Since announcing his bid for the council seat his colleagues expelled him from earlier this year, Trayon White has only attended two special election candidate forums, the most recent of which was hosted by the Ward 8 Democrats.
Last weekend, as the sun beamed on community members sitting in the Bundy’s Secret Garden behind the Go-Go Museum & Cafe in Southeast, the former council member spoke, in only but so many words, about the summer 2024 FBI arrest that set in motion Ward 8’s current predicament.
“Well, I’m entitled to due process, and as you know, as a person that’s been accused of a crime this serious, it’s not wise for me to speak on that in any form or fashion to the public because I have to have my day in court,” White said, in response to an audience member’s question, during the Ward 8 D.C. Council special electron candidate forum.
White made this statement nearly two-thirds of the way into an hour-long forum that touched on a bevy of topics— including the perils of not having ward-level representation during a budget season soured by budget deficit projections and congressional Republicans’ infringement on Home Rule. Minutes after addressing concerns about what several perceive as his lack of accountability, White left the forum early to attend a family member’s wedding, but not before attempting to assure constituents that the truth will come to light in due time.
“I have a strong legal team, and we’re confident that we will have a chance to give our side of the story,” White said on the afternoon of June 21. “You heard one side, haven’t heard my side, but that’s why I’m here still fighting for not just for my freedom, but for the freedom of all people in Ward 8 and across the District.”
Mike Austin Wins Straw Poll, Candidates Unite in Criticism of Trayon White
The Ward 8 Democrats and Capital Stonewall Democrats hosted a special election candidate forum moderated by WUSA 9’s Lorenzo Hall.
During the forum, 130 registered Ward 8 Democrats participated in a straw poll. More than an hour after the forum ended, constituents and members of each campaign team learned that White placed third out of all four candidates whose names appear on the July 15 special election ballot.
Mike Austin, an attorney with experience as a council staffer and advisory neighborhood commissioner, took first place with 47 votes.
Sheila Bunn, former chief of staff for D.C. Councilmember Vince Gray and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, placed second with 40 votes.
Advisory Neighborhood Commission Chairman Salim Adofo (8C), who challenged White’s seat during the 2024 Democratic primary, placed last with six votes.
In the days and weeks leading up to the candidate forum and straw poll, Austin, who ran against White in the 2020 D.C. Democratic primary, touted himself as a candidate who can navigate the legislative process and go toe-to-toe with council colleagues to secure investments for Ward 8 residents.
With budget deliberation to soon wrap up, Austin lamented that Ward 8 currently has no council representation.
“That’s [the] repercussions of Trayon White’s actions,” Austin said on Saturday. “So I understand and appreciate everybody who voted for him in the general [election], but the reality is that right now we have a real opportunity to correct the mistakes. We can no longer give passes for malfeasance. We can no longer continue to give passes. We can’t abuse our trust and our loyalty and our elected officials.”
White, who spoke right after Austin, immediately challenged the notion that, without a council member, Ward 8 lacks representation. He called on constituents not only to lean on D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and their At large council representatives, but their collective ability to move the dial on key issues.
“Unfortunately, we are in the situation we are now, but we do have the powers and the people, so it’s incumbent upon us as residents to go to council hearings to testify, to be active in our community,” White said. “We can never depend on one council member, one mayor, any elected official ever to be the sole source of helping our people. As I learned a long time ago, it was the powers and the people. So until this election happens, we have to continue to come to the hearings, send letters, advocate, work with our agency commissioners to ensure we have equity in this vote cycle.”
Seconds after White took his seat, Adofo provided thoughts similar to Austin, telling audience members that a vote for White wouldn’t push Ward 8 past the controversy that stands to exacerbate quality-of-life issues that residents experience.
“I think that moving forward gives us an opportunity to go a different direction,” Adofo said. “We have to take into consideration [if this] is where we want to go. Do we want to continue to deal with some of the issues from the past? Because we know that this would not be the last time we hear about these things if we go back to where we once were.”
In her remarks, Bunn, highlighting tensions on Capitol Hill, said a special election victory by White pushes the District further into the crosshairs of the Trump administration and congressional Republicans.
“We need a leader at this time that is not fraught with any ethical issues,” Bunn said on Saturday. “One that is ready on day one to work with the current council members that has relationships with the current council members to move the needle for Ward 8.”
Though she acknowledged White as a colleague and fellow civic leader, Bunn said Ward 8 can’t afford to re-elect him.
“Good people make bad mistakes,” she continued. “But we cannot let those mistakes affect us at this inopportune time for our community and for our city.”
Community Members Weigh In
The Ward 8 D.C. Council special election is scheduled for July 15. The winner will serve out the rest of White’s term, which is scheduled to end on Jan. 2, 2029.
Early voting kicks off on July 11. Long before then, voters should’ve received mail-in ballots.
Earlier this year, White, who pleaded not guilty to a federal bribery charge, sat in council chambers as his colleagues approved his expulsion from the legislative body. That event marked the start of a special election that attracted more than two dozen candidates. If White wins back his seat, he faces the possibility of another council explosion.
Also hanging over White’s head is his January 2026 trial in relation to allegations that he agreed to influence the dispersal of government funds to a violence interruption contractor in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
As of now, White is still eligible to run for the council seat he lost. However, D.C. Councilmember Henderson (I-At large) has set out to change that, although not in time for the July 15 special election. Her legislation, if passed, would trigger a 2026 ballot vote on charter amendment that, if approved, prevents an expelled council member from serving on the council for five years.
