By the time that D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds (D-At large) announced she wouldn’t seek reelection, her former staffer Leniqua’dominqiue Jenkins had already been in the throes of a campaign to succeed her former employer.
For Jenkins, however, this campaign isn’t about making comparisons. As Jenkins explained to The Informer, she’s eager to expand the collective imagination of the D.C. Council about what’s possible for all District residents, especially those living on the margins.
“It’s time for new choices, forward-thinking legislation,” Jenkins said. “It’s time for creative ideas married with the ability to do it and the experience to do it.”
Jenkins, a former Ward 7 civic leader, teacher, children’s book author, entrepreneur and internationalist, launched her at-large D.C. Council campaign on Nov. 15 at Denny’s on Benning Road in Northeast. That afternoon, more than 60 supporters showed up at the very spot where Jenkins often tutors young people and hosts readings of her children’s book, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall.”
During the latter part of Council Period 25, as Jenkins continued to promote her book as an engine of childhood literacy, she worked as a staffer in Bonds’ office. That’s when she authored ceremonial resolutions. Those resolutions include the commemoration of the Mt. Zion-Female Union Band Society Cemetery, along with the recognition of D.C.-born actress-singer-dancer Chita Rivera, late drag performer Dustin Michael Schaad, the National Women Democratic Club, and D.C. Public Schools alumnus Bill Nye.
After her transition from Bonds’ office, Jenkins continued in her advocacy around environmental sustainability, standing as a supporter of the “bottle bill” currently making its way through the council. She also maintained a presence as an East of the River Magazine columnist, through which she promoted D.C. historic and cultural landmarks, documented her grassroots organizing in Kenya, and recounted experiences she shared with neighbors working on their finances.
Jenkins said she wants to bring those experiences to the D.C. Council, telling The Informer that the legislative body, as it currently stands, doesn’t work on behalf of a population much like the woman she encountered at a financial literacy workshop she references in East of the River Magazine.
“People that work to pay bills every day are being squeezed and pushed out and they’re tired of it,” Jenkins told The Informer. “They’re tired of being overlooked. They’re tired of being ignored. And they want to be represented and see themselves in the policies that are being created and directly impacting their lives.”
A People-Centered Platform: A Deeper Look
If elected, Jenkins would continue a political journey that not only includes a stint in the John A. Wilson Building, but experience as an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Deanwood, and a staffer in former U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson’s office.
Phillip E. Ford, a local personal trainer-coach, told The Informer that Jenkins has the track record necessary to ensure that the least of District residents get heard on the council.
“She’s been consistent with how she cares for the community,” Ford, a Ward 7 homeowner who lives in Ward 4, said about Jenkins.
As Ford recounted, he and Jenkins crossed paths nearly seven years ago in Deanwood. He said that, in their first encounter, Jenkins insisted that he, and everyone else who meets her, recognizes the entirety of her unique first name, not just the part they deem most convenient to pronounce.
Ford said Jenkins has exhibited a similar tenacity in her advocacy.
“If there was something wrong with the playground, she was posting [online] and trying to get that fixed or a stop sign,” Ford told The Informer. “No matter how big or small, she was consistent about trying to make sure the neighborhood was getting what it needed.”
Jenkins also touts her political and nonprofit experience in Louisiana, and even as far as Kenya, Spain, and India, as foundational in her approach to local politics.
“My global experience is really robust,” Jenkins told The Informer. “I think that the District of Columbia is supposed to be just a mecca of thought leaders and innovation and creativity, and we see that falling short. We see a diluting of creativity, massaging of culture, a diluting of flavor and the things that make D.C. have its razzle dazzle.”
Jenkins said her platform centers on: literacy, environmentalism, mental health supports, community policing, safe, affordable housing, and caregiver support. When it comes to literacy, she expressed a desire to embolden teachers to take the reins on their students’ education.
“You see a lot of teaching to the standards in hopes of helping kids to pass the test— and that’s not what’s happening,” Jenkins told The Informer. “You can’t just teach to a standard. You have to be able to give teachers the autonomy to be able to respond to their students appropriately in the classroom. Making sure we’re not just teaching to [the] curriculum, but making sure we’re teaching to make sure we have thought leaders in our nation.”
