In D.C.’s Ward 7, a ‘generational’ race to replace council’s Vince Gray (2024)

“What I’ve found is, whether you live in Hillcrest or Hill East, we all want the same things. Quality schools, safe streets, and, most importantly, a government that works,” said Wendell Felder, a Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner who’s held several roles in District government.

“Everybody wants to be able to call their council person and get a real person on the line,” said Ebony Payne, a neighborhood commissioner on the western side of Ward 7.

The redistricting, coupled with longtime Democratic council member Vincent C. Gray’s announcement in December that he would not seek reelection, has transformed the political landscape in Ward 7. But no one from the crowded field has emerged as a clear front-runner, even as those in the district say it’s an important time for them to have a decisive leader. Ward 7, they say, has struggled with crime and lagging economic development and education indicators. And it stands to be affected the most by the debate over the future of the RFK Stadium complex.

“This is why the race is so polarizing: The stakes are tremendous,” said Delia Houseal, 1st vice chair of the Ward 7 Democrats and an advisory neighborhood commissioner. “Ward 7 is either second [to last] or last in a lot of different indicators, whether those are health-related indicators, social-related indicators, education-related indicators, crime-related indicators — the list goes on and on and on. It’s critical that we have the right person in place, because we don’t have time to go backward.”

Candidates are trying to capitalize on distinguishing traits. Eboni-Rose Thompson, who represents Ward 7 on the state board of education, where she is also president, has the advantage of being the only candidate to have won a ward-wide race. Payne, who has outspent the other candidates, is the only contender to live west of the Anacostia River, where she’s emerged as one of the most vocal opponents of a new stadium in the race.

Former neighborhood commissioner Veda Rasheed and current commissioner Kelvin Brown benefit from some name recognition after running against Gray in the 2020 Democratic primary, ranking second and third in that contest, respectively. And Felder is among the most politically wired candidates as the former chairman of the Ward 7 Democrats.

In such a packed field, even the campaign signs seem to be competing for attention along Ward 7’s key intersections and corridors. Making matters more interesting, three of the candidates have similar-sounding names, leading to some talking-point shticks to help voters remember who they are, as if in a radio jingle.

“My name is Ebony Payne, and I’m running for D.C. Council — that’s Ebony with a ‘Y,’” Payne said in a video advertisem*nt released Thursday, aiming to distinguish herself from Thompson and, perhaps to a lesser extent, former Ward 7 neighborhood commissioner Ebbon Allen.

Others in the race include Villareal ‘VJ’ Johnson, who served five terms as a neighborhood commissioner in the ward; Denise Reed, who worked in the office of former D.C. Council Chairman David Clark; Nate Fleming, who won elected office previously as the District’s “shadow representative” in the U.S. House to Congress and was a legislative director for the council; and small business advocate Roscoe Grant.

Payne has raised nearly $180,000 since November, including matching funds from D.C. taxpayers, and has also outspent her opponents, helping her keep pace with other top candidates that observers note have longer track records of service in the community. Thompson, for her part, raised more than $160,000 with matching funds; Felder, Rasheed and Brown also have a notable fundraising edge over the remaining candidates.

Patricia Stamper, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Deanwood, called this year’s Ward 7 campaign a “generational race,” believing that in such a period of transition for the ward, whoever pulls off the win could shape the community’s agenda for years to come. If you ask Stamper, that person should be Thompson or Felder, the two she believes have the strongest track records of service in the ward and whom she has supported with donations this year.

Lisa Rice, a Ward 7 advisory neighborhood commissioner, said she was rooting for Rasheed or Brown, even though as an independent she wouldn’t be voting in the primary. She said she liked the fire they brought in challenging Gray four years ago, a more difficult campaign against an incumbent, and appreciated their approach to public safety and the root causes of crime, showing they’d given the issue “deep thought.”

But Rice, who is leading a ballot initiative to bring ranked-choice voting and open primaries to D.C., said a top concern was that the winner of the Democratic primary could end up advancing with very limited support.

With so many platforms for voters to consider, others have wondered whether an endorsem*nt from Gray could shake up the race, or offer clarity for those who might be struggling to choose.

Chuck Thies, Gray’s spokesman, said the outgoing council member hasn’t decided whether he will back a candidate, but said he’s watching the debates virtually and consulting with those who have been paying close attention to the race — including Thies, who says he reports back to Gray after attending candidate events.

Thies, a longtime political consultant, said he thinks it’s a contest between Rasheed, Felder, Thompson and Payne — calling the latter two candidates’ first name similarities a “disaster” of a campaign hurdle. (“The first thing people should know is my name is Eboni-Rose, not Ebony,” Thompson later told The Washington Post).

