This story is the second part of a series about the Ward 8 special election, scheduled for July 15, 2025. Read the first part here.
As the list of Ward 8 special election candidates approaches two dozen, many voters are questioning the sincerity of the aspirant council members, especially those claiming they can adequately represent Ward 8 without any recent Wilson Building experience.
Some of the more frustrated members of the electorate have gone as far as threatening to write in Trayon White, whose D.C. Council expulsion triggered the special election, or avoid the ballot box altogether on July 15. Even so, some of the Ward 8 special election candidates, including Dion Jordan, remain determined to prove that constituents east of the Anacostia River, first and foremost, shouldn’t be quick to dismiss those who aren’t part of what he calls D.C.’s political elite.
“In these relationships, [there’s] a lot of cronyism and nepotism,” Jordan told The Informer in criticism of fellow candidates touting their years of council experience and long standing relationships with current D.C. Council members. “People play on the residents of Ward 8 with that. Residents are fed up with the shenanigans.”
Jordan, a decades-long Ward 8 resident and federal government retiree, took aim at Salim Adofo, a favorite in the Ward 8 D.C. Council special election who is currently under investigation by the Office of D.C. Auditor (ODCA) for his ANC expenditures.
“Ward 8 is tired of being robbed,” Jordan said. “Tired of the backdoor dealing that people do in Ward 8 when running for political office. These people can’t be trusted.”
As previously reported, ODCA will soon reveal the findings of an audit triggered by ANC 8C colleagues and constituents who’ve accused Adofo of spending ANC funds on campaign materials during his 2024 run against then-Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White.
Since jumping into the race, Jordan, who once served as a commissioner of Single-Member District 8C02 and chairman in ANC 8C, has drawn contrasts between himself and Adofo, who he accuses of violating the public trust in a manner similar to what former Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White had allegedly done.
“Those monies were spent with a company that does things with political campaigns,” Jordan said. “At that point, [Salim] Adofo was already elected [as an advisory neighborhood commissioner]. No need to spend that money on those political campaign products. The situation raised some eyebrows and [the residents of] ANC 8C are upset about that.”
On Feb. 18, Jordan picked up petitions from D.C. Board of Elections, placing him in a group of special election candidates that now includes Adofo, as well as former council and congressional staffer Sheila Bunn, attorney and former council staffer Mike Austin and Ward 8 business Darrell Gaston.
As the petition filing deadline of April 17 quickly approaches, Jordan, like the 16 other prospective candidates who’ve thrown their hat in the ring over the course of the last month, are making their way across Ward 8 to collect at least 500 valid voter signatures.
Adofo, who came closest to becoming the next Ward 8 council member last summer, officially launched his special election campaign on March 1 during an event at We Act Radio in Southeast that attracted dozens of supporters. A week prior to that, Bunn and Austin also announced their council run, eliciting some online support among Ward 8 politicos, including Ward 8 Democrats Second Vice President Stuart Anderson, who recently endorsed the former Ward 7 and congressional staffer.
Meanwhile, constituents continue to learn of other candidates vying for the Ward 8 D.C. Council seat: onetime general election candidate Khadijah Clark; yoga practitioner and grassroots organizer Charnal Chaney; Talbert Street condominium owner Kara Johnson; and Jennifer Galenica Muhammad, a domestic violence survivor and homeless advocate.
The winner of the Ward 8 D.C. Council special election will represent a majority-Black, majority-impoverished electorate living in a part of the District that’s becoming increasingly diverse and ripe with development. Once in office, they will spend the rest of former Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White’s term determining how much attention Ward 8 receives in the realm of agency oversight, and during budget deliberations.
While he didn’t reveal his campaign strategy, Jordan alluded to experience on the campaigns of former D.C. mayors Sharon Pratt (then Kelly), Marion Barry and Anthony Williams. He said working with their mayoral races prepared him to engage voters, and eventually government agencies and other council members.
If elected, Jordan told The Informer that he’ll execute a grassroots mobilization strategy inspired by techniques he developed and wielded while a commissioner in Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8C, which includes Congress Heights.
As Jordan recounted, he spent much of the Obama presidency as an advisory neighborhood commissioner, representing constituents as he weighed in on the inclusion of townhomes, affordable housing and amenities on St. Elizabeths East Campus. He said his input laid the foundation for what patrons from all over Ward 8, and D.C. for that matter, enjoy when they converge on St. Elizabeths East Campus.
“It was my hard work, listening to Ward 8 residents,” Jordan said. “A lot of things that are over there are what residents articulated.”
The same mindset, he said, applies when working on behalf of Ward 8 residents in the John A. Wilson Building. As a council member, Jordan said he’s looking ahead to the next budget season to organize Ward 8 residents around quality-of-life issues and apply pressure in a way that helps him garner support among other council members for his initiatives.
“Affordable housing, food, clothing, those things will matter the most to Ward 8 residents,” Jordan said. “We have to think out of the box and do things differently in these hard times. I’ve never had a problem with a council member so I can foster those relationships for the residents of Ward 8. Some council members don’t agree with legislation but that wouldn’t be an issue.”
