After much speculation about whether she would run for the seat she currently holds, Interim D.C. Councilmember Doni Crawford (I-At large) recently announced her candidacy. If she wins the June 16 special election, Crawford will serve out the rest of former D.C. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie’s term, which ends on Jan. 2, 2027.
Crawford said she threw her hat into the ring out of a belief that the citywide constituent engagement infrastructure she’s built since her installment best positions her to weigh in on budgetary matters. More than a week after a tenuous mayor-council breakfast, Crawford affirmed she will fight for the fulfillment of the contingency list her council colleagues compiled during last year’s budget deliberations.
“Maybe people didn’t want to talk about it in that setting, but I wanted it to be clear to residents that their voices were raised because this is something that had been top of mind to them,” Crawford told The Informer. “I want to take that posture into budget season because there may be some hard, difficult conversations that have to be had with residents. I see myself as a leader [who] can have those conversations while making sure to prioritize them.”
During the Feb. 10 mayor-council breakfast, Bowser administration officials painted a grim picture of what’s to come for Fiscal Year 2027. Due to a significant drop in the funding balance, the expiration of one-time funding, and a projected revenue decrease, the D.C. government would experience a funding gap of more than $1.1 billion if it continues all current programming.
Under that scenario, programs that could be either eliminated or reduced in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s budget proposal include: the pay equity fund, the Alliance program, Pathways program, emergency rental assistance, and Housing Purchase Assistance Program. With lower-than-expected revenue, the District also faces spending pressures via $175 million in overtime spending across local agencies, a $297 million increase in Medicaid, and a $42 million childcare funding increase.
As it relates to Medicaid and Alliance funding challenges, the District is expected to absorb $1 billion in new spending throughout the four-year financial plan if Fiscal Year 2026 reductions are reversed and caseload levels increase. Two weeks later, as council members mull how to use contingency funding while reeling from a congressional disapproval resolution that jeopardizes tax revenue, Crawford remains adamant that the executive and the council should explore various avenues before resorting to reductions in health services.
“Once we see the February revenue forecast at the end of the month, then we’ll know how much money we have to play with [and] how much we’ll have to make up,” Crawford told The Informer as she reflected on the Feb. 10 discussion in the mayor’s ceremonial room. “We have to budget over a four-year financial plan, which makes it more difficult for us than other states. Obviously the mayor has the first crack at deciding what changes she wants to make and in what cluster, so I was trying to raise with her [to] consider other clusters outside of health and human services.”
Since Crawford’s installment as interim council member, the field in the June 16 special election for the independent at-large council seat has grown to include more than a dozen candidates, including: former D.C. Councilmember Elissa Silverman, D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) President Dr. Jacque Patterson, and activist Addison Sarter.
As the race bubbles, Crawford, who launched her bid on Feb. 12, has spent much of her time reaching out to, and speaking with, advisory neighborhood commissions (ANCs) and community organizations. She recounted recent meetings at Highlands Cafe & Grill in Ward 7 and Sycamore & Oak in Ward 8, along with a meet and greet with ANC 8A and a zoom meeting with Ward 7 residents.
By the time that she solidified plans for similar meetings in Wards 1 and 2, Crawford had already attended a town hall that the Black Swan Academy, DC Girls’ Coalition and other entities hosted at Trinity Washington University in Northeast during the earlier part of February.
Crawford said that, so far on her tour, she’s heard concerns about: literacy, the lack of quality school lunch, and affordable housing. As a member of the council’s Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety, Committee on Youth Affairs, and Committee on Transportation and the Environment, Crawford said that she has her sights set on centering Black and brown people in matters of revenue growth, housing, education, and public safety.
“I’ve heard so much about Chocolate City over the years and to the extent that we can maintain the
Black population that we have and perhaps grow the Black population,” Crawford told The Informer. “I also want to make sure our kids are going to quality schools, no matter their neighborhood. Even though we’ve heard a lot about crime going down, there’s still a perception that people are not safe. I want to make sure that I’m leaning in there to make sure that people have what they need and that we’re investing in.”
Through it all, Crawford said she will utilize her past experience as an organizer and council staffer to bridge the gap between those standing inside and outside of the John A. Wilson Building.
“Now that I’m in this seat, I could be almost like a consensus builder,” Crawford said. “I could help shape the behind the scenes work and be vocal about what that looks like when I’m talking to residents when I’m talking to advocates, as well as being a responsible steward of resources at the same time, and I’m prepared for that.”
Dr. Jacque Patterson: An Education Leader with an Eye on Equity
At the beginning of the year, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, under the advice of his council colleagues, appointed Crawford as the independent interim council member. She counted among nearly four dozen people — including SBOE President Dr. Jacque Patterson — who volunteered for the role in the aftermath of McDuffie’s resignation from the council.
