jonetta rose barras: Political confusion and DC’s leadership gap
The amateur politics on display in DC over the past two weeks have been breathtaking. The end doesn’t appear to be in sight, as the DC Democratic State Committee (DCDSC), under the leadership of its newly elected chair Chioma Iwuoha, apparently is poised to present its own version of Groundhog Day at the John A. Wilson Building, with multiple appointees to the at-large council seat left vacant by the resignation of Robert White and multiple swearing-in ceremonies.
Last week, Iwuoha and other members of the DCDSC executive committee, operating behind closed doors and discarding their own previously established procedures, appointed Jamal Holtz to fill White’s seat. They hoped to prevent at-large Councilmember Christina Henderson, an independent, from claiming it by restoring her membership in the Democratic Party.
The maneuver worked. Holtz, president of the DC Young Democrats, was sworn in on Monday; he had already received training around council rules and protocols and had been assigned an office. On Tuesday, he actively participated in both the council’s Committee of the Whole meeting and the legislative session, voting on a variety of critical bills while recusing himself from a few because of his private-sector work at a consulting firm.
Nevertheless, Iwuoha has continued to collect applications from individuals who want the job that Holtz now temporarily holds — an interim appointment to White’s vacant seat. She and her crew of mostly progressives, who are allies of Janeese Lewis George and members of the mayor-elect’s purple brigade, have a list of more than 70 individuals, according to party insiders who spoke with me but requested anonymity.
Iwuoha and her team met as recently as Thursday to review those applications and establish a priority list. “They will make a final selection by Nov. 18 or 19,” the DCDSC source told me earlier this week.
“Jamal was supposed to be temporary. So, then they are going to appoint a new person to serve until the special election in April,” said the source, noting that adhering to the envisioned timeline could mean Holtz will serve only 10 days, counting the weekend.
“They don’t know what they’re doing. But no one will stand up to them,” added the DCDSC insider.
Longtime political consultant Chuck Thies had a stronger criticism: “The people who have taken over the [Democratic State Committee] are not ready for prime time.
“They are impulsive; they contradict themselves; and, in my opinion, they are unethical,” said Thies. “They have added to the distrust of a system that people already think is wacky.”
Thies has blamed Council Chair Phil Mendelson for allowing the slapstick spectacle to occur: “He had the opportunity to shut this all down.”
Mendelson did not respond to my telephone calls requesting a comment on the series of events, including the prospect of multiple appointees to the vacant seat.
However, at his monthly pre-legislative session press conference where he was peppered with questions about how things were being handled, he claimed he had no choice and was following the guidance provided by the council’s general counsel, given the procedures established by the Home Rule Act of 1973.
I have been around long enough and have seen Mendelson in action frequently enough to know that he is prone to whipping out a scapegoat when necessary to protect his political position — current and future.
“Everyone knows that Henderson would not have made a move without going to Mendelson and telling him what she intended to do,” said Thies, who once worked as a communications director for former Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray. “He probably gave her his blessings.”
Mendelson could have stood with Henderson. He could have asserted her right to change parties. He could have asserted that there was no need to rush the appointment, especially since there are only a few more legislative meetings before the council session ends in mid-December.
He may have decided against all of that based on predictable concerns about managing his members come January, when he formally presents his plan to reorganize council committees and change internal rules. Was he worried defending Henderson might invite mutiny from a legislature filled with progressives?
Does Mendelson’s neutral posture mean he won’t encounter any opposition to his leadership decisions come January? “That’s not how those people play,” said Thies, referring to the members of the far-left wing of the council, who call themselves progressives.
Actually, from my vantage point, this is one of those proverbial pox-on-all-their-houses moments.
Let’s go to the clips: When White registered to run for congressional delegate, he knew that a federal and local law did not permit him to actually be elected because he held a paid seat in the government. Inexplicably, the DC Board of Elections certified him as eligible, although it clearly knew the legal restriction. Neither the board nor White publicly disclosed the issue until just before Election Day.
White may have hoped to circumvent that 1970 law. He did not reveal existing legal interpretations that ran counter to his own belief that he need not relinquish his council seat prior to the election. A written opinion recently provided to White by DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb — and media reports about it — put the kibosh on that deception.
He resigned Nov. 2. He is now delegate-elect, after prevailing over two opponents — Republican Denise Rosado and Statehood Green candidate Kymone Freeman — and winning 194,118 votes (87.22%), according to election results published Thursday on the DC Board of Elections website.
Soon after White’s resignation took effect, Henderson announced she had switched her registration to return the “D” behind her name — as earlier speculation and reporting suggested she would be doing. Her action meant that in effect White’s seat would already be filled, since the home rule charter specifies that only three of the council’s five at-large seats (including chair) can be held by members of the dominant party — in this case, Democrats. Instead, the vacancy would be one of the two seats held by a non-Democrat.
There was nothing illegal about Henderson’s party-switching plan. After all, it has happened many times over the years in Congress.
