Voters Guide: Two challengers aim to unseat Ward 4’s Brandon Todd
Incumbent Brandon Todd is seeking his second full term as the Ward 4 DC Council member, squaring off against challengers Janeese Lewis George and Marlena D. Edwards in the Democratic primary.
Marlena D. Edwards
- Neighborhood: Shepherd Park
- Occupation: Business consultant
- Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Member of the Democratic National Committee’s Temporary Standing Credentials Committee; former president, DC Democratic Women’s Club; member of the Board of Directors of Emory Beacon of Light; Ward 4 representative, DC Democratic State Committee; program chair and executive committee member, Ward 4 Democrats; delegate to Service Employees International Union. Other memberships include DC Federation of Democratic Women, Shepherd Park Citizens Association, United Planning Organization, the Developing Families Center, AFSCME, AFGE, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in mass communication from Towson University; master’s degree in social work from Howard University
- Age: 53
- Hometown: DC
- How long have you lived in your current home? Since 1966
- How long have you lived in DC? Lifelong resident
Marlena D. Edwards, a business consultant and lifelong resident of Shepherd Park, is running for the Ward 4 DC Council seat after more than 23 years of experience working with DC residents. She describes herself as a “passionate community activist” and says she is running out of a “desire to see this city have more efficient services and move forward.”
Edwards vows to push DC agencies toward greater efficiency and effectiveness and to serve as “a bridge with the individuals in Ward 4 and across this city.” She plans to focus specifically on issues related to health care, education and economic development if elected. These issues are personal to Edwards, who says she has worked with DC’s state superintendent of education to fund additional auxiliary workers such as speech pathologists and therapists in schools; with the Department of Health Care Finance to connect disenfranchised residents with health services; and with grassroots organizations to build and advocate for additional affordable housing units.
Edwards’ experience spans numerous sectors and organizations, but focuses primarily on “coalition-building and community empowerment.” She says she is the most qualified candidate for the seat because of her years of public affairs experience and past electoral success in Ward 4. Edwards was elected by Ward 4 voters to the DC Democratic State Committee in 2014 with 7,143 votes — “the highest vote in the history of the position,” says Edwards.
Edwards runs her own business consultation company, which deals with “community health, social-economic development and legislative policy.” She cites her extensive experience in labor and employment issues and alongside various executive offices across the DC government as assets if elected. “I’m able to bridge a gap and help to bring the city together,” she said.
— Click for a Q&A with Marlena D. Edwards
Janeese Lewis George
- Neighborhood: Manor Park
- Occupation: Attorney; previously assistant attorney general in the DC Office of the Attorney General
- Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Executive board member for the Ward 4 Democrats, as well as a member of the DC Democratic State Committee; previously served as a student representative on the DC Board of Education and a member of City Year Corps
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology from St. John’s University; Juris Doctor from Howard University Law School
- Age: 32
- Hometown: DC
- How long have you lived in your current home? Since 2012
- How long have you lived in DC? Born and raised in Ward 4; worked in Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office from November 2014 through August 2016
Janeese Lewis George, an attorney and third-generation Washingtonian born and raised in Ward 4, says she left her position as assistant attorney general to run for the DC Council because of “the lack of leadership from our council member in the ward and the lack of advocacy for working families and working people in our ward.” If elected, she plans to focus on improving housing equity, education and public safety.
“We have an opportunity to create more affordable housing by extending our rent control to buildings built before 2005,” said Lewis George. She also says expanding rent control to three- and four-unit buildings will help control rent hikes in the city.
As a graduate of the DC Public Schools and a former student representative to the school board, Lewis George says she “would immediately want to reassess the way we do our funding of schools.” She continued, “I think it’s highly important that we recognize that if it’s just based on enrollment, it doesn’t take into account the social equity issues that come into play.”
In terms of public safety initiatives, Lewis George backs expansion of the District’s violence interruption programs to Ward 4 to address the uptick in crime in the Petworth and Brightwood neighborhoods. As a result of her time on the school board and as a City Year Corps member in Los Angeles (where she worked in a seventh-grade class through AmeriCorps following her undergraduate graduation), Lewis George sees the importance of limiting teacher and administrator turnover if Ward 4 schools are to succeed in providing opportunities and bridging inequities. She says her experience gives her a unique perspective: “You understand on a deeper level when you actually are in the school: You see teachers and administrators having to make a budget work and struggling to be able to help their students, and also seeing the socioeconomic factors that really go into schools.”
Unlike the other Ward 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination, Lewis George is participating in the Fair Elections program, meaning she is receiving public matching funds after agreeing not to accept corporate contributions and meeting the threshold of the number of individual donations of $50 or less. “I want to be beholden to the residents of Ward 4 in this city and no one else,” she says.
— Click for a Q&A with Janeese Lewis George
Brandon Todd
- Neighborhood: Petworth
- Occupation: Ward 4 DC Council member
- Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Former director of constituent services for then-Ward 4 DC Council member Muriel Bowser; former chair of Ward 4 Democrats
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in communications with a concentration in public relations from Bowie State University; Master of Business Administration with a concentration on organizational development from Trinity Washington University
- Age: 36
- Hometown: DC
- How long have you lived in your current home? Over five years
- How long have you lived in DC? Native Washingtonian
Brandon Todd, the incumbent Ward 4 DC Council member and a native Washingtonian, is running for reelection after marking his five-year anniversary in office.
“We started a lot of great work and we have so much left to do,” he says of his decision to run again. Specifically, Todd has focused on economic development along business corridors in Ward 4, letting people know “that we are ready and open for business.” He also emphasizes public safety and good government services — “making sure that more police officers have the tools that they need to make sure that our neighborhoods, commercial corridors and residents are safe.”
Todd is known as a strong ally of Mayor Muriel Bowser, having worked in her office when she held the position he now has. If reelected, he says he intends to prioritize seniors, working families, and increasing affordable housing. “We have to really focus in on those who have invested in DC for so long and feel left out of the prosperity,” he said.
Pointing to his record in office, Todd said, “Over the last five years we either created, delivered or have in the pipeline over 2,000 units of affordable housing.” He said he plans to continue work on “making sure that our two public school sectors continue to grow and thrive together. We have amazing public charter schools. We have amazing traditional public schools in Ward 4. And making sure that those sectors continue to grow together is very, very important.”
Noting that the Ward 4 council member represents over 20 neighborhoods, Todd says he is able to advocate for residents on a variety of topics from public safety to taxes because “I tend to be more balanced on issues.”
Looking to a post-COVID-19 world, Todd says he is already focused on the economic security of DC. He says he expects to have to “really work to protect future investments,” particularly in terms of safeguarding hard-won infrastructure funding for schools, libraries and recreation centers — which are often targets for cuts in times of crisis, Todd notes. Bowser’s 2021 budget proposal includes $23 million to expand Barnard Elementary and $12 million to build a new public pool on the former Walter Reed campus, among other Ward 4 projects in the six-year capital plan.
excellente article.