Charnal Chaney Aims for Inclusive Representation and Trauma-Informed Care
Chaney said it’s incumbent upon Ward 8 voters to choose a council representative who won’t forget the least of them while working to improve on-the-ground conditions. If elected, Chaney’s plans include facilitating opportunities for Ward 8 residents to weigh in on important issues.
As the Bowser administration aims to weaken provisions of the Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA), Chaney has also expressed a desire to explore cooperative economics and what she called innovative, egalitarian methods of preserving housing.
“I’ll be able to bridge the gap between community and government, and make sure that community is at the table while plans for development are being made,” Chaney told The Informer. “Public housing should be a steppingstone, not a trap. We need to hold D.C. Housing Authority accountable for better conditions. We need a legacy fund to make sure longtime residents aren’t being pushed out. We need real housing, not temporary solutions.”
Chaney’s legislative experience includes her service on the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of D.C.’s crisis coalition. As ACLU-DC’s lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) made its way through the courts in 2023, Chaney and other coalition members engaged council members, raising the issue of the local police department dispatching uniformed officers, and not first responders, to the scene of mental health crises and domestic violence situations.
Beyond that, Chaney maintains a presence in the Ward 8 community as founder of Bold Yoga LLC, through which she’s offered trauma-informed care to residents of various ages. For years, Bold Yoga LLC, in conjunction with T.R.I.G.G.E.R. Project and other anti-violence organizations, has also hosted the “Week of Healing” to bring youth and adults together in promotion and execution of holistic, nonpunitive solutions to gun violence.
If elected, Chaney said she will endeavor to replicate such programming in Ward 8 schools.
“We have a mental health and opioid crisis among youth that’s not being addressed,” she told The Informer. “I know there’s so much that Ward 8 could do. I’m working to bring trauma-informed care to our schools in Ward 8, working to show how to help kids who experience trauma.”
In terms of her Wilson Building experience, Chaney said she has rapport with council members — including Anita Bonds and Brooke Pinto — who, according to her, have seen her advocacy on behalf of Ward 8’s youngest residents. “It’s about us introducing initiatives in a way council members can understand and see where we’re coming from,” Chaney said as she reflected on her experiences walking through the John A. Wilson Building.
Chaney went on to tell The Informer that, as council member, she too would set her sights on Fiscal Year 2027, fighting for consistent programming that goes well beyond one or two grant cycles, and encouraging her council colleagues to work with community members as, she too, unites them around a fight for the future of their ward.
“It’s gonna take some work to organize people,” said Chaney, a mother of five. “We’re resource rich, but those resources don’t trickle into the community. Someone looking at a budget with my mindset can see things a bit differently. It’s not that we don’t want to move people in, but we should be inclusive and [foster] collaboration over here.”
Khadijah Clark: The Mother of Alabama Avenue SE
On April 19 — two days after prospective special election candidates are supposed to file their nominating petitions — Clark will celebrate 64 years as a Ward 8 resident.
Clark, one of several people who ran a write-in campaign against then-Ward 8 D.C. Councilmember White last fall, told The Informer that she wants to serve the people living in the ward where she experienced both trauma and triumph.
She said she would carry out her political obligations in a manner most beneficial to Ward 8 residents.
“A lot of things are happening in Ward 8 that shouldn’t be going on,” said Clark, a therapist of nearly 30 years and homeless advocate, as she criticized political leaders and nonprofit institutions she accused of further marginalizing residents. “People keep harping on Trayon White but they need to look at a lot of [the leaders]. They say Ward 8 is bad but they’re here making money. If you’re working in Ward 8, you should be working for Ward 8 residents.”
If elected, Clark’s plans include senior advocacy and the push for an audit of Ward 8-related public expenditures. She also pledged to take the fight for adequate housing nationwide, first by organizing Ward 8 residents and other stakeholders against congressional members impeding on District autonomy through the federal budget process.
“I will fight, march, and be up in Congress’ face to make things uncomfortable,” Clark told The Informer on Monday while at Martha’s Table at the Commons in Southeast, where she said she volunteers at least three times a week. “I want to take a look at a lot of laws. It hurts my heart talking to seniors whose kids want them to move. That shouldn’t happen.”
Clark, a two-time alumna of Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, said she spends her time honoring her late brother’s memory by certifying people in Narcan use and CPR. Currently, she serves as a D.C.-based member of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, an affiliation she said better positions her to collaborate with activists, policy makers.
Past professional experience includes a stint at Catholic Charities, where she oversaw operations at a Northwest-based homeless shelter at the height of the pandemic.
To this day, Clark continues to advocate for residents, especially those living near Frederick Douglass Community Center on Alabama Avenue, which she said has become a topic of discussion for those feeling left out in development plans.
Clark said that situation, among others, shows the need for collaboration, transparency, and unity unlike what Ward 8 residents have ever experienced.
“Ward 8 residents will partner with me,” Clark said. “They will make recommendations [and] advocate for themselves. Hopefully we can fix things. I have great ideas and want the voices of the ward to be heard. There’s a generational thing going on out here [where] mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers are on welfare. Words of encouragement can help people.”