Image by Robb Dooling used with permission.

Both wards 5 and 6 have seen large shares of new housing and other development in recent years. Northeastern Ward 5 has former industrial and institutional spaces that have been or are slated for change, like the Rhode Island Avenue Metro and McMillan in 5, or the Capitol Riverfront, H Street, and NoMA in 6. Between all of these rapidly changing parts of DC are delightful neighborhoods in both wards. Many candidates hope to represent these communities on Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, and we’ve asked them all about their priorities and views.

DC has 40 commissions, which are basically elected neighborhood councils, across DC. Within each commission are a set of “Single-Member Districts (SMDs),” 299 in total, each spanning about 2,000 or so people. ANCs advise the District government on issues, especially development and historic preservation, liquor licensing, and use of public space including transportation; the law requires DC agencies to give their views “great weight.” If you live in DC, you can find out your ward, ANC, and SMD at ancfinder.org.

The GGWash Elections Committee circulated questionnaires to all candidates in all of the SMDs across the city. We received 192 responses. In contested races, we are making an endorsement when the differences between candidates was clear enough (or when a good or good-enough candidate replied and competitors did not). We’ve also sometimes given candidates we didn’t endorse a “star” for having good answers. Where only one person is on the ballot, we didn’t endorse as a general policy, but candidates with good responses (and there are some great ones!) got that star.

Here are the full responses for Ward 5 and Ward 6, and tables showing our recommendations below. The tables list every candidate who replied to our questionnaire. You can read all of our endorsements for the 2020 general election in DC at this page, which will be updated as the final ones are published.

For these wards, there are a few candidates running as write-ins. In some cases, they are running though there are one or more candidates on the ballot. In 6D01, there are no candidates who successfully filed petitions to be on the ballot; in that case, only a write-in can win, and we’ve marked this with a special icon and made an endorsement like in a contested seat.

Ward 5

Ward 6

By the way, if voters were casting ballots based on great campaign signs, Amber Gove would be a strong contender. (She got our endorsement on the regular merits of her policy views, as well.)

Image by Amber Gove used with permission.

This is the official endorsement of Greater Greater Washington. All endorsements are decided by our volunteer Elections Committee.