballot for committeewoman; David Meadows and Don Dinan (both “Democrats Moving Forward”) were the top two finishers for committeeman.

In Ward 7, Dorothy Douglas and Lauren Grimes were the only two candidates on the ballot for committeewoman; Dexter Williams and Phillip Hammond were the only two running for committeeman. All four were listed on the ballot as the “Ward 7 Dems for Action & Progress” slate.

In Ward 8, Wanda D. Lockridge (“Dems Forward With 8”) and Regina Sharlita Pixley (“DumpTrump”) prevailed for committeewoman; Anthony Muhammad (“Dems Forward With 8”) and Stuart Anderson (“DumpTrump”) won for committeeman.

In a pre-election interview, Bonds defended her leadership of the party, which had come under attack from the “DumpTrump” slate. “I took a party that was deeply in debt and put it on solid financial footing,” she said. “I led the party through three national conventions, and I have always allowed the members to have a voice.”

Without a competitive mayoral race, turnout stood at 17.62 percent as of release of the unofficial election night results at 10:08 p.m. There were 84,517 ballots cast, down substantially from the tally of 99,394 in April 2014 when Bowser unseated incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray.

Turnout varied dramatically by ward. Ward 3 led with 22.04 percent turnout, followed by Ward 4’s 21.58 percent and Ward 1’s 20.87 percent. Ward 8 trailed with 7.73 percent turnout, with Ward 7 the next lowest with 11.77 percent.

Citywide, nearly 1 in 5 voters voted at one of the city’s early voting centers. Absentee and special ballots remain uncounted.

DC Line writer Cuneyt Dil contributed with election night reporting; Mark Lieberman and Graham Vyse contributed background information.

This post has been updated to include election results for the Democratic State Committee’s ward committeewoman and committeeman posts.