John Fanning, chair of the Logan Circle advisory neighborhood commission participates in an early Ward 2 candidates forum at the Woman's National Democratic Club as Jordan Grossman and Daniel Hernandez look on. (Photo by Cuneyt Dil)

Voters Guide: In Ward 2, first the party primaries for the next council term — and then a special election to fill current vacancy

By Jake Maher On Jun 2, 2020 Last updated Jun 18, 2020

The race for the Ward 2 seat on the DC Council is ripe for confusion: The June 2 primary for the next four-year term features an eight-way race for the Democratic nomination and an uncontested candidate for the Republican nomination. Meanwhile, a June 16 special election — open to all Ward 2 voters, regardless of party registration — has seven candidates vying to serve the remaining six months of the current term held by Jack Evans until he resigned in January amid an ethics scandal and an expected vote by his colleagues to expel him.

To complicate matters further, Evans is among the candidates running for the Democratic nomination, though he stayed out of the special election. For the June 2 election, the lineup is Katherine Venice in the Republican primary and Evans, John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, Daniel Hernandez, Patrick Kennedy, Brooke Pinto, Kishan Putta and Yilin Zhang in the Democratic primary. On the June 16 ballot, all of the same Democratic candidates except for Evans and Hernandez are running to fill the temporary seat; although Venice is also on the ballot, she notified the Board of Elections on June 5 that she was withdrawing from the race.

Here is background on each of the candidates and their comments about top priorities and what differentiates them from others in the race. Several candidates responded by email; we’ve made changes to spelling and punctuation for readability and consistency.

Jack Evans

Neighborhood: Georgetown
Occupation: Former Ward 2 DC Council member; lawyer
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Ward 2 DC Council member (1991-2020) and ANC 2B commissioner (1988-1989)
Education: Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania; University of Pittsburgh School of Law
Age: 66
Hometown: Nanticoke, Pennsylvania
How long have you lived in DC? 38 years (24 years in current home)

What made you decide to run for this position? (answers via email)

“I’m running to represent Ward 2 because I believe we need a tested leader who can produce results on day one. I’ve represented Ward 2 on the council during two recessions and I know my experience dealing with financial crises is what is needed now, during this unprecedented time.”

What differentiates you from the other candidates in this race?

“As the former council member who represented Ward 2, I have a long and successful record of helping residents in every part of the ward with constituent services, and I can navigate slow bureaucratic processes to quickly solve problems. I’m also known as one of the top experts on the DC budget. I’ve led the District through economic recessions in 2001 and in 2009. The District has come out the other side of those crises stronger and with my experience, I’m confident that I can help guide the District out of another economic emergency.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“I hope to restore DC to fiscal and economic health. We’ll still be in the middle of a health and economic emergency when I’m elected to represent Ward 2. Council members and the mayor will have to make necessary, difficult and unpopular decisions to balance the city’s budget over the next two to five years. We need to protect and ensure that important programs are in place for people who need them during this difficult time. We also need to make sure we are meeting our requirements by law to replenish our reserves and make sure our budgets are balanced. The threat of a federally mandated control board is real.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“My top three issues I want to focus on during my term are the District’s budget and finances, education, and affordable housing.”

John Fanning

Neighborhood: Logan Circle
Occupation: Consultant
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Six-term advisory neighborhood commissioner (ANC 2F, currently chair); Ward 2 committeeman, DC Democratic State Committee
Education: Associate degree in public administration, Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey
Hometown: New York
How long in DC? 34 years (27 years in Ward 2)

What made you decide to run for this position? (answers via email)

“I am running for the DC Council because I want to improve the quality of life for the residents of Ward 2 and our city. If ever there was a time for change in leadership in Ward 2, it is now. Our city has made tremendous progress over the past two decades, but there’s work to be done. We are currently experiencing a significant decline in the quality of life in several of our Ward 2 neighborhoods. The issues that we are experiencing just have not been a priority for our former council member. I will prioritize and focus on these issues by working with the DC government and all the relevant stakeholders until we [get] results.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“My years of experience working in the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services as the Ward 2 community liaison … allowed me to learn and understand the power and limitations of our government. I will utilize this experience along with my relationships with DC government agency directors and employees to get things done. I have been a community leader for years and have extensive government experience, which has prepared me for this job. I have made significant contributions to our city and a record of accomplishments working in the Ward 2 community.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?
“Right now, our biggest challenge is getting residents back to work and doing all we can to support our small business community. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the mayor and council will need to work together on our financial recovery. I am looking forward to participating in these efforts and having a positive impact on our city’s future.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“Fixing [the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs], building more affordable housing, and improving homeless outreach and services.”