Henderson told The Informer that the legislation, titled the Public Service Exception Charter Amendment Act of 2025, has been in the works for several months.
“I think we actually started having conversations with [the] general counsel last year because we recognized very early on into this process that there’s essentially a loophole,” Henderson said. “You are expelled, there’s nothing preventing you from turning around and running again, which I felt like essentially took the consequence out of the process.”
Miles away from the John A. Wilson Building in Northwest, along Martin Luther King Jr. SE, Devon Lesesne, a lifelong Ward 8 resident, counts among those who believe that the former council member’s decision to run for his old seat deepens the wounds inflicted upon Ward 8 residents.
“I just would hope that he would take accountability and responsibility for putting the ward in the predicament that it’s in,” Lesesne told The Informer. “It’s a lot of mental, physical and emotional exhaustion that comes with seeing one of your leaders, somebody who you love being attacked or accused in whatever way that might be.”
Lesesne, a supporter of Austin, has experience as the straw poll winner’s colleague in former D.C. Councilmember LaRuby May’s office. He said that Austin has the legislative know-how to complete what some may consider the mundane work of examining budget documents.
“I do appreciate the people who come out and engage the community and are front facing in that way, but I think this time around we need to move away from that and have a council member who is able to dig in the guts of these legislative packages to actually go through the weeds and tweeze out and put in the things that residents need,” Lesesne said.
During the candidate forum, the candidates weighed in on: post-budget season plans to recoup losses; which programs to preserve; how to prepare Ward 8 residents for Medicaid cuts; mitigating changes to bus routes; racial equity and protection of LGBTQ community members; RFK campus redevelopment; the development of a health-and-wellness complex at Poplar Point; traffic safety; affordable housing; and whether to unite against White to ensure he doesn’t re-enter office.
Charles Turner, a Ward 8 resident and Adofo supporter, said White’s responses earlier in the forum didn’t do much to change his mind about the former council member.
“He’s saying the same thing he said eight years ago, which is my problem with him mostly,” said Turner, who lives in Shipley Terrace. “He hasn’t grown into the position. I guess he’s reached his level of incompetence.”
For Turner, Adofo stands out the most among the special election candidates when it comes to constituent services, and developing long-term solutions for youth delinquency and other matters affecting the Ward 8 community.
“I am in agreement…about having something for young people to do,” Turner told The Informer. “Maybe that would be a key to solving a whole lot of the other problems. I agree with him on the need for some more mental health assistance for people and I agree with him on not giving all this money to developers.”
A Trayon White Ally Stands, While a Former Candidate Supports Sheila Bunn
Regina Pixley, D.C. Democratic Party committeewoman and vocal supporter of White, also spoke about the importance of constituent engagement, telling The Informer that, despite his current predicament, White stands above the other candidates.
“We’ve always been left behind, but even more so now without Trayon being present,” Pixley told The Informer as she lambasted the members of the council. “It’s crazy how you cut the budget for schools, which will increase MPD. You cut the budget for Medicaid when you know we live in the food desert, and a lot of people depend on Medicaid because they have health challenges because of…not being able to have access to adequate and proper healthy foods.”
Pixley also had choice words for Bunn, who she accused of languishing in the execution of her responsibilities to Gray during his latter years on the council.
“Councilmember Gray has been ill now for at least three years, not able to effectively do his job,” said Pixley as she recounted conversations with Gail Perkins, a Ward 7 homeowner who’s struggling to recoup losses from property damage caused by the partner of a delinquent tenant. “Staff [members] who [were] practically absent…might have answered the phone sometimes, but [during] the situation with the homeowner…where the man had 31 dogs, she said she called [Gray’s office] but they never returned back.”
During the forum, Bunn, in response to an audience question that Pixley submitted, attempted to clarify her role in Gray’s office amid the former council member’s health challenges.
“I was not the elected official, but our entire team stepped forward to make sure that we were doing the work on behalf of Councilmember Gray, that our constituent services team was out in the streets doing the work, and legislatively that we were advising him and that when he made votes, he did them in an informed and educated manner,” Bunn said. “You can’t please everybody all of the time, but we did our best to make sure that Ward 7 was represented to the fullest.”
Charnal Chaney, a Ward 8 resident and one-time special election candidate, expressed her support for Bunn, the only candidate she said inspires confidence about the D.C. Council’s ability to holistically address mental wellness.
“She was dedicated to addressing the mental health crisis that’s affecting our youth and families, and willing to invest in healing houses and a holistic approach to our mental health,” Chaney told The Informer.
Chaney, owner of Bold Yoga LLC, said Bunn, during the candidate forum, demonstrated intricate knowledge of council processes. She told The Informer that Bunn’s rapport with the council, now more than ever, can serve as an asset.
“Right now, having allies on the council is super important,” Chaney said. “The whole thing is who will be able to get the job done in such a critical time…being that when they first go in, they won’t have any committees or…real power just yet.”
However, as it relates to White, Chaney said a special election victory would do more harm than good to Ward 8 constituents.
“What the ward needs is a council member who has allies on the council, who can get things done, who can get things passed without having the power to do so,” Chaney said. “Right now I just don’t see him being able to do that because the trust has been broken and he has to re it’s going to take time for him to rebuild that.”