Watch: At-large DC Council candidates’ forum

Candidates seeking the at-large council seat on the June Democratic primary ballot took to the virtual stage on Tuesday, April 19 to discuss housing, transportation, and land use issues, in a forum hosted by GGWash.

The two candidates in attendance were Nate Fleming and Lisa Gore. Alex Koma of Washington City Paper moderated the forum, and GGWash’s DC Policy Director Alex Baca kept time.

All DC voters may vote for DC’s four at-large councilmembers, who represent the whole of the District and no specific ward. While the general election in November will also include a race for the non-majority party seat currently held by at-large Councilmember Elissa Silverman, only the Democratic seat currently held by Councilmember Anita Bonds is at play in the June primary. (One of the indignities of DC’s lack of statehood is that the interaction between the Home Rule Charter’s stipulations and our highly Democratic-leaning voting population mean that two At-Large seats are set aside for officials who don’t identify themselves as Democrats, leaving them off the primary ballot).

Bonds has held the seat since 2012, and for several years has chaired the Council’s Committee on Housing and Executive Administration (formerly Housing Neighborhood Revitalization), which oversees the Department of Housing and Community Development; the District of Columbia Housing Authority; and the Housing Production Trust Fund. First-term councilmembers do not chair committees until the second half of their terms, so an upset (Bonds is running) would move the housing chair to another incumbent.

To dig deeper into the specific platforms of these and other candidates vying for this at-large seat, check out their responses to our questionnaires on transportation, housing, and land use.

GGWash has been involved with a number of candidate forums this spring, including an online forum for candidates for the Ward 5 council seat and an in-person forum for candidates for council chair and mayor, both focused on transportation issues, and an online forum for candidates for the Ward 3 council seat focused on housing.

These educational events are intended for voters to learn more about the views of candidates in the DC Democratic primary. GGWash is also endorsing candidates in the primary, and in DC’s general election, principally based on their answers to questionnaires (available here) that we’ve sent to each campaign, which address housing, transportation, and land use. Questionnaires were sent to candidates whose information was on file with the Board of Elections by March 12.

Visit our 2022 elections hub, where you’ll find candidates’ responses to our questionnaire, information about who we are endorsing, how we arrived at our decision, recordings of our candidate forums, and ways you can get involved.