Meet the Ward 4 Democratic primary candidates for DC Council

Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, who won by only 10 points in 2016, is likely the most vulnerable incumbent seeking office in the June 2 primary. He faces three other contenders for the seat: Janeese Lewis George, ANC commissioner Renee Bowser, and former Democratic Committeewoman Marlena D. Edwards.

George, his first challenger and the first candidate in the Ward 4 race to qualify under Fair Elections financing, has squared off against Todd’s Green Team lineage, campaigning as “a strong, independent voice who will fight for accountability, affordability, and equity.” She’s captured numerous progressive endorsements and racked up a considerable amount of donations compared to Bowser and Edwards.

How we’re endorsing primary candidates

This week and next, as part of GGWash’s endorsement process for the 2020 DC Council elections, we’re introducing candidates in the June 2 Democratic primary. This includes contested races in Ward 4, Ward 7, Ward 8, and for the Democratic at-large seat currently held by Robert C. White, Jr.

We’ll deliver endorsements later this spring. As with our Ward 2 endorsement, we’ll be circulating questionnaires to see where the candidates stand on housing, transportation, and land use. (We’d also love to co-host forums in any or all of these races. If your organization is considering a forum and would like to partner, email abaca@ggwash.org.)

And, as always, our endorsements will rest on who we think is most likely to best represent our interests, which include frequent, reliable transportation; accessible, affordable housing; and the land-use policies needed to support and expand both.

A word on methodology: We emailed the address on file with the Board of Elections of each candidate who has filed to run in the Democratic primary in the Ward 4, Ward 7, Ward 8, and at-large race, asking for a two- to three-sentence bio, links to relevant social media, and a headshot; candidates had a week and a half to respond. (Keith Ivey’s excellent DC Geekery makes it easy to see who’s running for what.)

We’ve noted the source of content for each candidate: If a campaign responded to us, we’ve reprinted the text here. If they didn’t, we’ve cobbled together what we can find based on a candidate’s websites and cursory Googling. If they neither responded to us nor have a clear online presence, we have nothing to share!

Meet the candidates

Renee Bowser

Website | Twitter

We did not receive a response from Bowser’s campaign.

According to her website, she’s served seven terms as ANC 4D02 commissioner, worked with Parkview Apartments tenants (220 Hamilton Street NW) on a Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act deal (presumably in her capacity as an ANC commissioner, given that she owns a home on 2nd Street NW), and pushed to reopen the field at the former Rudolph Elementary School, now Washington Latin Charter School. Affordable housing, public safety, and education are listed as her issue areas. Bowser has run in prior Ward 4 elections as far back as 2000, as a Statehood Green candidate and then as a Democrat.

Bowser is using fair elections financing, and, per DC Geekery, has 198 contributions totaling $11,240, with a projected match of $78,450 from the fair elections program.

Marlena D. Edwards

Website | Twitter

Edwards’ campaign wrote to us, “Marlena D. Edwards is a passionate community activist, who is committed to social justice and economic development. She is a native Washington, lifelong resident of Ward 4, received a B.S. in Mass Communication from Towson University, and worked in the private sector, highlighted by her work on the Middle East Peace Talks. Marlena then received a Master of Social Work degree from Howard University and has devoted over two decades of service to the residents of the District of Columbia through serving as a member of numerous boards and committees that promote coalition building and community empowerment. She has served on transition teams for DC Attorney General Karl A. Racine, Mayor Muriel Bowser and Mayor Vincent C. Gray. Marlena is the founder of Metropolitan Alliance, Incorporated which works on issues related to community health, social/economic development and legislative policy.”

Her issue areas, per her website, are economic development, health, and education. She ran for the Ward 4 council seat in 2007, and lost, and won the Ward 4 Democratic Committeewoman seat in 2014.

Edwards is not using fair elections financing and, per DC Geekery, has 13 contributions totaling $5,683.

Janeese Lewis George

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

George’s campaign wrote to us, “Janeese Lewis George is a former school board member, former DC Assistant Attorney General, a DC State Democratic Committeewoman, a third-generation Washingtonian, lifelong Democrat and Ward 4 resident. She served as an Assistant Attorney General under the leadership of Attorney General Karl A. Racine and championed proven methods to reduce crime (like the ACE diversion program) and improve the quality of life for residents. Janeese is the first candidate to qualify under D.C.’s fair elections program in Ward 4.”