Jordan Grossman

Neighborhood: Shaw
Occupation: Lawyer
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Fromer program manager at the DC Department of Health Care Finance
Education: University of Pennsylvania; Harvard Law School
Age: 34
Hometown: DC
How long have you lived in DC: Total of 10 years (five years in current home)

What made you decide to run for the position?

“After nearly 30 years of Jack Evans, I thought enough was enough. It wasn’t just the fact that he was so obviously corrupt, as the DC Council’s independent review validated — that should be enough. But Jack Evans stood in the way time and again of the kinds of changes we need to make Ward 2 more affordable, especially for families. We need a council member that’s not only going to put ethics first but also is going to work to make Ward 2 more progressive and equitable for everyone.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“One, I’m the cleanest break from Jack Evans and his political machine. Second thing is, I’m the progressive candidate in this race. I’m really proud to have the support of most of the large progressive organizations in DC. I am running because we are at an inflection point in DC right now. It’s getting harder and harder for people who aren’t wealthy to live here. I think in the midst of COVID-19 those dynamics are only going to become more and more prevalent. I don’t think we need to go down that path.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“One, we need comprehensive ethics reform to make sure that the council is working for ordinary residents, not just folks who can cut big checks or special interests who have expensive lobbyists. Two, we need to make it much easier for people to afford a place to live; to buy high-quality child care; to walk, bike or take public transit around DC; and for people to pay off student loan debt. Overall, it’s all about making the city and the ward more affordable and livable.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“Number one is comprehensive ethics reform. We should prohibit council members from lobbying while they’re on the council. I think we should prohibit council members from ever lobbying after they leave the council for private entities — we need to put a stop to this revolving-door culture on the council. The [other] thing I would want to do is boost where we can oversight mechanisms on the council and the DC government overall — [so] we’re not waiting for the media to do a muckraking job or some big scandal; we’re actually on top of it from the outset.

“Number two is addressing the affordable housing crisis. … We need to invest more in the Housing Production Trust Fund, in the Local Rent Supplement Program. We need to do a better job of enforcing our tenant protections, which are some of the best on the books … but aren’t a reality in the day-to-day lives of residents. We need to authorize and strengthen rent control and eliminate loopholes. We need to do much better for our neighbors experiencing homelessness, including treating them as neighbors, not as a nuisance.

“The third priority for me is making universal child care affordable for all families. Primarily that will be fully funding the Birth-to-Three for All DC Act, which would make it so that no family pays more than 10% of their income on childcare. [It’s] also making sure that our early educators, our child care workers, are paid a living wage and have access to a career path and steady profession because they currently make a low amount of money and are disproportionately women of color. It’s just not sustainable, especially as we come out of COVID-19.”

Daniel Hernandez

Neighborhood: Dupont Circle
Occupation: IT sales at Microsoft
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: U.S. Marine Corps veteran (Afghanistan)
Education: High school diploma, Marine Corps
Hometown: Kansas City, Missouri
How long in DC? Three years (one year in current home)

What made you decide to run for this position?

