Alex Koma

Zachary Parker has a notable new challenger in Ward 5: Ex-DNC delegate Bernita Carmichael.

Memorably, she led an attempted takeover of the Ward 5 Democrats' leadership a few years back...with Parker's support. This was a @mitchryals.bsky.social classic:
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/5222...

And with that, Felder's withdrawn the bill. He says he'll bring it up at the next meeting, but if there's a cost attached it's probably sunk. He can try moving this as a normal bill, without the emergency's requirements, but that starts to get very tricky timing-wise...

This bill is up for a vote today, but a wrinkle: The CFO may rule it will cost the elections board money to implement so it would be ineligible to move as an emergency bill. Felder told me just now he’s not sure what will happen. Stay tuned…

White has stronger favorability ratings than the other candidates.o Forty-two percent of voters are favorable towards Robert White, while just 17% areunfavorable.o Twenty-five percent of voters are favorable towards Brooke Pinto, while 17% areunfavorable.o Forty-three percent of voters are favorable towards Eleanor Holmes Norton, while42% are unfavorable.• Voters think Robert White is doing a better job on the council than Brooke Pinto.o Forty percent of voters say Robert White is doing an excellent or good job, while 25%say he is doing just a fair or poor job.o Twenty-five percent of voters say Brooke Pinto is doing an excellent or good job, while26% say she is doing just a fair or poor job.

Plus, check out these favorability numbers for Norton.

Could any DC politico in a million years imagine seeing her barely above water? She's at 43-42. Very hard to imagine her running again if this keeps up.

A recent survey1 conducted by Lake Research Partners shows that D.C. City Councilman At-Large, Robert White, is the odds-on favorite to be the next congressional delegate to the U.S.House of Representatives for Washington D.C.• Robert White leads the field by double-digits today, taking 29% of the vote, whileEleanor Holmes Norton draws 16%, Brooke Pinto receives 14%, and the othercandidates—including Deidre Brown (2%), Kinney Zalesne (1%), and Jacque Patterson(1%)—are mired in the low single digits. Thirty-one percent of voters are undecided and5% support someone else. Robert White’s lead is notable for its unusual breadth, as heposts margins among Black voters, white voters, women, and men.• Robert White’s strengths are even more evident in a two-way matchup between himand Brooke Pinto. In this scenario, White leads by more than two-to-one: 44% for Whiteto 21% for Pinto, with 27% undecided and 7% “other.” This includes winning a majorityof voters who support Norton in the full ballot, with 56% of the incumbent’s voters goingto White and just 11% to Pinto.• When voters hear positive profiles of White, Pinto and Zalesne, taking the language thecandidates have used to describe themselves, White’s lead expands. At this point, Whitemoves up to 36%, while Norton takes 15%, Pinto takes 14%, Zalesne takes 8%, Pattersontakes 3% and Brown takes 2%. Nineteen percent of voters remain undecided and 4%support “other.”2 The language of the profiles appears below.1Lake Research Partners designed and administered a survey, using live phone interviews and text-to-onlinemethodology, to 400 likely Democratic Primary Election voters in Washington, D.C. The survey was conductedNovember 22-24, 2025. The margin of error for the full sample is +/-4.9%.2Asked of half of the sample.

In the delegate race, Robert White's campaign is out with its first poll, by longtime Dem pollster Celinda Lake.

It has him up 29-16 over EHN, with Pinto at 14%. In a one-on-one race with Pinto, it has him up 44-21 (with 27% undecided).
www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

At her post-2026 decision presser, I asked Bowser whether she supports Felder's bill to delay RCV. She was noncommittal on the bill itself, but called the change "a big thing to deliver by June," particularly with so many major races on the ballot.

Her full answer:

At last, we know Bowser's 2026 plans: but what about Anita Bonds? Sources tell me she's discussed retiring/endorsing aide Kevin Chavous to replace her.

When I talked to her last night, she said she's running...but also that she's 50-50. It's confusing! Here's what I know:
wamu.org/story/25/11/...

Just saying...if you listen to WAMU, you knew this was coming weeks ago:
wamu.org/story/25/10/...

Absolutely huge news, right before a holiday (of course). Let the 2026 race begin!

