DC for Democracy met in the luxurious Wilson building (quite a change from Ben’s Chili Bowl) to hold our endorsement vote for the Fall elections. A big thank you to everyone who came! A special thanks to our fabulous election inspectors: Kevin Delany, Brett McBride, and Julius Ware. A special thanks also to our excellent member witnesses Chan Tei DuRant, Brad Lewis, and Terry Walz. These folks, as well as our voting experts, Clayton Mansfield and Keith Ivey, worked long and hard to ensure that the vote was tabulated correctly. At the end of a long and boisterous meeting, we endorsed the following:

Federal Candidates in the November Election

Judy Feder, Democratic challenger in VA’s 10th district in the November election (97.4%).

Note: Barack Obama was endorsed last October, and that endorsement still holds. Judy’s campaign is working on behalf of Obama and Mark Warner, candidate for US Senate in the 10th district.

Local Candidates in the DC Democratic Primary

Eleanor Holmes Norton, DC delegate (87.2%).
Kwame Brown, At-large councilmember (97.4).
Mike Panetta, US Shadow Representative (97.4%).
Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate of candidates for the DC Democratic State Committee (82.5%).

No endorsements were made in the following races, due to the fact that we did not reach the required 2/3 majority vote:

Ward 2 councilmember: Cary Silverman (51.3%), Jack Evans (30.8%), No Endorsement (17.9%).

Ward 4 councilmember: First-choice votes were Muriel Bowser (58.3%), Baruti Jahi (5.6%), Malik Mendenhall-Johnson (2.8%), Paul Montague (2.8%), No Endorsement (30.6%). After second-choice votes* were tabulated, Bowser achieved 63.9%.

Ward 7 councilmember: First-choice votes were Yvette Alexander (54.1%), Villareal “VJ” Johnson (10.8%), Robin Hammond Marlin (5.4%),John Campbell (0%), No Endorsement (29.7%). After second-choice votes* were tabulated, Alexander remained unchanged at 54.1%.

Ward 8 councilmember: Marion Barry (27.8%), Charles Wilson (16.7%), “S.S” Sandra Seegars (13.9%), Ahmad Braxton-Jones (2.8%), Howard Brown (0%), No Endorsement (38.9%). Second-choice votes* were not tabulated, since No Endorsement had more than 1/3 of the vote.

US Shadow Senator: Philip Pannell (64.1%), Paul Strauss (25.6%), No Endorsement (2.6%).

Note: DC4D bylaws require modified Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), where more than 2 candidates are running. Under this system, second-choice votes are taken into account when first-choice votes fail to achieve the endorsement threshold.

A Special Note
DC for Democracy extends profuse apologies to Eleanor Holmes Norton, Paul Strauss, Phil Pannell, and Mike Panetta, who failed to receive our survey forms due to an administrative error. Fortunately, they were not disadvantaged in terms of their challengers. We will ensure that the surveys are sent to them as soon as possible and any that are received will be posted on our website from now through the DC Primary.

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