“Frustration with politics and politicians as usual — people who are just out to serve themselves. Jack Evans is pretty objectionable and easy to decide to run against. When I looked at things and decided to run, I guess that would be two falls ago, no one had run against him in the previous two election cycles and I figured that was overdue. When I decided, a little bit of the news had come out, but just on his record I thought, he deserves to have some opposition.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“I have the best experience in life itself, of some of the things that need a change. I grew up in a working-class neighborhood, I’ve known family friends, community people in and out of the criminal justice system, I’ve seen the consequences of the war on drugs and a lot of things I feel we need to make progress on, and I don’t think any other candidates have that same kind of perspective. We’re all various shades of progressivism, but I have the personal life experience and perspective for a lot of these issues that are personal to me.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“Addressing the housing crisis in DC. I don’t want to see us become San Francisco, and go further down that path. Doing more about homelessness — I think a lot of that is tied into addressing the housing crisis.

“As the father of two public school students, supporting the public education system is a personal priority as well.

“One of the passionate things for me is criminal justice reform: How do we keep people out of the prison system. And for people who do go in, how do we best help them reintegrate into society and be successful in reducing recidivism?”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“Housing and homelessness first (we can look at those as two closely related things), education, and a tie between transportation and criminal justice reform.

“On housing, we need to do more to ensure that we’re making enough housing for the population growth that we’ve seen in DC. Job growth has been outpacing housing growth for quite a bit of time. I think that’s a huge part of why we’ve seen the drastic increase in housing and rental prices that we’ve seen. When we’re producing more housing, it’s easier to set aside a portion for affordable housing to address the dire need there, and also emphasizing middle-income housing for first responders and public servants to be able to afford to live here as well.

“On education, I think ensuring that we’re spending at-risk funds properly and they’re not just being used to supplement regular school budgets, but they’re being spent on priorities to help kids who need things like mental health counseling and other services.

“On transportation, one of my earliest priorities is doing better with our bus transportation network. Things like dedicated bus lanes, trying to improve the reliability and efficiency of the bus network as much as possible. Ideally, press [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] for more frequent bus service — I think we do have to be able to get through the District — and then, once you do that, [push] for increased frequency. Longer term, I’d like to see us be more aggressive on expanding the Metro system itself. In particular I like the inner loop proposal.”

Patrick Kennedy

Neighborhood: Foggy Bottom
Occupation: Research consultant
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: ANC 2A01 (2013-present); chair, ANC 2A (2014-18 and 2020-present); member, Board of Directors, Foggy Bottom Association (2012-19); member, Board of Directors, St. Mary’s Court (2016-18); Ward 2 committeeman, DC Democratic State Committee (2013-2018); treasurer, Ward 2 Democrats (2013-19)
Education: Bachelor’s degree in political science with a public policy focus, George Washington University
Age: 28
Hometown: Clearwater, Florida
How long in DC? 10 years (all in Foggy Bottom)

What made you decide to run for this position?

“Ward 2 has many different communities with very different sensibilities and you need someone who understands those nuances. We’re going to have to rebuild a lot of trust and a lot of relationships at the Wilson Building. I think that I’m pretty well respected, I think that I have a good record of results to show for my time at the community level, and I think that’s really the sort of collaboration and consensus-oriented leadership model that this ward needs moving forward.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“It’s more than what you say at election time; it’s more than having good intentions, which every candidate does. I think it’s a question of what you’ve actually done and what your experience says about you, and what the people who have worked with you say about you. There’s a very consistent thread over the last eight years of my work with schools, with transportation, and how those issues translate into what I want to do for the ward and the city moving forward.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“I’d like to address the affordable housing crisis in our ward. Cost of living is the number one issue across the city and people are dealing with that. I’m very invested in improving our public transportation. I think that our bus service has been totally neglected over the last 40 to 50 years. We need to greatly improve the reliability of the service we’re providing and the frequency. Schools are important to me as well. It’s really education, transportation and schools that are the keystone of my campaign.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“We need to invest in public transportation. I think public transportation is so central — whether we are moving people around the ward efficiently and sustainably and helping our congestion issues, but also making sure that throughout this region people who are looking for housing can get from their homes to their jobs. Ward 2 is the job center of the region, it’s the job center of the city. The council member here has a vested interest in making sure our transportation system is functional. It also helps reduce cost of living. Somebody with a reliable transportation system can go from three cars in a household to two, two cars to one, or one car to none at all — there’s tremendous benefit.