On Tuesday, Councilmember Felder introduced emergency legislation to require the Board of Elections (BOE) to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment to ensure the District’s institutional readiness for implementing ranked choice voting (RCV). The needs assessment would analyze voter awareness and public perceptions of the ranked choice voting system, assess the equity and access implications of ranked choice voting for historically marginalized communities, review best practices and implementation experiences from other jurisdictions, and require the Board to submit a report to the Mayor and the Council. The report would include a RCV implementation plan, a full cost model, an operational timeline with critical milestones and a comprehensive voter outreach and education plan. “I am grateful to the Board of Elections for joining us at yesterday’s public roundtable to answer our questions on ranked choice voting and the work they have done thus far to prepare District voters for this change, and I appreciate their transparency in sharing their current shortcomings and needs,” said Councilmember Felder. “Honoring the will of the voters means protecting voter access, voter understanding, and voter confidence — especially for communities that have historically been disenfranchised in our election systems. Based on what I heard yesterday, I do not feel confident that the DC BOE is ready for a responsible and successful implementation of RCV in June 2026, In order to reach that place with RCV, more work needs to be done. That’s why I’m introducing this legislation today and I call on my colleagues to join me in this effort to ensure that RCV is implemented responsibly, equitably, and in a way that truly strengthens our democracy.”

Fresh off grilling elections officials at a hearing yesterday, Wendell Felder introduces a bill meant to delay the implementation of ranked-choice voting.

A similar push failed during the budget talks. And, FWIW, BOE said Monday it was on track to have RCV ready by June...

New: Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker plans to run for re-election next year, per sources familiar, and has begun telling people about his decision.

No comment from him yet. He's one of the few major DC politicians who have yet to reveal their 2026 plans...

D.C. once again sees technical glitches, surging demand for rent relief program The city opened applications for emergency rent assistance Thursday, but a new system designed to cope with reduced funding immediately saw problems.

So, what the heck happened with ERAP yesterday?

Basically, DHS ditched its online portal, designed to avoid long lines. A crush of demand somehow surprised the agency and overwhelmed its systems, despite years of similar experiences. Now lawmakers wrestle with the fallout:
wamu.org/story/25/11/...

Some 2026 intrigue: There's a new effort to "draft" Mayor Muriel Bowser to run for a fourth term backed by Opportunity DC, the political group assembled by the Federal City Council/other business interests.

"One more time!" urges the petition on the site:
draftmurielbowser.com

Seems like DYRS is turning to a shuttered juvenile detention facility in Maryland to help address capacity issues at YSC...and @aclu-dc.bsky.social is not happy about it. Lawmakers have been raising alarms about the persistent rise in the youth jail's population these last few years.

VA Rep. James Walkinshaw leading a @freedcproject.bsky.social rally at the Capitol against bills interfering with DC criminal justice bills. He observes most of his colleagues only see the city on the drive “from their apartments in Navy Yard to the Capitol complex.”

More 2026 candidate news!

ANC1B Chair Miguel Deramo has filed in Ward 1, the sixth candidate in that race:
miguelward1.com

Gloria Nauden has also filed in Ward 6. Interestingly, she's been involved in Trayon White's campaigns in the past.

How DHCD Forfeited $35 Million in Federal Assistance for Affordable Housing and Bailed Out a Well-Connected Developer DHCD Director Colleen Green failed to disclose the loss of funding when asked during a D.C. Council hearing earlier this year.

Oops! DC's housing/development agency forfeited ~$35m in federal money after bailing out a project helmed by Green Teamer Buwa Binitie.

Suzie Amanuel aptly shows how this was conveniently left out of the debate on the housing market for the RENTAL Act:
washingtoncitypaper.com/article/7742...

McDuffie isn't slamming Bowser's work with Trump, but he's also clear he would stop MPD from working with ICE/limit cooperation with the feds.

"Who wants to live in a city that is constantly under siege by federal law enforcement?... I don't want to be mayor of a city like that"

On The Politics Hour, At-Large CM Kenyan McDuffie says he's given "serious thought" to running for mayor and that he's "not making a decision based on what others are gonna do" aka he's not waiting on Bowser's move...