Patterson, a longtime Ward 8 resident in his second term as SBOE’s at-large representative, said his placement on the council would’ve tipped the scales more in favor of Ward 8 residents. He’s since thrown his hat in the ring for the independent at-large council seat, suspending his campaign for the D.C. delegate seat.
“When I looked across the dais, I didn’t see the equity that I needed to see,” Patterson told The Informer. “I saw people from other parts of the city, but they don’t have that same experience. I’ve been in Ward 8 for over 30 years now. I’ve seen it go through very, very tough times. I’ve seen us come to a point where we’re doing pretty good and some things are happening in Ward 8, but there is so much more to go.”
Patterson, a Democrat who changed his party affiliation to Independent before launching his electoral bid on Jan. 23, is a Wilson Building fixture. In his role as SBOE president, Patterson often speaks with Mendelson about local education issues. Patterson said that, throughout his time as a local leader, he’s had a similar level of engagement with D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8), along with White’s predecessors: D.C. Councilmembers LaRuby May, Marion S. Barry, and Sandy Allen.
If elected, Patterson’s priorities include equitable school funding, housing affordability, and preserving safety nets, including SNAP and emergency rental assistance, that are under threat amid federal government job cuts and decreasing revenue. For Patterson, his mission, no different from what he embarked on as a congressional candidate, centers on ensuring that the least of District residents don’t suffer during one of the most financially precarious times in D.C. history.
“I’m focused on what undergirds families who need support from the government. They can’t have their SNAP cut for a month,” Patterson told The Informer. “They can’t have things changing at HUD [U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development] that affects their ability to have affordable housing. These are things….at the federal level that when they trickle down to the local level, and we’re in a tight budget cycle, that’s where you’re going to make the cut. I got to be there to defend those.”
Part of fulfilling this vision, Patterson said, means championing prudent spending. While he acknowledged the government’s obligation to help the marginalized, Patterson pledged to scrutinize the funds used toward programming. He said that the council, during a tight budget season, needs to do a better job of assessing the effectiveness of programs.
“Gone are the days when you had a nonprofit or a particular group that would get a contract to service people in a community that had been underserved and it didn’t produce,” Patterson told The Informer. “Every dollar that is going to be spent has to have some type of positive result, or else that program will not continue.”
That mindset, Patterson said, extends to the education system. As the District’s declining birthrate increasingly becomes a topic of discussion, Patterson, a former KIPP DC administrator, stands against the launch of new public charter schools in the District.
“I would like to see the D.C. Public Charter School Board make the decisions on schools that come before them on their renewals to make the hard decision of if that school stays open or not,” he told The Informer. “It’s just that easy. I’m not talking about current networks getting bigger by taking in schools that are not doing well.”
With the District’s K-12 student population just about evenly split between the public and public charter sectors, Patterson also expressed a desire for a process he would like to facilitate as an at-large council member.
“My vision is that the charter sector and the traditional school sector work together,” Patterson said, “to make sure that the schools that are doing well, that we replicate their academic progress and the things that they’re doing that gets kids more proficient. And those schools that are not doing well, we start to look at how we can consolidate.”
For Patterson, fully funding District schools and providing safety nets for the District’s most vulnerable necessitates a type of forward thinking. Amid federal intrusion and a shrinking federal government, Patterson said he wants to explore other avenues of revenue generation that protects essential programming.
“That means finding that new economy that’s going to fuel our economy, that local government, and then investing in things that are going to push us forward,” Patterson said. “Every investment [is] about youth, whether it’s after-school programs that keep our youth involved as opposed to [being] distracted and out doing something. That’s the right investment, because when you invest early, you see the dividends throughout.”
Addison Sarter: A Candidate with Specific Legislation in Mind
A 2024 report compiled by personal finance company WalletHub ranked the District as the worst state economy in terms of racial equality. On a scale of 1 to 100, the District scored 16.1, trailing Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa by more than 30 points.
Sarter, an activist and lifelong D.C. resident, attributes this phenomenon to, as he calls it, the improper management of local finances.
“D.C. is a city with lots of funding and resources to make things happen, but it’s just a matter of spending the funds we have more wisely,” Sarter told The Informer. “Helping those most in need and just to help D.C. run more efficiently to make it more affordable. The possibility of having the worst racial inequality in America is pretty horrible, especially for a city that’s known for its historical black population.”
During the latter part of last year, Sarter jumped into the Democratic D.C. Council at-large race. He later suspended that campaign and ran for the independent at-large seat, promoting his “$0 Down, $700-Per-Month Housing Plan” as a path to generational wealth for District residents living on the margins.
“From day one once houses get built, people who were renters will become first-time homeowners placed into the program,” Sarter told The Informer. “It wouldn’t really be a rent-to-own program where after X amount of years, you become a homeowner. Renters will be transferred into the program as homeowners.”