“One thing in particular is not only creating the new Shaw middle school but investing fully in Birth-to-Three because we know child care is a big driver of costs that forces a lot of people out of the city. Investing in Birth-to-Three will also help us reduce the achievement gap in education. You have to start almost from birth really making investments that will allow people to stay in the city reliably all the way through their child’s 18 years.

“We need a Marshall Plan for our small businesses because a lot of them were struggling before this crisis with rising rents [and] regulatory burdens that made it difficult for people to start a business here. Consider all of those issues and then consider the effect the coronavirus is having on their ability to survive these months, especially if you’re in the restaurant business or tourist-focused retail. We need to look at supporting our small businesses, creating retail strategies in our communities, and looking at tax and regulatory relief that’s going to allow them to overcome the virus.”

Brooke Pinto

Neighborhood: Logan Circle
Occupation: Resigned from job as lawyer at DC Office of the Attorney General to run for this seat
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Assistant attorney general, District of Columbia (2018-20); judicial law clerk, U.S. Court of Federal Claims; health and aging fellow, U.S. Senate; campaign intern in Connecticut for Democrat Richard Blumenthal’s Senate run (2010)
Education: Bachelor’s degree in hotel administration, Cornell University; Juris Doctorate, Georgetown University Law Center
Age: 27
Hometown: Greenwich, Connecticut
How long in DC? Six years (three years in her current home)

What made you decide to run for this position?

“At the end of January when Jack Evans resigned five minutes before he was unanimously voted to be expelled from the council for the first time in DC Council history, and then one week later announced he was running again for the same seat, I really couldn’t believe just the flagrant disregard for the rule of law and the respect that I think holding public office deserves. And a week later I resigned from my job and got in the race.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“My city legislative and budgetary experience. … I believe I’m the only candidate with citywide legislative experience, working with the council, working with the mayor’s office, working with the agencies, the AG, as well as the federal government on legislative priorities and incorporating what that whole process looks like from idea conception to on-the-ground implementation and enforcement of the law.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“Recovering from COVID-19 is a central priority of our campaign and of our government. I want to prioritize relief for our small businesses and make sure they have what they need to get back up and running. They are the central engine of our city, and they need support now more than ever. I want to make sure that our health care system is bolstered. That means more contact tracing, more testing, PPE for our health care providers. And I’m concerned about our education system and our students falling behind after a semester of distance learning.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“More exacting oversight over all of our District agencies to ensure that they are providing excellent service delivery and constituent services, as well as making sure we don’t have a duplication of efforts — and a hard review of staffing. … I don’t think it’s responsible to have across-the-board cuts in our budget. I think it takes a more specific approach and process to leadership to understand some of our agencies are going to need more support, like our Department of Employment Services, like our Department of Small and Local Business [Development].

“We need to provide more rent vouchers to people who are struggling right now. I’m very worried that we’re going to have a generation of new evictions coming our way if we don’t give people the relief they need. And I think it makes more sense to give vouchers to our renters as opposed to just saying an all-out rent freeze, because I don’t think that makes sense from an implementation standpoint. I think that mortgage payments and debt collections should be frozen. I think that residential property taxes should be deferred if folks can demonstrate hardship due to COVID. I think we should provide more hotel vouchers for our homeless population.

“Our small-business grant programs need to be expanded. I talk to small-business owners all the time who I’m sharing information with [about the federal Paycheck Protection Program] as well as our local program who either didn’t know about it or didn’t know how to process their application. The PPP application is four pages but there are nuances of the application around monthly expenses versus annual expenses that a bit more coordination and having a ‘people’s advocate’ to really educate our small-business community is going to be really, really important.”

Kishan Putta

Neighborhood: Burleith
Occupation: Outreach consultant, DC Healthlink
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: Chair of DC Asian American and Pacific Islander Democratic Caucus; appointed by DC Mayor Muriel Bowser to the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs; appointed by DC Public Schools chancellor to the Parents Cabinet; appointed by DC chief of police to the Citizens Engagement Academy; elected to Dupont Circle advisory neighborhood commission in 2012 and as Burleith’s advisory neighborhood commissioner in 2018
Education: Bachelor’s degree, Dartmouth College; master’s degree, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government
Age: 46
Hometown: Albany
How long in DC? Since 2005 (in current home since 2016)

What made you decide to run for this position?

