Voting is underway at Deanwood Recreation Center, one of three voting centers open in Ward 7 through Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of DC Board of Elections and Ethics)

Voters Guide: Incumbent Vincent Gray, five challengers vie to represent Ward 7

By Orrin Konheim On May 29, 2020 Last updated May 29, 2020

As incumbent Vincent Gray seeks another term as Ward 7’s representative on the DC Council, the former DC mayor faces five challengers for the Democratic nomination: Kelvin Brown, Anthony Lorenzo Green, James Leroy Jennings, Rebecca J. Morris and Veda Rasheed.

Kelvin Brown

Neighborhood: Hillcrest
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama
Age: 38
Length of residence in the District: 10 years
Occupation: Senior program manager for Fannie Mae
Education: Bachelor’s degree in criminal law, Alabama State University; Master of Business Administration, University of Phoenix; Lean & Six Sigma business training, Rutgers University
Political/civic experience: President of Veteran’s Employee Resource Group at Fannie Mae; organizer with East Washington Heights Baptist Church; 10 years as a sergeant in the U.S. Army

Although he doesn’t hold an elected title, Kelvin Brown lives by the mantra that his mother and teachers taught him growing up: “Be part of the solution or turn a blind eye and be part of the problem.” Brown says he chooses to be part of the solution.

At East Washington Heights Baptist Church, he organized a series of men’s support forums about conflict resolution and financial literacy. Through his personal network, he pulled together donations for 70 needy families this past winter holiday season and organized a Zoom happy hour for his neighbors during the current coronavirus quarantine so that people could get to know each other and share best practices.

“Anyone in the community can be a leader — you don’t have to have an official title,” he said.

As for why he’s running, Brown says he has seen his letters to DC officials fall on deaf ears over the years. That’s one reason he started going door to door to hear from his neighbors. His questions included, “What would you like to see?”

“Their vision of what they want for the neighborhood is they want a place that’s safe, that’s affordable, that has the necessary amenities that they can enjoy and [where] they’re able to raise their families and age in place without fear of being pushed out of the city,” Brown said.

He cites a number of statistics that indicate residents of Ward 7 aren’t seeing life improve. “[From] education, to the wealth achievement, to the income gap, to access to affordable health care, to economic investment — all those indicators have been trending downward in the last 10 to 15 years,” Brown said. “As a ward and as a community, we have to hold our elected leaders accountable to different results.”

Brown’s philosophy as an activist and candidate has been to look at where the gaps are in public services and to fill those in. Part of his platform is to alleviate the vocational gaps among 16- to 25-year-olds based on research that shows perpetrators of crime are most likely to come from that age group.

Vincent Gray

Neighborhood: Hillcrest
Hometown: Washington, DC
Age: 76
Occupation: DC Council member, Ward 7
Education: Dunbar High School; bachelor’s degree in psychology and graduate coursework at George Washington University
Political/civic experience: Mayor, 2011-2015; DC Council chairman, 2007-2011; Ward 7 DC Council member, 2005-2007; director of the DC Department of Human Services under Mayor Sharon Pratt; founding executive director of Covenant House Washington

Facing challengers who say that the city is out of touch with the needs of Ward 7 residents, incumbent Vincent Gray is touting a record of advancing the economic development, food security and health needs of Ward 7.

Gray returned to the DC Council in January 2017 after winning 60% of the vote against Yvette Alexander, who had replaced Gray years earlier when he won election to the chairman’s office. The 2016 victory came two years after Gray lost his mayoral reelection bid to Muriel Bowser, who prevailed in a crowded eight-person race. Gray finished second despite the U.S. attorney’s continuing investigation into his 2010 campaign, including a shadow operation that had resulted in indictments and jail time for several of those involved. Gray was never charged, and his supporters complain that unfair treatment by the U.S. Attorney’s Office as well as The Washington Post stymied his prospects for a second mayoral term.

This year, however, The Post’s editorial board has endorsed Gray, writing that his “experience is too valuable to discard at this critical time. He forged a mastery of budget issues as council chair and mayor.”

As head of the council’s Health Committee for the past 3 1/2 years, he secured $317 million in capital funding for a modern 136-bed hospital to be opened in 2023 or 2024 on the grounds of St. Elizabeths East as a replacement for the often-criticized United Medical Center. Negotiations between the DC government and George Washington University Hospital, which is slated to operate the new medical center, had dragged on for more than a year, but the two sides recently signed an agreement that will soon undergo DC Council review.

Other recent projects to improve health care services east of the Anacostia River include an oncology clinic in Parkside Health Center being operated by Unity Health Care in conjunction with Sibley Memorial Hospital.

