DC Ward 8's fight for its future

The challenge in Ward 8 right now is comparable, in my mind, to the one confronting millions of mostly rural citizens nationally, who have consistently supported former President Donald J. Trump, believing that, somehow, he will deliver on his promise to transform their lives. Instead, he has used his constituents in an us-versus-them fight, replete with divisive, vile, racist and hateful rhetoric. The goal has been for him to retain economic power associated with being president of the United States.

While DC Councilmember Trayon White Sr. is focused on a much smaller territory, he has a similar aim. 

Will Ward 8 residents reelect him in November, despite his indictment on federal bribery charges? 

With dozens of constituents and other supporters nearby, White — dressed in Afrocentric attire reminiscent of the kind often worn by former Mayor Marion Barry — appeared in federal court Thursday for his arraignment. His attorney Frederick D. Cooke Jr. entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for DC seemed eager to move forward with the case. They offered White a plea deal on Aug. 22. However, through his attorney, he rejected that deal on Sept. 6. 

Cooke told U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras that the defense team was not prepared to even agree to a trial schedule because they had not reviewed the prosecutors’ evidence. The parties agreed to appear for a status conference on Nov. 13. An actual trial is not likely until April 2025 at the earliest.

That schedule means White isn’t about to remove his name from the ballot. Actually, a campaign representative told members of the press after Thursday’s court appearance, “We still have an election, and we are going to start our campaign.”

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is considered by many to be the person who can both save those rural voters trapped in Trump’s MAGA cult and move the nation forward. Who will rescue Ward 8 residents?

Republican Nate Derenge is on the November general election ballot. Can he win? Or will the man under indictment for a felony win as the Democratic nominee? 

Those Ward 8 residents, particularly Democrats, who want a different outcome had better get busy. 

Charles Wilson, chair of the DC Democratic State Committee, told me earlier this week that he and his wife are discussing his possible candidacy. Rahman Branch, former principal of Frank Ballou High School and former director of the Mayor’s Office on African American Affairs, and Salim Adofo, an advisory neighborhood commissioner, ran in the recent Democratic primary; while they lost their bids, they each have demonstrated support in the ward.

None of them seem to have the appetite to compete against White over the next seven weeks or so. Can one of them be persuaded to mount a write-in campaign? 

Nothing appears to prevent such a move. The results could be different this time, especially since independents are able to participate in the general election and, well, White has been weakened by his own greed.

Thus far, only four individuals have officially signaled they will run write-in campaigns: Olivia Henderson, Michael Brown, Khadijah Long and June Sherman. Markus Batchelor, former Ward 8 representative on the State Board of Education, has said he plans to run as a write-in but hadn’t yet registered as of Thursday afternoon.

“If a Write-In Candidate wishes to declare their candidacy, similar to a Candidate’s Declaration of Candidacy, a Write-in Candidate must file an Affirmation of Write-In Candidacy. This form must be filed with the Board on or before the seventh day after a General Election,” BOE spokesperson Sarah Graham wrote via email in response to my inquiry about the process. That puts the deadline as Tuesday, Nov. 12, at 5 p.m.

If the past is prologue, White could well face jail time if he’s convicted of felony bribery. Two other District lawmakers, Harry Thomas Jr. and Michael A. Brown, were sent to Alabama facilities, after they were found guilty of stealing public funds and taking bribes, respectively.

Not unlike Trump, White has used fear and race-based propaganda to manipulate his constituency. On his infamous social media accounts and elsewhere, White has pontificated and positioned himself as their protector, promising to shield them from a hostile government — yet willing to sell them out at the first opportunity.

“He represents hope for residents who feel unincluded and uninvited to DC politics. Their great hope is that they have one of them speaking on their behalf to the powers that be,” explained Wilson during an interview with me earlier this week. 

“There is a cadre in our community that is comfortable being poor, comfortable with surviving and not thriving. It’s hard to change that because it’s generational,” said a longtime Ward 8 resident and business leader who requested anonymity in order to speak freely. 

Ward 8 has a population of approximately 87,000 residents; nearly 28% live below the federal poverty line, according to a 2022 U.S. Census Bureau report. Further, 76% of the housing is renter-occupied, which impedes any prospect of closing the wealth gap.

In reality, White has been the consummate salesman throughout his council tenure, allegedly accepting bribes; bilking or attempting to bilk developers and other business owners; and blocking or helping to delay beneficial projects, like Reunion Square, because he and members of his handpicked posse would not directly reap the rewards they sought.

I’m not alone in seeing similarities between White and the GOP presidential nominee.

“The treatment of their people is abhorrent to me. They have used their talents for what is self-enrichment,” said Terry Lynch, a Ward 1 resident who has been involved with national and local political affairs for more than 40 years.