“I love helping people and I’ve been able to help thousands of people, both my thousands of current constituents and former constituents. I’m one of the few people in DC who’s been elected ANC commissioner in two different neighborhoods … and both of them were in Ward 2. I have more constituents and former constituents in Ward 2 than anyone else in the race. I wanted to do more to help them out, because I’ve heard so many people who need more help.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in this race?

“I have more health care and public health experience than any other candidate, number one. [Also] I’m a child of immigrants … . I’ve worked on immigrants’ issues for many years through the mayor’s commission and through being the DC Democrats caucus chair for AAPI. Number three, I am the only candidate to be elected in two very different parts of Ward 2 and have more constituent service experience in different areas of the ward than anyone else.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“First and foremost I will use 15 years of public health experience in DC to guide us to safely emerge from this crisis so we can eventually get back to life as normal. … Iit’s going to take a lot of work to stop the spread of COVID so we can safely reopen, but I’m committed to that work and I have the healthcare experience to lead those efforts on the council.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“I’ll put my 15 years of health and small-business experience to work to stop the spread [of the coronavirus] and make sure we can safely reopen — but also to support our economic recovery as well through targeted assistance and small-business assistance, which I have a lot of experience in. We have to help … business owners, but also the workers. And I think you can help the business owners by helping workers. The more you help support workers to stay on payrolls and stay on staff, the better it is for employers … .

“I’ve been strongly supporting our public schools. For years, I helped prevent two Ward 2 elementary schools from closure. That’s Garrison Elementary School and [what’s now known as School Without Walls at Francis-Stevens]. And they’re both doing great these days, I think that they can do even better.

“We want to make sure that we’re to stay diverse in all ways, including socioeconomically. I want to push to make sure that buildings have affordable housing in them, and that we allow homeowners to add affordable housing to their properties as well. I have a record of doing that already, and I’ll do even more on the council. Because it’s something we need to take care of — to house all the people who want to live in our city and work in our city. We don’t want to lose people to the suburbs just because they can’t afford it.”

Katherine Venice

Neighborhood: Downtown
Occupation: Founder of the Ethical Capitalism Group
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: CEO of The Ethical Capitalism Group (pro bono); speeches to business groups on domestic violence issues; presentations on behalf of Amnesty International on disability stigma and discrimination prevention
Education: Bachelor of Arts, Musicology; Master of Business Administration; Chartered Financial Analysts
Age: “I am wonderfully old.”
Hometown: “DC is my hometown for the rest of my life.”

What made you decide to run for this position? (answers via email)

“Council desperately needs my level of economics, business and finance credentials to get DC through this pandemic recession — which might otherwise take at least five years to recover from. Council also needs someone with my proven skills of tackling a corrupt system, who can ethically reform the corruption around Council by lobbyists that goes beyond Jack Evans.

In my pioneering bipartisan work ethically reforming capitalism, I tackled Wall Street’s corruption of capitalism. Wall Street hijacks capitalism to serve its own interests instead of the needs of the greater good; lobbyists do the same with democracy, including here in Ward 2.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in the race?

“Firstly, none of other candidates can match my business, economics and finance credentials: I am the only candidate who has worked at the heart of the economy, through a recession in a full-time economics/business/finance capacity — this will be my third one. I am the only candidate who has addressed the staggering fiscal recklessness of DC Council — and has a plan to remedy this. I am the only candidate who has set up and run a business — with nationwide scope and leading collaborators. I am the only candidate with in-depth and pioneering expertise on the biggest economic issue facing DC, aside from the current recession — economic inequality.

“Secondly, just as I fought to put capitalism back into the hands of those to whom it belongs (Main Street, not Wall Street), I will fight to put DC Council back into the hands of those it belongs to — residents, not lobbyists.

