jonetta rose barras: The coming moment of truth in Ward 8

In a somewhat anticlimactic move, the DC Council unanimously voted earlier this week to expel Ward 8’s Trayon White Sr. from its membership, ending a nearly six-month saga that dragged on ad nauseam as legitimate concerns festered about the timeliness and thoroughness of the legislature’s disciplinary regimen designed to ensure ethical standards and to maintain the public’s trust.

The entire sordid affair, culminating in the unprecedented expulsion, began with White’s arrest by the FBI on Aug. 18 and his subsequent grand jury indictment on a federal felony bribery charge for agreeing to accept $156,000 from a DC contractor turned informant. White has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for January 2026.

Separate from the criminal case, however, an ad hoc committee of the council conducted its own investigation — assisted by the law firm Latham & Watkins LLP — and found substantial evidence that White had, in fact, violated the legislature’s Code of Conduct and DC’s financial disclosure laws. In December, that panel made its recommendation for his expulsion, but another month and a half passed before the final vote because a public hearing was required.

Council sources told me White will have a couple weeks to completely vacate his office at the John A. Wilson Building. Council Chair Phil Mendelson may temporarily absorb onto his own office’s payroll a few of White’s staffers, giving them a month or two to locate other employment. The DC Board of Elections must now declare the Ward 8 council seat vacant and schedule a special election to occur within 174 days. 

Instead of the end, this may be the beginning, all over again, especially since DC law does not prohibit White from running in the special election. 

This is what I mean about thoroughness. If someone’s behavior has been so egregious during their tenure on an elected body as to earn a unanimous vote of expulsion from colleagues, why should that person be allowed to return to the scene of the proverbial crime? Shouldn’t there be a permanent prohibition? 

This is not high school, my god.

Some people think voters should make the final decision. That works, sometimes.

After Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans resigned from office in January 2020 to sidestep an expulsion vote, he ran for another four-year term in the Democratic primary that June. He received only 376 votes in the hotly contested race. Those results placed him second from last; he probably would have done no better if he had jumped into the special election that was held a few weeks later to temporarily fill the vacancy.

There won’t be back-to-back races this year in Ward 8 — just the one special election. That could offer a glide path for a White return.

Some civic leaders I spoke with earlier this week asserted that among the politically active class, fatigue appears to be setting in and morale is fairly low. That may discourage would-be candidates from jumping into the race and further suppress voter participation in what is already likely to be a low-turnout election, they said.

Charles Wilson, a longtime Ward 8 resident and chair of the DC Democratic State Committee, said it “comes down to whether people are looking to turn the page or is Trayon still their guy.” 

In a statement about the expulsion sent out by the DC Republican Party, its chair, Patrick Mara,  said: “We are confident a strong qualified Republican candidate will enter the race and allow voters to choose from someone outside of the Democratic club that has consistently delivered  corrupt politicians to the DC government for decades.”

White won a third term by decisively beating Republican Nate Derenge in last year’s November general election. Given that Ward 8, like much of DC, is a stronghold for the Democratic Party, local Republicans will have to deliver more than tough talk to win in the special election.

Still, the outcome of a special election is not always foretold. It is an open contest that allows all comers — party members and independents — to participate as candidates and as voters. 

In 1997, for example, former DC Council Chair Arrington Dixon lost a citywide race to David Catania, a white, 29-year-old lawyer and openly gay Republican. In 2020, newcomer Brooke Pinto surprised everyone by pulling off a victory against several seasoned politicos in the Ward 2 race.

Admittedly, politics in Ward 8 are a lot different. The milieu remains trapped in the late 20th century, a time when race-based propaganda and sensibilities loomed large and victim branding allowed candidates to persuade voters that only by bonding together could they defeat the power structure holding them down. 

In my view, it is amazing that 51 years after DC gained quasi political independence and nearly one-quarter of the way through the 21st century such self-defeating techniques and strategies still have potency among the electorate, even when the so-called power structure is dominated by people who look like them — like me.

In other words, Ward 8’s economic stagnation is at least partially the result of failed African American leaders, who maintain their influence by continuing to manipulate and exploit race and class fears. That includes Trayon White, who had held the Ward 8 council seat since 2017.

Similar to his predecessor and mentor, now-deceased mayor and councilmember Marion Barry, White has sought to portray the FBI as the villain, rather than his own weakness and greed. Truthfully, that FBI-set-me-up plotline is so 1990s. 

Unfortunately, many White supporters seem stuck in that time warp. They have embraced his myriad excuses, recently filing a lawsuit in U.S. District Court claiming their voting rights would be violated if the council expelled White. The temporary restraining order they requested, hoping to block the council vote, was denied.

White is a desperate man. He has lived on the public trough for eight years, arguing that he has well served Ward 8. The record of his tenure tells a vastly different story. 

If he jumps into the special election and wins, the council could choose to expel him, again, according to council sources. 

I’m OK with legislators doing that. Many folks in the ward — and many others who live elsewhere in the city — have had enough of Trayon White. He represents the kind of leadership failure I wrote about in 1995. 

There remains a compelling question, however: Can civic, business and other leaders collectively identify someone with the skills and talents to prevail in the special election and bring new leadership and a 21st century vision for a new Ward 8? 

jonetta rose barras is an author and DC-based freelance journalist, covering national and local issues. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.