D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At Large) will officially launch his bid for reelection on Oct. 26 at the Thurgood Marshall Center in Northwest.
“I hope you will join me,” White said in a short message to his supporters. “This will be a fun afternoon and I would be honored to have you with me and the always incredible Crush Funk Brass Band.”
White has served as a member of the District’s legislative body since 2016 and presently chairs the council’s Committee on Facilities & Procurement. On the council, he has supported legislation that benefits returning citizens, the education of toddlers and pre-K children, and minority entrepreneurs.
At this time, White faces no major opposition. The Democratic primary will be held on June 2 and the general election, where he will need to be one of the top two vote-getters to be reelected, will take place on Nov. 3, 2020.
GREEN WANTS TO TAKE GRAY OUT
Anthony Lorenzo Green, the advisory neighborhood commissioner for single-member District 7C04, will challenge Council member Vincent Gray (D-Ward 7) for his seat in the 2020 Democratic primary, saying Gray is out of touch with the average Ward 7 resident.
“Many people feel that Gray is not a voice for the working people,” Green said. “There is violence in the community and the root causes are not being addressed and there isn’t enough support for the ward’s public schools. Many people would like to send their children to Ward 7 schools but are concerned about the quality of the education they may get.
“There isn’t enough noise being made about health equity when Black mothers are trying to survive childbirth and there is no obstetrics and gynecology unit east of the Anacostia River,” he said.
If elected to the council, Green said he would push for more affordable housing and quality full-service grocery stores and alternatives such as urban gardens and grocery co-ops.
Green acknowledges that Gray has served not only as a council member for the ward but as the chairman of the D.C. Council and the city’s mayor. However, Green sees Gray’s service as a deficit and not an asset.
“Vincent Gray has been a part of a collaborative that has displaced Black and brown people in the city,” he said. “The people of Ward 7 are tired of politicians that say they are fighting for us and then go to the backrooms of power and work against the community’s interest. No one is really fighting for the working-class people in the city, but if elected to the council, I will.”
Green has the distinction of being one of the few elected officials in the District to serve in two wards. He served as a commissioner in 8B in Ward 8 from January 2013-April 2016, rising to become the chair of the commission.
He moved to Ward 7 later in 2016 to care of a family member and became a commissioner that year for 7C04.
Green will hold a major campaign event on Oct. 27 at Kingman Park from 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
YANG WANTS DC STATEHOOD
Andrew Yang, a nonprofit leader vying for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, recently said he favors D.C. statehood.
“I do support statehood for Washington, D.C,” Yang said during a news conference at the National Press Club in Northwest on Oct. 21. “I think it is long overdue and it is dramatically overdue.”
Yang said that during his teen years he participated in speech and debate forensics and argued for D.C. statehood as a part of a competition. He said “taxation without representation isn’t fair” and “D.C. residents pay taxes and should be represented.”
Yang said D.C. isn’t the only jurisdiction that should be a state.
“I also favor Puerto Rico for statehood,” he said.