This program, inspired by similar to 20th-century programs that excluded Black families, would involve the construction of housing on public land across the District. Revenue generated from monthly rents, capped at $700, would go into a public housing fund.
Sarter, who said he wants to knock down barriers to homeownership, pushed back against the notion that his plan would increase housing production costs. He said D.C., and other U.S. cities for that matter, have inched toward this concept over the last few years.
“I’ve seen it executed from community land trust processes across the country,” Sarter told The Informer. They’re starting to really kind of kick into gear across the country [and even] through the Douglass Community Land Trust, from my understanding. Although that’s still nice, the majority of the units at the Douglass Land Trust are renter units. So the one way that mine would be different would be it would be based around and targeted for homeownership.”
Sarter’s campaign platform also focuses on: one-year paid maternity and paternity leave; the revival of neighborhood watch patrols; recruitment of college students for mentorship opportunities; guaranteed employment for D.C. residents most at risk of gun violence; school funding equity; the establishment of a program similar to DCTAG for aspiring entrepreneurs; and ending cooperation with ICE and other federal law enforcement agencies.
If elected to the D.C. Council, Sarter would continue along a trajectory that includes case management for women with illnesses and domestic abuse survivors, stints in the homelessness prevention space, and the launch of a nonprofit, named Guaranteed Jobs, that’s inspired by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Sarter said he saw a need for Guaranteed Jobs at the height of the pandemic while working at homeless encampments.
“Some of the roles were simply doing outreach, passing out blankets and essential items to those sleeping in tents,” Sarter recounted. “There’s so many young men in D.C. that can’t get paid for those types of tasks, whether it be [because of discrimination through criminal records.”
As the clock winds down to what’s considered one the most impactful elections in D.C. history, Sarter said he wants to be a voice on the D.C. Council that, above all, truly represents District residents.
“I see myself [as] someone who brings revolutionary and transformative ideas,” Sarter said, “such as my housing plan. If implemented, it would be the first law in not just D.C. history, but American history that would instantly lift thousands of families across all racial backgrounds out of poverty and into the middle class.”
Elissa Silverman Eyes a Return to the D.C. Council
Earlier this year, while speaking to The Informer, Silverman, another one of the 47 under consideration for the seat that Crawford eventually clinched, hadn’t yet decided whether she would run for the independent D.C. Council seat.
More than a week later, on Dr. King’s birthday, Silverman announced her council run on her Substack. She highlighted a campaign platform centered on: protection from the Trump administration; the shaping of an effective and efficient budget; the reduction of truancy; and continuing her previous work on the council, which included passage of a family leave program.
“Hundreds of you came with me to Pennsylvania more than a year ago to knock on doors to save Home Rule and defend civility and democracy,” Silverman wrote. “Now I need your help here at home: If you want me to return to the Wilson Building to deliver a government that works and makes all of our lives better, I’m asking you to join me and support me again.”
Silverman, an independent since 2014, served as an independent D.C. Councilmember from 2015 to 2023. She lost her 2022 re-election bid against McDuffie, who, after an unsuccessful attempt to appear on the Democratic Primary ballot for attorney general, challenged Silverman.
In addition to successfully shepherding landmark paid family leave legislation, Silverman championed labor rights, affordable housing, and government accountability, cementing her place in the council’s progressive caucus. Other bills that Silverman authored include: the Domestic Worker Employment Rights Amendment Act and the District Opportunity to Purchase Act, which extended workplace protections to domestic workers and implemented programs to assist seniors with rising property taxes and insurance, respectively.
Around the time that Bowser announced that she wouldn’t run for a fourth term, Silverman eyed a possible return to the council, this time armed with experiences similar to those she wants to represent. Her Substack alluded to regulatory hurdles that complicated the installation of a 12-foot wrought iron railing along the front steps of her house.
When she spoke with The Informer last month, Silverman also reflected on another problem she’s facing.
“My deductible is so high, I don’t have health care right now,” she said. “I had the bronze plan, the cheapest plan on our exchange. A $6,400 deductible. The premium is $800 a month. My medication is $500 a month, $1,300 in health care costs a month.”
Over the past few days, Silverman has been making her way across the District. On Feb. 22, she hosted a petition party at Dos Gringos in Northwest. The day before that, she collected signatures along H Street in Northeast, at Bowser’s budget forum at Barry Farm in Southeast, during a Ward 1 Democrats function, and at Politics & Prose headquarters on Connecticut Avenue in Northwest.
As Silverman explained last month, she stands ready to tackle the new normal that’s a second-term President Donald J. Trump on Day 1.
“What the past few years have brought is experiencing life and a new life under the Trump administration,” Silverman told The Informer. “Like many D.C. residents, I know what it’s like to have uncertainty. To be in this job market having to pay astronomical health insurance costs. One difference between me and others is that I own my home and I’ve owned it for a while, so I have an asset.”