Thies called Felder the closest to an “establishment” candidate in the field because of his previous roles in the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and as a community relations rep for Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D). But there was a catch, he said, that has caused some trouble for him: Felder told the ACLU in a recent questionnaire that he would advocate for Congress to overturn legislation passed by the D.C. Council if he disagreed with it.

Felder faced immediate backlash online after the ACLU’s questionnaire published, creating easy fodder for critics and awkward positions for some of his baffled supporters. He sought to clarify his remark later in statements posted to social media, adding that he would first “pursue amendments or revisions” to legislation he didn’t like. “However, if a bill’s reversal is necessary to safeguard the well-being and rights of D.C. residents, I would not hesitate to urge Congress to intervene,” Wendell said in the April 7 statement. “This action, although significant, underscores the broader issue of D.C.’s need for statehood — an issue I have tirelessly advocated for.”

But at the forum in Hill East a week later, Felder addressed the questionnaire once again in his closing statement: “I just want to clear the record: under no circ*mstances do we support [congressional interference],” he said, adding that it was a “reflective response to a hypothetical question.”

Other candidates have taken shots at Payne as the race has heated up, painting her as the big-money candidate but a relative newcomer to Ward 7 politics. At a March forum, Rasheed homed in on an ad that Payne released calling for harsher penalties for people who kidnap dogs, questioning why she was focusing on dogs when people were dying; Payne said dog-nappings were traumatic for dog owners as well. Felder took aim at the ubiquity of Payne’s campaign materials around the ward, questioning if her expenditures were adequately documented.

“I think you’re just upset that I’m running a better campaign than you,” Payne retorted.

The Hill East forum was tamer by comparison, illustrated by an area of consensus. When the 10 candidates were asked to raise their hand if they thought Bowser’s fiscal 2025 budget proposal was “good,” none of them did.

Having spent weeks collecting signatures and knocking on doors, candidates had no problem identifying areas of concern shared across the ward. While Ward 7’s neighborhoods are somewhat less starved for commercial development than in years past, many residents are keenly aware that their economy still lags behind most other sectors of the city, from the median income to the unemployment rate, as the cost of housing has skyrocketed across the region. And the candidates have been pressed repeatedly on their proposals to drive down crime and rapidly improve traditional public schools facing declining enrollment.

In the 2021-2022 school year, according to data compiled by the D.C. Policy Center, less than half of all students who live in Ward 7 attended school within the ward — the lowest percentage among all eight wards. Several candidates tied the ward’s literacy rates to its poor economic outcomes: According to last year’s statewide assessments, just 19 percent of students in Ward 7 traditional public and charter schools are proficient in reading — compared with 71 percent in D.C.’s more affluent Ward 3.

Asked at the Hill East candidate forum how he would try to strengthen Ward 7’s schools, Brown, a former high school math teacher, said the city’s leaders have spent time debating who should have control over the school system instead of focusing on needed improvements. He also said school funding levels and the allocation of resources should be determined by the individual needs of each school, community and its students — a line that drew applause.

“I’m of the belief we should take politics out of the school system and allow our teachers, faculty, staff and administrators the opportunity and autonomy to teach what’s important to our students on a daily basis,” Brown said. “Not politicians, and not anyone else who has ulterior motives.”

Thompson, the school board president, has said she does not support mayoral control “as it exists today,” believing that parents have a difficult time advocating for and resolving concerns about their children’s education in the existing government structure, which does not allow the State Board of Education to change policy.

And amid citywide concerns about truancy, Thompson emphasized the need for children to have safe passage to school: “I have a lot of access to kids as the state board president, and they’ve told us that they actually do not feel safe traveling to school, and they used to get to do it online during the pandemic so why should they go?”

When Payne, Thompson, Brown, Rasheed and Felder were asked if they supported a professional football stadium at the RFK complex, Rasheed was the only one to fully raise her hand — although she has said she would not prioritize taxpayer funds for the stadium itself. Felder equivocated, repeating a call to create a task force composed of the stadium’s surrounding neighborhoods. Payne, who told residents that her opposition to an NFL stadium at RFK is “a big reason why I’m running,” called Felder out at a separate candidate forum later that day, asserting that he hadn’t been clear on his position on the stadium.

“What I’ve come to know as a leader, I don’t make decisions that may impact thousands of lives until I have all the facts,” Felder said in response to Payne’s challenge. “And where we are with the stadium, we’re not there yet.”

Midway through the Hill East forum, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) grabbed a seat, hoping to get an early read on who might join him on the council. In deep-blue D.C., the winner of the Democratic primary is all but assured a victory in the general election. Mendelson named education, along with public safety and housing, as Ward 7′s top issues.

The ideal candidate, he said, will have deep understanding of the ward combined with a thoughtful approach to policy.

“I’m hopeful the ward will elect someone who is committed to public service,” he said. “The ward needs good representation going forward — the fact it’ll be someone new doesn’t change that need.”

Lauren Lumpkin contributed to this report.