“Thirdly, I have spent over 200 hours directly involved with and advocating for the homeless and against the systemic out-of-control abuse by guards of homeless persons inside DC’s shelters. I know the homeless system and legal framework inside out on this issue, and I know how to reduce the number of homeless persons on the streets.

“Fourthly, I am stridently pro-LGBTQ rights and scored one of the highest ratings of all DC Council candidates in GLAA’s recent ranking. Ward 2 needs a council member who will relentlessly push to reduce discrimination and inequities for our LGBTQ community. DC needs an unequivocally pro-LGBTQ Republican voice on Council.

“Fifthly, one-party states do not function well. Cognitive diversity is critical, and DC Council lacks this. Now is the time for an anti-Trump Republican voice on Council — one who is compassionate and inclusive, and has a track record of working with Democrats on shared goals.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected? What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“My top goals #1 – #7:

“#1: Successfully navigating DC through the pandemic recession. DC Council lacks any basic fiscal responsibility, economic, business or financial literacy. Council’s fiscal fairytale-thinking will make the mayor’s job far harder: Last year, for example, Council passed $1 billion of new legislation, most of which was impossible to fund because the city’s budget was only $8.5 billion. Having an economically, financially, fiscally literate council member will make the difference between this recession in DC lasting two years or five-plus years.

“#2: Pushing through ethical reform of DC Council, including eradicating lobbyist control of Council.

“#3: Reduce homeless persons living on the streets by cutting the systemic abuse by guards of homeless persons inside DC’s shelters.

“#4: Pushing through better protections and remedies for our LGBTQ community against hate crime, exclusion from economic opportunity, discrimination, and staggering health disparities

“#5: Making our city more affordable for seniors.

“#6: Implementing an economically realistic, fiscally responsible solution to the affordable housing crisis, which none of the other candidates are talking about.

“#7: Putting gender-based violence squarely on Council’s agenda, in order to get … this public health taboo taken seriously.”

Yilin Zhang

Neighborhood: Kalorama
Occupation: Health care business development executive
Current or previous elected office/civic activities: League of Women Voters of DC
Education: Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and International Relations-Global Health, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor; Master of Science degree in Health Policy and Health Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science
Age: 32
Hometown: Troy, Michigan
How long in DC? 10 years

What made you decide to run for this position? (answers via email)

“We need representation. I’m not running to enrich myself. I’m not running to just serve certain people. I’m running because I want to be the voice of every resident of DC. I want to see more opportunities for everyone. We need to invest our funds so that every community gets a fair share of our tax dollars. I want to see DC become an exemplary state for the 21st century.”

What differentiates you from other candidates in the race?

“I am hard-working, committed, and determined. My only priority is to serve our residents and develop collaborative solutions. It is critical to create inclusive, comprehensive policy that is responsive to residents’ needs, including our most vulnerable populations.

“I’m an immigrant and first-generation Asian American. From my parents, I learned to navigate cultural and class differences, the importance of hard work, and how we can achieve more by working together.”

What do you hope to accomplish in this position if elected?

“We need to find real solutions for our homeless. Our homeless need housing — and coordinated, continued access to wraparound services, including health care access, mental and behavioral health support, and addiction treatment.”

What are the top three issues you would focus on if elected?

“Homelessness: I’m running because we need to find real solutions for our homeless. Many in the District cannot go to a shelter, out of fear for safety, cleanliness, refusal to bring pets, or couples without children. [As noted above] our homeless need housing — and coordinated, continued access to wraparound services, including health care access, mental and behavioral health support, and addiction treatment.

“Local and small businesses: I’m running because we need support for our local and small-business community. DC was shortchanged $750 million in federal COVID-19 relief funding because it is not a state. Many small businesses [including restaurants] operate on very thin margins. Many have already closed. Even after we reopen our economy, some businesses may not survive past this year.

“DC statehood: We need DC statehood, and I have been fighting to achieve this for more than two years. We need representation.”

This post has been updated to include Katherine Venice’s withdrawal from the special election. The updates also include biographical information on Venice’s past civic activities that had been omitted originally.