It might seem unlikely that a wonky budget debate would have Ward 3 Councilmember Matt Frumin paraphrasing Carly Simon lyrics. But after weeks of hearings demanding answers from city officials about agencies overspending their budgets, he found himself reaching for words from Simon’s 1972 tune “We Have No Secrets.” “What was the line, ‘You always answered my questions, it wasn’t always what I wanted to hear,’” Frumin said. That’s because no one in the D.C. government has a good answer yet about how to fix this problem. Several different agencies have blown past their spending limits by a combined $300 million this year alone, forcing lawmakers to make unpleasant cuts elsewhere. Council Chair Phil Mendelson has become increasingly exasperated by this dynamic. Lawmakers have repeatedly been warned by Chief Financial Officer Glen Lee they can’t afford other priorities because they need to cover overspending. The city’s dealt with such issues from agencies for years, but it’s collected so much tax revenue in recent years it hasn’t required the same pain when accounting for overspending. And as the District’s economy has slowed amid federal layoffs, it’s becoming a bigger challenge for lawmakers. “For anyone out there who wants to see more money available for affordable housing or to help renters who can’t pay their rent, the money’s not there because of overspending,” Mendelson said. “It’s not available for public safety, for childcare subsidies, for early childhood educators. That money’s just not available because it got overspent.”

I never thought I'd have a councilmember quoting Carly Simon lyrics to me for a story...but agency overspending has been making everyone in the Wilson Building a bit loopy.

Why can't the city control its costs? And where is all this money going? I tried to unpack it all:
wamu.org/story/25/11/...

A little 2026 news: @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social has filed to run for reelection in Ward 6.

There was some speculation he'd pursue a bid for higher office next year, but that fizzled recently. Now he'll make a try for a fourth term.

Clearly, Bowser thinks this inside look at how she handled Trump vindicates her approach...but if we get new videos every day of ICE patrolling with MPD to deport people, is it having the effect she hoped?

Not helping that she gets defensive about it at every turn:

I was searching for some historical precedent for this last week, and a helpful source helped me find one: Tommy Wells and Yvette Alexander considered party switches in 2014:
www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/mike-d...

But neither ever did, so we still have no clear answer on how this would work.

Since Bowser's 2023 trip is back in the news, I went through an old FOIA I filed on it. Interesting to note that Bowser's people initially told the Qataris they'd pay their own way: wonder what changed?

Also amusing to note Bowser dined with Bloomberg and Fenty in the UAE...

This whole story is very weird. As some Green Teamers have observed to me, Bowser wouldn't need bribes to be close to Qatar: Her pal, Vinoda Basnayake, already lobbies for them a ton. Ex-chief of staff John Falcicchio worked with Qatari investors. What is the quid pro quo here?

Here’s our full story on this:
wamu.org/story/25/11/...

The lingering question: does Lewis George getting in help push Bowser to run again? Or is she headed for the exits no matter what? We should know in a few weeks…

With federal tax cuts ahead, D.C. lawmakers aim to preserve revenue, fund new tax credits The city was set to see a huge hole blown in its revenue in conjunction with federal tax cuts. D.C. will de-couple some rates and fund anti-poverty programs instead.

New: The DC Council seems to have averted budget catastrophe AND funded its long-sought-after child tax credit at the same time.

The city is poised to offer up to $1k per child for low- and middle-income families, a move @cmzparker5.bsky.social has pushed to combat poverty:
wamu.org/story/25/11/...

News: Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George has started telling people she’s running for mayor, per several sources, confirming months of speculation about her political future.

She’d be the first major candidate to declare for 2026. Now the question: what will Bowser do?

McDuffie is out with a statement: "At no point have I discussed, nor asked anyone on my behalf to discuss" the party switch idea. Says my story is "premised on an unfounded rumor."

Though I disagree it "lacks factual basis," considering Bonds' spox admitted this has come up...

Whoops Talamante was not deputy CoS! His title was director of intergovernmental affairs, which it seems he'll retain

Some major staff changes for Bowser: Lindsey Parker moves from chief of staff to Beverly Perry's old job as senior adviser; Tomas Talamante, Parker's deputy who's led Council lobbying efforts, takes over as chief.

Brian Hanlon, the head of DOB, will lead RFK development.