It is hard to fathom that Henderson didn’t share her party-switching plan with Mendelson. He obviously didn’t think through all of the potential ramifications.
Iwuoha may have seen it as a threat to the DCDSC’s first notable act under her leadership. She and others may also have interpreted the switch as disrupting a political strategy designed by far-left progressives, and perhaps even Lewis George, to ensure a legislative branch created in the incoming mayor’s ideological image and loyal to her agenda — something that eluded the outgoing mayor, Muriel Bowser, for her last two terms in office.
After running candidates for office since 2018 and hoping to gain the desired foothold, progressives — especially Iwuoha — made it clear in various press releases and public statements that the DCDSC would not yield to Henderson. They also clearly didn’t want to have to appoint a non-Democrat as interim councilmember.
“No one was taking away the Democratic State Committee’s legal rights to fill [White’s] seat,” said Thies. “The Democratic Party is supposed to be this big tent; it claims to welcome everyone.
“Christina Henderson was treated like a pariah,” Thies added.
Iwuoha did not reply to my emails requesting an interview or comment about the appointment process. Nor did two members of the ad hoc selection committee.
Holtz also did not reply to my email requesting an interview or comment about the process that landed him — temporarily — in the job, as the first Gen Zer on the council.
Interestingly, Lewis George’s purple brigade, including Iwuoha and others, might not have had the same chance to advance were it not for Henderson. Working with Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau (another Lewis George disciple), Henderson was key to securing funding that permitted implementation of ranked choice voting in the 2026 election cycle.
More critically, Henderson and Nadeau did not include money to implement the open primary portion of the citizen-approved Initiative 83. That essentially meant over 80,000 voters would be kept out of this year’s primary — voters who might well have adversely impacted the eventual election outcome, at least from the perspective of far-left progressives including current DCDSC leadership.
Did Henderson think she could collect that chit? Did she think Lewis George’s ultra-left allies would consider Henderson a flag-carrying member of the purple brigade?
If she thought either of those, she thought wrong.
After Mendelson announced that he intended to honor the DCDSC decision to name Holtz even before the Elections Board had officially declared a vacancy, Henderson swiftly retracted her registration switch.
“Had I known that the regulations and precedence would not be followed, I would not have proceeded as I did,” Henderson wrote in a public statement.
“I had a time-limited opportunity to rejoin the Democratic Party and wanted to do so for the reasons I mentioned earlier this week,” she continued, referencing her earlier announcement.
Henderson added that this year’s “historic” election outcomes nationwide “showed no political party has ownership of any seat. With incoming Democratic majorities in Congress lawmakers should repeal the outdated cap on the District’s representation.”
Lewis George, who as Ward 4 councilmember for the past six years sat beside Henderson during countless legislative meetings, did not come to her aid by getting Iwuoha to back off. Responding to a reporter’s question, Lewis George said only that she hoped Henderson would change her mind.
Interestingly, when the controversy was in full heat, Iwuoha’s name appeared on Lewis George’s transition team as a chair of “One DC,” although there was no description of that designation.
This week, after Henderson issued a statement retracting her Democratic Party membership, Iwuoha may have received a transition committee promotion.
She is now listed as co-chair of “Community Organizing Resident Engagement.”
What does that mean? Is it just a new name for One DC? Or does it provide Iwuoha with a more prominent and expansive portfolio, one focused on expanding the numbers and strength of Lewis George’s political operation?
Amanda Gomez, communications director for mayor-elect Lewis George, did not respond to my email requesting descriptions for the mission and goals of each transition committee and subcommittee.
In a recent group photo of transition committee members, Iwuoha is in the first row near the transition co-chairs and a few feet from Lewis George.
Iwuoha, a former advisory neighborhood commissioner, lives in Ward 7 and graduated from Lafayette College. She once interned with the Democratic National Committee, according to a Democratic Party source.
Currently, Iwuoha works in development at the nonprofit organization Bread for the City. She has said she “will have a job” in Lewis George’s administration starting in January, according to the DCDSC insider.
Despite claims by progressives and Lewis George that she intends to create a “people-first government,” the controversy around the appointment to White’s vacant seat makes clear to me that little of substance will change under a new administration.
The players may change. The game remains the same.
When Marion Barry became mayor, his political machine took up residence in the government. When Adrian Fenty became mayor, the green team was installed. Gray, who followed, brought in his own set of operatives. Bowser was accused of reinstalling the green team.
Politics and retaining power surely will serve as a prime directive and soundtrack of the Lewis George administration.
Unlike in past years, when the legislative branch by and large established boundaries and protected its turf, there may not be significant pushback against executive branch encroachments. Consider that councilmembers at their recent meetings have repeatedly expressed an eagerness to satisfy the desires and preferences of the mayor-elect, choosing to withhold some decisions until January, after she is sworn in.
In other words, don’t be surprised when purple becomes the DC government’s color du jour and Iwuoha is a principal flag holder.
jonetta rose barras is an author and DC-based freelance journalist, covering national and local issues. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.