Elections

A diverse crowd of nearly 300 people squeezed into the auditorium at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Monday evening; it was a standing-room-only setting at the latest DC mayoral forum, one sponsored by The 51st, The…

One of the more fascinating races in the June 16 Democratic primary may be the contest for DC Council chair. Incumbent Phil Mendelson is pitted against his former colleague and friend, Jack Evans, who represented Ward 2 for nearly three…

When DC for Democracy, a far-left-leaning local political advocacy group, held a virtual forum earlier this year, candidates for DC delegate repeatedly used the words “fight” and “statehood.” Were they simply tapping into a key policy…

The DC Board of Elections released its formal ruling earlier this week, making official its declaration that the Make All Votes Count Act of 2024 is a proper subject for a ballot initiative. That decision is reckless and without…

On the surface, ranked choice voting (RCV) may seem like an egalitarian policy. According to advocates, it would ensure that political candidates would be more accountable to voters and more women and people of color would get elected. …

“There is a difference between talking loudly and having warm and fuzzy relationships with the press and somebody who gets you-know-what done,” outgoing Ward 5 DC Council member Kenyan McDuffie told me last week during an extended…

“It is easy to see the beginnings of things, and harder to see the ends,” Joan Didion wrote in her 1967 essay, “Goodbye to All That.” She’s right, of course. It may be harder still, however, to see the beginning of the end, which…

That’s the question many people were initially asking after The Washington Post released poll results that seemed to be a two-step takedown of incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser. After all, 74% of the 904 people surveyed between Feb. 2 and Feb.…

Ward 5 DC Council member Kenyan McDuffie is in the proverbial political catbird seat. He is the legislature’s chair pro tempore; chair of the powerful Committee on Business and Economic Development, holding sway over significant financial…

At-large DC Council member and newly announced mayoral candidate Robert White is right in asserting that the District government has essentially aged out. “We have been on autopilot for years,” he said during an interview with me last…

Patrick Mara seems determined that the DC Republican Party and its members will be part of the local political mix this election cycle. “We’ve cast a wide net. We have a dozen persons interested in running for office,” he told me last week…

Responding last week to a question asked during WAMU’s Politics Hour about her political intentions, Mayor Muriel Bowser declined to indicate definitively whether she will run for a third term: "I usually get into a campaign when I know I…

In the middle of a pandemic that shattered the national and local economy, DC’s elected and finance officials decided to press ahead with several newly launched initiatives that tapped critical resources, including public funding for…

There were protests and counterprotests. One candidate was accused of being bought by out-of-town super-rich people. Another was labeled a pawn of big developers. There also were accusations of campaign finance violations. At one point,…

In the days before this year’s general election, DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson asserted that the city’s so-called political progressives were out of touch with the majority of the District’s electorate. Reviewing the unofficial…

Whether it’s prudent yet to reopen DC Public Schools to in-person instruction isn’t the only topic of vigorous discussion when it comes to public education in DC. Six candidates are vying for the at-large seat on the State Board of…

With early voting underway for the Nov. 3 election, DC voters are deciding whether to make “magic mushrooms” and other psychedelic plants and fungi the lowest enforcement priority among all crimes for the Metropolitan Police Department.…

If it’s hard to keep track of all the candidates on the Nov. 3 ballot, it may be even tougher to keep track of everyone who has endorsed them. To that end, The DC Line compiled as many endorsements as we could find to help voters as they…

Here’s a listing of the citywide and ward candidates on DC’s general election ballot. We’ve included links to candidates’ political websites and Twitter accounts for those running for positions other than president and vice president. …