One strategy in realizing that goal, Jenkins said, involves a pen-pal program where students living in one of the most political cities in the world, connect with peers in other countries.
“It’s something that I created with other states, with the school and the orphanage that I had in Africa,” Jenkins said. “You see an uptick in literacy, an uptick in academic performance. You see an uptick in creativity and a place that has a large Black and brown community. You see a heightened level of awareness, self affirmation, which is needed.”
Despite recent gains in citywide reading scores, Jenkins said there’s more to be done, especially for young people living east of the Anacostia River.
“It speaks to the volume of attention that needs to be given to critical skills like reading and writing,” she told The Informer. “Because literacy isn’t just a skill. It’s a path to opportunity. It’s a path to self-determination and it’s a path to freedom.”
When it comes to public safety, Jenkins said she wants to expand youth programs, mental health resources and community-based violence prevention strategies. She also expressed a desire for increasing transparency and collaboration between local law enforcement and the community, while strengthening crisis and response models.
Jenkins’ vision for affordable housing includes investment in affordable housing development, tenant protections, and the expansion of homelessness prevention resources. As a caregiver to her mother and niece, Jenkins said she wants to partner with D.C. Office on Aging and Community Living to increase respite care funding, allow workplace flexibility for caregivers working in D.C. government, and expand senior aging-in-place programs.
On the federal level, Jenkins said she will advocate for the reauthorization of the Older Americans Act, a law supporting social and nutrition services for elders 60 years and older. She called this part, and other parts, of her platform an effort to fully ensure that the government recognizes the struggles of all D.C. residents.
“If you look at the makeup of the council outside of our ward representative, who lives east of the river?” she said. “The legislation doesn’t reflect [a viewpoint] that’s compassionate and thoughtful and people-centered. Unfortunately, that’s the theme when it comes to poverty and oppression: the voice of people that are being impacted is not present.”
A Democratic Primary That’s Heating Up Quickly
During the June 16 Democratic primary, District voters will participate in ranked-choice voting for the first time. Other candidates for the At-large D.C. Council seat include U.S. Rep. Oye Owolewa and Candace Tiana Nelson, former president of the Ward 4 Democrats.
There’s also speculation that Kevin Chavous, Bonds’ chief of staff and son of the former D.C. council member of the same name, will throw his hat in the ring. Regardless of the make-up of the field, Jenkins said that her message, more so than others, reverberates across the District.
“People could box me in as a Ward 7 candidate, but… I have a heart for every part of the city,” Jenkins told The Informer. “And my legislation reflects that. Just from doing work in every single part of the city, I’ve had an ear close to the ground about what’s needed and what people want, and I think that’s what folks are really resonating with.”
Ward 7 resident Graham McLaughlin echoed those sentiments, telling The Informer that D.C. Council need a bit more of a reminder about its constituency east of the Anacostia River. He noted that the other 12 members of the council could get that type of education with Jenkins as an at-large colleague.
“We need more folks who live east of the river and spend a significant amount of their time there to be able to support helping the city really expand some of the vibrancy and investment,” McLaughlin said. “And especially with RFK coming in, making sure that there’s an understanding of all parts of the city and that nowhere is forgotten.”
McLaughlin, a former at-large D.C. Council candidate, met Jenkins in 2022, during her first at-large council run. He’s since gotten to know Jenkins, who’s currently friends with his wife. He said Issues of note include: employment for returning citizens, environmental sustainability, and economic mobility for historically marginalized populations.
If elected, Jenkins can get the ball rolling on that and more, McLaughlin told The Informer.
“I think that her campaign is going to be rooted in making sure that folks across the city who have been impacted by structural inequity, by large-scale racism at an infrastructural level in this country, and who need the support of the system get a boost,” McLaughlin said. “I don’t think right now we have enough representation from that at-large council standpoint of folks who live in Wards 7 and 8, and I think having more folks who are in Ward 7 who are representing us in addition to a council member from the ward is important.”
For Ford, Jenkins will be the force of nature that applies pressure on the council without any regard for the powers that be.
“I definitely see her as someone who is going to continue to stand on that identity of who she is and what she desires to see for the community,” Ford told The Informer. “She’s going to be someone who is going to stand on her belief, stand in the best interest for the community as a whole and not be over consumed with politics.”