Oye Owolewa for DC shadow representative and Ankit Jain for DC shadow senator. Photos courtesy of the campaigns.

Greater Greater Washington is endorsing Ankit Jain for shadow senator and Oye Owolewa for shadow representative.

All candidates running for both seats submitted questionnaires, which we sincerely appreciate: Ankit Jain and Eugene Kinlow in the election for shadow senator, and Linda Gray and Oye Owolewa in the election for shadow representative.

Until we have the final say on our own fate, the District’s lack of statehood directly impacts GGWash’s issue areas. The freedom of movement is something that all District residents and visitors are entitled to, as is the fulfillment of the basic need of shelter. More prosaically, the District’s ability to provide more housing, more affordable housing, and frequent and reliable transportation, while reducing trips by car, is practically bound up with statehood: Changing policies like the Height Act, or implementing programs like road pricing, are a big enough deal that they trigger threats both perceived and real to our autonomy.

Our two shadow senators and one representative are not seated in or recognized by the US Senate or the US House of Representatives. Rather, they are non-voting elected leaders charged with advocating for DC statehood. Advocating for statehood can manifest as a focus on achieving statehood itself, a view Gray and Kinlow espouse, or a broader approach that encompasses small victories along the way that, bit by bit, establish the District’s autonomy. Both Owolewa and Jain seem to favor the latter approach in their responses to our questionnaire, and as a result, demonstrate a greater appetite for advocating on issues such as the Height Act alongside direct advocacy on statehood.

We feel that Owolewa and Jain have the strongest command of what the District’s senator and representative can do, and clear willingness to use their prospective roles expansively in ways that benefit the District’s fight for statehood and advance housing, transportation, and land use policy, the issues central to GGWash’s endorsement decision-making.

GGWash is delighted that both Owolewa and Jain express support for increasing housing production, fairly distributing more housing and more affordable housing throughout the District, and road pricing, and would amend the Height Act and the purview of the District’s historic preservation laws. Though we share some points of agreement with Linda Gray, Owolewa’s challenger, Owolewa—the shadow representative incumbent and a former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner—has a better grasp on transportation, and understands how it intersects with job and food access.

Jain’s questionnaire responses are exemplary. He has a banger of a statement that unites the Height Act, statehood, and the tradeoffs inherent in the politics of housing development that deserves to be printed in full:

The Shadow Senator’s job is to make sure the federal government works positively and not negatively with DC. With that in mind, the single biggest thing I can and will do as Shadow Senator is get the federal Height Act repealed or significantly modified. The federal Height Act caps how tall buildings in DC can be. This is a sovereignty issue–senators from Wyoming and Massachusetts should not be telling us how tall our buildings can be. I want our elected representatives to be managing the tradeoff between building more housing to reduce housing costs and preserving DC’s skyline. If we can build higher, we can decrease rent and home prices by increasing the supply of housing. And since increasing the height of buildings is very valuable to developers, we can require increased affordable housing set-asides for taller buildings to ensure we build more affordable and deeply affordable housing, in addition to market-rate housing. In addition to working to repeal the Height Act, I will also work to secure additional federal funding for the construction of affordable housing in DC and for fixing our dilapidated public housing.

Whether outlining his stances on WMATA funding, access to transportation choices, or road pricing, Jain is similarly excellent. It is of tremendous value that someone so astute on housing, transportation, and land use is running for shadow senator, and better still that he is clear-eyed about how these issues and his prospective role as a statehood advocate could mutually benefit each other.

GGWash, and our supporters, are lucky to be able to vote for Jain and Owolewa, who we believe will fight hard for statehood and its intersections with urbanism in a way that resonates with a broad swath of District residents. We urge you to vote for them on or before the June 4, 2024, primary election, and show up to get out the vote for them. You can contribute to Owolewa’s campaign here and Jain’s campaign here, and sign up to volunteer with Jain here.

For more information about how we’re making endorsements in the District in 2024, see our 2024 endorsements process post. On our 2024 Elections Hub, you’ll find information about GGWash’s political work this year, including resources about voting and candidates, candidates’ responses to our questionnaires, our endorsements, and how you can help our endorsed candidates win their elections. Access the hub anytime from the “2024 Elections” link in the upper right corner of our homepage.

Distinctly political work, like our endorsements process, is not funded by grants. We are only able to make endorsements with support from individual donors. If you value our endorsements resources, consider a contribution, of any amount, to support us in 2024 and beyond. You can do so here.