NOTE: This is the first of three (or four— depending on whether former D.C. Councilmember Trayon White accepts our invitation for an interview) candidate profiles to be released before the July 15 special election for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat.
Less than a year after losing the Ward 8 D.C. Council Democratic primary to Trayon White, Advisory Neighborhood Chair Salim Adofo (8C) counts among those vying for the very seat that the former council member’s colleagues expelled him from after his federal bribery charge.
If elected to serve out the rest of White’s term, Adofo said he has his heart set on directly and immediately addressing the issue of intra-community violence in its many facets, including but not limited to: domestic violence, elder abuse, and fraud.
He also expressed a desire to tackle some of the environmental issues— such as the quality of air, soil, and water— that set the stage for violent crime unlike what’s seen in other parts of the District.
“All of these different things have been neglected for years in our community, and so now it’s just boiling over,” Adofo told The Informer. “Gun violence, whether it’s one person or whether it’s 100 people that died, it’s always bad and will always rise to the top over a lot of those issues, but a lot of those issues lead to the gun violence because if you’re not of sound mind and body and spirit, it becomes harder for you to resolve conflict without going to the extreme.”
Commissioner Adofo Gives It Another Go
On July 15, Ward 8 voters will elect either Adofo, Mike Austin, Sheila Bunn, or former Ward 8 council member White as their voice in the John A. Wilson Building. The winner of this election will represent Ward 8 amid a period of political and economic uncertainty spurred by President Donald J. Trump.
So far, Adofo has the endorsements of Laborers’ International Union of North America, Sigma PAC 1914, and DC YIMBYs. Other endorsements have come from: Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners Juanita Beltran (8B07); Erica Brown (8D04); Anita Burrows (8E04); Dascha Cleckley (8C03); Tom Donohue, Jr. (8A01); Liam Goodwin (8F05); Marcus Hickman (8B06); Georgette Joy Johnson (8C02); Takema Keyes (8B01); Cassandra Matthews (8D03); Keith Moore, Jr. (8D04); Randell Strickland (8D08); and Gregory White (8C02)
Keyes, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in her first term, said Adofo encouraged her to run for her current seat. She told The Informer that she appreciates his decisive and forward thinking nature when it comes to fulfilling his obligations to his constituents.
“He’s very strategic and that’s what I love about him,” Keyes told The Informer. “He doesn’t just think for now, [but] he plans for the future. We could be thinking about what we’re going to do tomorrow and he’d think about what we’re going to do 10 years from now. He’s very selfless.”
Adofo also has a cloud of controversy hanging over his head. Last summer, he came second to then-council member White in a Ward 8 D.C. Council Democratic primary, during which a cadre of ANC 8C colleagues alleged the commissioner’s misuse of ANC funds for campaign activities.
The Office of the D.C. Auditor has since launched an audit, the findings of which are scheduled for a fall release.
In recent weeks, Adofo has set himself apart from the rest of the field with what some would describe as his unabashed support for Initiative 82 (a steady increase of the tipped minimum wage) and Initiative 83 (ranked-choice voting and open primaries)— both of which are in danger of exclusion or repeal during the Fiscal Year 2026 budget process, despite voter approval.
He also delved deeply into a vision where not only Ward 8 develops a workforce that can participate in the local economy, but residents can enjoy a revitalized United Medical Center campus and all that St. Elizabeths East Campus can offer.
“I think that Ward 8 has the opportunity to be reimagined into a place where we can have a town center rebuilt on St. E’s campus,” Adofo told The Informer. “We have the opportunity to create a safer community for elders who are in the twilight of their life to feel safe, where our children can feel safe when they’re going to and from school.”
While Ward 8 has been without a council member, Adofo has also stood among those who’ve led the charge for greater collaboration between Ward 8 advisory neighborhood commissions. In his role as a board member/ representative of low-income residents at United Planning Organization, Adofo has encouraged other commissioners to compile Fiscal Year 2026 budget recommendations.