She’s been endorsed by DC Black Lives Matter, DC Working Families Party, Metro DC DSA, Jews United for Justice Campaign Fund, DC for Democracy, and Broads Save America. George was the first candidate to enter the race against incumbent Brandon Todd, in August 2019, and has aggressively campaigned to his left on criminal justice, housing, and public health.

Her issue areas, per her website, include tackling the housing affordability crisis, demanding accountability and integrity from elected leaders, ensuring affordable child care and quality neighborhood schools, preventing crime and advancing community safety, creating an inclusive economy, advancing healthcare for all, creating transportation equity, taking on the environmental crisis, and fighting for statehood.

George is using fair elections financing and, per DC Geekery, has 994 contributions totaling $40,691, with a projected match of $208,103 from the fair elections program.

Brandon Todd

Website | Twitter

We did not receive a response from Todd’s campaign.

Todd’s campaign website contains no biographical, campaign, or platform information, though there are links to a donation page and a contact page. The current councilmember, who first won his seat in a 2015 special election to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser, is running for a second full term. He currently chairs the Committee on Government Operations.

His bio on his councilmember website says, “Councilmember Todd is committed to moving forward an agenda that focuses on expanding services for seniors, improving education in DC schools, supporting economic development and small business growth, and improving the quality and safety of District neighborhoods,” and lists his priorities as constituent services, economic development, public safety, education and recreation, seniors, and “innovative legislation.”

Todd is not using fair elections financing and, per DC Geekery, has 1,442 contributions totaling $415,652.

Urbanist issues in Ward 4

In December, DCist ran an extensively reported overview of Renee Bowser and Janeese Lewis George’s campaigns against incumbent Brandon Todd. Edwards has received little press attention; her campaign kick-off was scheduled for Feb. 22.

Ward 4 is considerably less dense than much of the rest of the District. Its Future Land Use Map designations are largely low- to moderate-density residential. There are some medium-density residential units around Metro stations, and some commercial use around corridors like Kennedy Street. If the entire city were zoned for R-1-B—detached single-family homes, with small yards—Ward 4 would actually be upzoned. Even though “detached single-family homes, with small yards,” is what most people think of when they think of single-family neighborhoods, Ward 4 is actually lower-density than that, mandating larger lot sizes than R-1-B.

Ward 4 falls mostly within the Rock Creek East planning area, which has, per Office of Planning’s Housing Framework for Equity and Growth report, built 2,650 affordable-housing units. Mayor Bowser’s goal of 36,000 new units, including 12,000 affordable, is what OP calls a “critical first step toward a long-range goal proposed as a policy in the District’s ongoing Comprehensive Plan amendment process to achieve a minimum of 15 percent of affordable units within each planning area by 2050” (p. 4). To hit the mayor’s target and be on the right track for the 2050 goal, Rock Creek East will need to add 1,500 units of affordable housing by 2025. This is one of the higher targets out of all the planning areas, because Rock Creek East—and by extension, Ward 4—has less affordable housing than much of the rest of the city.

Some 16th Street residents are still fighting the 16th Street bus lane to preserve the ability to park in public space in front of their house. Though the partially dedicated bits of the 16th Street bus lane don’t extend too far into Ward 4, residents there would benefit from more frequent, reliable transportation along 16th Street. For his part, Todd has been present at a couple of events to support public transit—most notably, he’s touted, and sponsored, Bus to Work Day for the past two years.

Housing, including how affordable it can or should be, and where it should go, is likely to be a more animated issue in Ward 4 than transportation. Both Bowser and George include affordable housing in their platforms, and the redevelopment of Walter Reed’s campus, while underway to the extent that not much will be changed about it, is a highly visible project that will likely inform residents’ opinions on future development.

Though councilmembers don’t have prerogative over land use and transportation decisions, the Ward 4 councilmember does hold sway to push harder for frequent, reliable public transportation, and greater housing density in the ward.