In an interview, Gray also pointed to progress on economic development, including Skyland Town Center, where construction on a mixed-use development with a Lidl supermarket and the ward’s first Starbucks is underway after decades of attempts to revitalize the shopping area.

Gray’s campaign touts the importance and value of his experience, particularly at a time when the District must deal with reduced revenue precipitated by a public health crisis.

“During a crisis, experience matters,” Gray said in an email response to The DC Line. “As Council Chair, I helped to lead the District through the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. When the Federal government shut down the government in 2013, as mayor I declared all District employees and services ‘essential.’ No city employee lost a paycheck and no District resident suffered a cutback in services. There is great value to understanding how our finances work, the needs of residents and how to do the most with the resources we have.

“Many of our residents have great needs,” he continued. “Today, those residents are more vulnerable than ever. We must ensure that their needs are met. This is a time when leaders with experience, understanding and compassion are called upon to do their utmost. My commitment is exactly that.”

Anthony Lorenzo Green

Neighborhood: Deanwood
Hometown: Washington, DC
Age: 34
Occupation: Contractor for the Washington Peace Center; Uber driver
Education: H.D. Woodson High School
Political/civic experience: Four-term advisory neighborhood commissioner (two terms on ANC 8B, two terms on ANC 7C); member, H.D. Woodson STEM Academy Advisory Board, 2017 to 2019; one term as second vice president, Deanwood Citizens Association (elected in 2018); member, Ward 8 Democrats executive board (2013 and 2015)

A third-generation Washingtonian, Anthony Lorenzo Green is in his second term as a member of Advisory Neighborhood Commission 7C. He began his work in public service a decade ago while he was living in Ward 8’s Fort Stanton neighborhood. That’s when a local activist noticed his ability to strike up conversations with people, including “folks who wouldn’t ordinarily go to ANC meetings,” Green said.

As a board member of the Fort Stanton Civic Association, Green helped organize his neighbors in championing a new $12.5 million recreation center. As an advisory neighborhood commissioner, he helped the DC auditor uncover misappropriated funds. He also spent four years as an unemployment compensation adjudicator for the DC Department of Employment Services, where he conducted investigations to verify benefit claims.

A self-described social justice warrior, Green has worked with groups such as Black Lives Matter DC and the American Civil Liberties Union on efforts to halt illegal stop-and-frisk activities by DC’s Metropolitan Police Department, although he acknowledged that there are “people in the community who love cops.” He has also pushed for full implementation of the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act of 2016, which promotes an evidence-based, community-focused public health model to prevent crime.

“We know that it’s more about the entire system and not about the faces who police,” Green said. “They pump as many police officers in a community and believe that as long as they stop anyone with a basic description of a black male with a black-on-white T-shirt with blue jeans — that could be me on any given day — they are doing their job.”

Green has pushed for affordable housing, with replacement units for residents if they are displaced by redevelopment. He has also worked to expand early childhood education, food access and community support services in neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River.

As a council member, Green says, he would work to solve what he calls a “food apartheid and health crisis” in Ward 7 by investing in grocery cooperatives and community-created urban growing space.

Green says he sees himself as a grassroots representative fighting against elitism in politics.

“You may not have a college degree, you may not have a six-figure job — but you matter,” he said. “You work hard, you may have a family — you should be able to have a seat at the table, and that’s consistently been my message in every race I ran.”

James Leroy Jennings

Neighborhood: Deanwood
Hometown: Greenwood, South Carolina
Age: 64
Length of residence in the District: 30-plus years
Occupation: Retired. Served 22 years in the military (three years active duty, 19 years in the reserves); DC Protective Services Division sergeant (14 years as mental health police captain at St. Elizabeths Hospital); Metropolitan Police Department reserve officer
Education: Military medic school in San Antonio, Texas; nursing coursework, University of the District of Columbia
Political/civic experience: Advisory neighborhood commissioner (elected in Ward 2 in 1992 and in Ward 6 in 1996); candidate for the Ward 7 council seat in 2007; volunteer, Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Washington

James Leroy Jennings ran for Ward 7’s DC Council seat in 2007 but didn’t end up getting enough signatures on his nominating petitions to make the ballot. He believes he has a better chance this time because he has been using social media and YouTube, enabling him to connect with voters despite the pandemic.

Jennings is a believer in connecting with people on the streets. He says his council staff wouldn’t work primarily in the Wilson Building downtown.

“If I get elected, there’s nobody that’s gonna be in that office,” he explained, saying that he would have his aides spend their time out in Ward 7 to work directly with the 70,000-plus residents. “We’ll be out in the streets getting to know them.”

Jennings says that politicians’ inaction motivated him to run this year. Like other candidates, he sees food security and economic development as key problems that require solutions in both wards east of the Anacostia River. He would like to see a gift card given to recipients having to wait in line in food banks so they can avoid long lines and any sense of shame.