“The budget recommendations that we came up with [have] a commissioner from 8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, and 8E’s input. That’s four out of six, so I think that’s really good,” Adofo said, telling The Informer that this spirit of collaboration will happen with him in the Ward 8 council seat. “As a council member, I would not just say, ‘Hey, we’re meeting with commissioners regularly” to check off the box. I need…input on this so that we can make these decisions together collectively.”
Adofo has also set out to rectify a phenomenon that became more apparent in the absence of a Ward 8 council member.
“I don’t think that the at-large numbers do enough in this ward. I also don’t think that they are asked to do more,” Adofo said. “Whenever I hear somebody [saying] we need some help, they just mention the ward council member. They don’t mention the chairperson. They don’t mention the other four at large [council members]. They don’t even mention the congresswoman.”
A Record of Collaboration and Ideological Dexterity
Nearly a decade ago, as Black people across the nation took to the streets against police brutality, Adofo embraced a collaborative mindset as chairman of what was then the D.C. chapter of the National Black United Front. In that role, he organized millennials and Gen Xers of various ideologies around community programming, including monthly events at Shepherd Parkway in Congress Heights where homeless Ward 8 residents received food, clothing and toiletries.
In 2018, after assuming leadership roles in the D.C. chapters of the NAACP and Urban League, Adofo defeated longtime incumbent Mary Cuthburt to become advisory neighborhood commissioner for Single-Member District 8C07. At recent candidate forums, Adofo has touted his years of organizing and political experience as assets in addressing crime, economic development, agency oversight, and education.
“We know historically in our community, some of those factions don’t always work together,” Adofo told The Informer. “I’ve now been a commissioner, I’ve been involved in electoral politics, so seeing the politicos, seeing grassroots people, seeing people just from around the way all try to work together has been something that I wanted to do for the betterment of our community.”
To that point, Adofo said there’s not much difference between grassroots organizing and serving as a political leader. Both, he said, are different means to the same end: advancing causes of utmost importance to constituents.
“Having had experience and being a grassroots organizer, it gives you the chance to build those relationships,” the advisory neighborhood commissioner explained. “To talk to people and to see what they’re going through, so that when you’re crafting policy, when you’re putting together the budget, you keep those people in mind because those are the people who these budgets will impact.”
Burrows, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in her second term, said she can speak personally to Adofo’s collaborative nature.
“He’s out here with the seniors, the youth, and the middle-aged people,” Burrows, a lifelong Ward 8 resident, told The Informer. “We need somebody that’s gonna get the job done and do the work, not just talk about it. We need a change.”
Adofo Gets Real
Ward 8, located on the southernmost tip of the District, has poverty and crime rates surpassing other parts of the city.
Nearly 1 out of 2 children live in poverty and most families experience similar conditions. Development hasn’t changed the tide, much to the chagrin of residents who’ve complained about the high concentration of poverty in their neighborhood.
In recent years, some Ward 8 elected officials have called for, and even welcomed, legislation that prohibits loitering and better enables police officers to prevent crime. However, residents and advocates alike continue to point to gaps in education, food insecurity and historic disinvestment as precipitating factors in the violence that has engulfed the ward.
While Adofo empathizes with Ward 8 residents, he describes his role as one where he creates an environment that residents, should they choose, can make the decision to change their life trajectory.
“You can’t legislate people’s behavior to the point where they’ll just follow whatever you say. It’s your role as an elected person to make sure that resources are available for people when they want to step up and take that personal responsibility,” Adofo told The Informer.
Adofo said he hopes to work with the people to give them the tools they need so they are able to use them to strengthen their everyday lives and community overall.
“If a family says [they] want to have access to mental health resources or better parenting resources, then it’s my role to help get them those resources,” Adofo continued. “But then they got to take them. I can’t make them take them. I can’t make the children go to school. I can’t make people practice good sexual habits as a teenager. But what I can do is educate you or provide you the opportunity to be educated.”