March to May 15: Orange Stays Out of the Race
D.C. Council member Vincent Orange, who was recently certified as winner of the Democratic nomination for the at-large race for the City Council in the Nov. 6 general election, said that he will not endorse a candidate for the Ward 5 seat in the Tue., May 15 special election.
"The residents of Ward 5 should determine who will represent them without my influence," Orange said. "I have been approached by several candidates for an endorsement but I tell them to go out and make their case to the people."
Orange, 54, represented Ward 5 on the D.C. Council from 1999-2007. He said that residents should vote for a person who will "bring middle schools to the ward and support economic development."
"The next council member should be committed to a better quality of life," he said. "The new council member must come down here to the John A. Wilson Building and roll up their sleeves and work to make Ward 5 and the city at large a better place."
Hubbard Knows the Wilson Building
Ward 5 D.C. Council candidate Drew Hubbard said that his most important asset, if elected to the D.C. Council on Tue., May 15 in the special election, is his experience. While Hubbard has never been elected to public office, he has worked for several members of the D.C. Council. He said that he knows how to use those experiences to improve Ward 5.
"I have worked with three members, Kwame Brown, Marion Barry and Michael Brown," Hubbard, 34, said. "Unlike my competition, I would be ready to go from Day One."
Hubbard, a resident of the Woodbridge neighborhood, served as the legislative director for Kwame Brown in 2005. In 2007, he was hired by Barry to be the committee director for the Committee on Housing and Workforce Development and when Michael Brown became chair of the committee, in April 2010, he requested that Hubbard remain in his position.
Hubbard said that he sees changes in the ward but it shouldn't lose its defining character.
"Ward 5 has a great residential nature and that is good but there should be more shopping options and other amenities," he said. "Our residents should be able to walk or to bike to wherever they want to go in the ward."