“Before the coronavirus there were many problems with our wards being underserved by economic development,” Jennings said.

Jennings is critical of the District’s implementation of Housing Choice vouchers funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. He says the city has failed to act against landlords who discriminate against people who hold what used to be known as Section 8 vouchers.

As part of his platform, Jennings says he would donate 75% of his salary to charitable causes if he is elected — and he is challenging other candidates to do likewise.

Rebecca Morris

Neighborhood: Benning Road
Hometown: Washington, DC
Age: 31
Occupation: Wait staff
Education: Washington Mathematics Science Technology Public Charter High School, Washington DC; associate degree, University of the District of Columbia
Political/civic experience: Attendee at advisory neighborhood commission meetings; organizes food drives

Rebecca Morris is a first-time candidate but is not new to the political scene, having been active in letter-writing campaigns that sought to influence the DC Council and her advisory neighborhood commission. She also organized a biking club in response to the lack of gyms in Ward 7 and organized a food drive for the homeless in 2014. In the past two months, she partnered with St. Luke Roman Catholic Church to hand out meals once a week for people who are in need but don’t qualify for food stamps. She hopes to continue and expand upon this initiative after the COVID-19 pandemic ends.

Morris says her biggest advantage is her firsthand knowledge of the issues that affect residents. She has developed relationships with many of her diners and has daily discussions about the city’s problems with them as well as with people she’s known since childhood.

“When people are creating laws for the working class, I am the working class,” she said. “When you’re trying to create policies based on the education system, I was part of the education system that DC had. I am a person who rides bikes [in] DC, I ride the Metro, I ride the train everywhere. … It’s hard to identify with something that you are not.”

Her main platforms are better access to nutritious, healthful foods and mental health services.

Providing counseling and support groups along with other mental health programs in every community would help address many issues, Morris believes. “In DC we have high crime, and on top of that we have lots of drug addicts,” she said. “There needs to be a space where people can talk and they go to things. When people feel good about themselves and they have the tools to make better decisions, certain things just wouldn’t happen.”

Morris acknowledges that the nonprofit organizations do offer these services in some areas, but says that not enough residents know how to access them.

Veda Rasheed

Neighborhood: River Terrace
Hometown: Washington, DC
Age: 35
Occupation: Personal injury attorney
Education: Bachelor’s degree in history and government, Bowie State University; Juris Doctorate, Catholic University of America
Political/civic experience: Advisory neighborhood commissioner, 7E01; current chair of Ward 7 Young Democrats; Ward 7 parent leader for the My School DC Advisory Council; member, Mayor’s Commission on African American Affairs, 2017-2019 (appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser)

Veda Rasheed’s career as an attorney has included experience as a law clerk and at the DC Attorney General’s Office as well as accolades such as the Michael F. Curtin Pro Bono Award at Catholic University of America and the law student of the year for the Mid-Atlantic region by the National Jurist magazine. Her community activism has included pro bono work on wills, trusts and estates as a way to help build and keep generational wealth in the community.

As a mother of two, she is also active in her children’s schools; as a member of the My School DC advisory council, she helped make parents aware of school choices. She believes in holding teachers to a high professional standard and stresses the need to reduce teacher turnover in order to improve students’ educational experiences and outcomes. She also is for increasing transparency and community engagement.

“It truly takes a village to raise a child, and everyone benefits when teachers and students feel supported by the community,” she said.

Health care and senior services are also emphasized in her platform. Noting that the District has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, Rasheed says officials need to address socioeconomic disparities in maternal and infant health. A big part of that will be pushing for a new hospital east of the Anacostia River, she says.

Access to quality health care is a decades-old issue, Rasheed says, and residents should not have to wait any longer. She has firsthand knowledge of the issue, having lost a family member who died from injuries at age 15 after receiving delayed medical treatment.

“While we wait for a hospital to come, people in Ward 7 and Ward 8 have nowhere to deliver their babies,” she said, referring to the 2017 closure of the obstetrics ward at United Medical Center in Southeast.

Rasheed says she would work in collaboration with the executive branch to develop a more comprehensive health services plan to Ward 7.

In terms of public safety, Rasheed would emphasize criminal rehabilitation and a public health approach to gun violence that would treat it “like a disease that can be interrupted, treated and stopped from spreading,” she said. Prior to entering private practice, Rasheed worked at the DC Office of the Attorney General handling community engagement.

Her platform for economic rehabilitation seeks revitalization while avoiding gentrification. Policies would include improving local transportation and providing new incentives for local entrepreneurship.

“I believe we need someone with the energy to take us forward — someone with new leadership and a vision,” Rasheed said.