Here are the at-large Democratic primary candidates for DC Council

This week, as part of GGWash’s endorsements 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 Councilmember Robert C. White, Jr.

White, who GGWash endorsed in 2014 and 2016 (and interviewed in 2016), is campaigning to keep his seat against two new, unknown challengers, Nathan Brown and Tyrone Carmichael. White, who seems likely to run for mayor in the future, has been a reliably progressive vote and stands to coast toward reelection in the Democratic primary.

How we’re endorsing primary candidates

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.

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 in the at-large Democratic primary. (Note that we’re using “at-large Democratic primary” to distinguish between Democratic at-large candidates in the June 2 primary and the non-Democratic race, which is decided in the November general election. We’ll be endorsing for the latter in late summer.)

Meet the candidates

Nathan Brown

Instagram

Brown’s campaign wrote to us, “Nathan ‘Mr. Ward 6’ Brown, 35, is a community organizer, an activist, and leader within the community. A native Washingtonian through and through, he grew in the Temple Courts housing community. In the wake of its demolition, Nathan decided to get politically involved and use his platform to speak up about how this has devastated communities. He continues to work with the people of DC to garner understanding and a solution that doesn’t disadvantage those that live in the community but creates a more beneficial and inclusive community.”

His campaign wrote to us that his top priorities are “are engaging the residents and meeting them with solutions…tackling homelessness, housing crisis, youth/elderly engagement, and creating opportunities along with addressing affordable housing.”

Brown has no website registered with the Board of Elections.

Tyrone Carmichael

We did not receive a response from Carmichael’s campaign, and his campaign has no website registered with the Board of Elections.

Robert C. White, Jr.

Website | Twitter | Instagram

White’s campaign wrote to us, “Robert C. White, Jr. is an At-Large Member of the Council of the District of Columbia, Chair of the Committee on Facilities and Procurement, and Chair of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Board of Directors. Robert graduated from Archbishop Carroll High School in Washington DC, attended St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and earned his law degree from the American University Washington College of Law. In 2014, Robert was tapped by Attorney General Karl A. Racine to serve as the first Director of Community Outreach for the DC Office of the Attorney General. Robert and his wife, Christy, an attorney with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, reside in Ward 4 with their daughters, Madison and Monroe, and rescue pit bull, Roscoe. Robert loves spending time with his family, reading, and riding his motorcycle.”

His issue areas for the campaign and his next term include education, affordable housing, workforce development, and aiding returning citizens.

White launched his reelection bid in October 2019. White is not using fair elections financing and, per DC Geekery, has 741 contributions totaling $233,288.

Urbanism in the at-large race

Because at-large councilmembers are, well, at-large rather than representatives of a specific ward, they’re leaned on by voters across the city. At-larges can both represent a wide swath of interests, and drill down into particular policy areas that aren’t constrained by geography. Though no at-large councilmembers in recent memory have aggressively pursued radical transportation or housing policies, they have plenty of capacity to do so—in some ways, more so than ward councilmembers.

Brown and Carmichael have no evident track records on housing, transportation, or land use. For his part, White has been a notably positive force for better, fairer criminal-justice policies, which often intersects with transit. Recently, White and Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen proposed a civilian oversight panel to review complaints against Metro transit police.

In December 2019, White caught considerable flack for holding out on agreeing to vote for an emergency measure, authored by Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, that would have forced DDOT to move forward on the stalled Eastern Downtown cycletrack project. (This would have been a measure similar to the Florida Avenue Multimodal Project Completion Emergency Amendment Act Of 2019, which White co-sponsored and voted for.) Though White stated he would resolve any concerns around the project by the end of last year, the emergency still has yet to be introduced.

GGWash’s elections committee is currently developing questionnaires for candidates in the 2020 Democratic primary. If there are urbanist issues that you’d like us to ask the at-large candidates, suggest them in the comments.