“We’ve got to hold them accountable for what they’ve done,” added Lynch.

Many Ward 8 residents welcomed the initial proposals for Reunion Square, a mixed-use development that included a hotel and much-needed retail and commercial outlets. However, White pushed the council to delay its vote on the project. Mayor Muriel Bowser subsequently agreed to alter the development to gain his support.

One of the many people I spoke with in 2018 about Reunion Square told me that residents had been wanting “a hotel in this ward for 40 years. What Trayon and his cabal have proposed will make this ward nothing but a perpetual ghetto.”

White seemed satisfied with the results at Reunion Square and elsewhere, leaving the area with visible signs of unfulfilled possibilities and a chaotic, confusing socioeconomic vision.

Why, for example, has the government decided to locate the lion’s share of new development on the campus of a mental health hospital? Are there no commercial corridors east of the Anacostia River in Ward 8 that could use the boost? 

Why did officials spend millions of dollars on the construction of an iconic bridge but not yet built anything aside from the Entertainment & Sports Arena that would invite tourists or others to visit parts of the ward east of the Anacostia River?

“Neither [Trump nor White] has a track record of delivering to his base,” said Chuck Thies, a seasoned DC political consultant who has also worked on national elections. 

“They have one other thing in common: One is a convicted felon; the other is about to become a convicted felon,” added Thies, who is a staffer for Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray but was speaking in his individual capacity.

White seems to be betting that if he goes to trial, he won’t be convicted. That’s the same hand Trump played.

In New York, Trump has been found liable for sexual abuse of a journalist, guilty of financial fraud, and guilty of 34 felonies for falsifying business records. In Georgia, he and several of his allies were charged with operating a criminal enterprise.

Still, despite betraying the public trust and their oaths of office, the names of both politicians will appear on the ballot in the November general election.

For those of us who prize ethical, moral and honest government and elected officials, the only hope for such results on the local level, at least in the near future, seemingly lies with the DC Council’s ad hoc committee that was appointed last month by Chair Phil Mendelson to investigate White’s actions.

That committee is being led by Chair Pro Tempore Kenyan McDuffie and is expected to consider whether to reprimand, censure or expel White. 

Some people have raised questions about whether McDuffie can be objective; they have cited the role White played in helping to rally support for McDuffie after his campaign to become attorney general was torpedoed by the Elections Board’s decision that he did not meet the qualifications to run. McDuffie, a longtime Democrat, promptly registered as an independent and ran for an at-large seat on the council, consolidating, with the help of White and others, the Black vote east of the river. 

A former adviser inside McDuffie’s circle told me that the at-large representative is “Trayon’s only ally on the council.”

With whom does McDuffie’s allegiance reside? 

I don’t have an answer to that question. Neither McDuffie nor his director of communications responded to multiple requests from me for comment.

Unfortunately, Ward 8 residents have been used repeatedly by failed politicians. There is a reason it is home to some of the poorest, least developed communities in the city.

Consider that after Barry returned from federal prison in 1992, he presented himself for councilmember, promising that he would remain in that position working on residents’ behalf. However, seeing a weakened Mayor Sharon Pratt, he broke his pledge and jumped into the 1994 mayoral race. In 1998, having been stripped of any semblance of power by the financial control board, Barry decided not to run for reelection. True to character, in 2004, he once again relied on the generosity of Ward 8 voters to revive his political career; he ran against incumbent Sandra Allen, one of his most dedicated supporters, for a seat on the council.

In my 1998 book, The Last of the Black Emperors: The Hollow Comeback of Marion Barry in the New Age of Black Leaders, I offered that many African Americans in DC and beyond saw Barry as the folkloric character Anasi — the trickster — standing against whites and members of the elite political power structure. Via propaganda and outright lies, he maintained that image of fearless champion — even though agencies serving some of the city’s most vulnerable people were under court control when he finally left the mayoral suite.

In other words, African Africans, especially those in places like Ward 8, lost full command and control of their destinies as they followed leaders more interested in their own immortality than the needs of their constituents.

Last week, White replicated one of Barry’s signature moves: When in trouble, turn to religion; reach out to the city’s clergy to get support, forgiveness and redemption. White went to Union Temple Baptist Church in Ward 8, placing himself in the circle of the faithful. 

White may be attempting to clone Barry, but he is no Barry. White lacks Barry’s intellect, political acumen and civil rights credentials.

However, said the longtime business leader, White does have “street creds” in a ward where many residents either have had direct contact with the criminal justice system or have family members or friends who have: “We give a lot of credit to people who have that history.”

Will relying on such an individual actually lift the community and allow it to achieve its highest potential? That hasn’t happened thus far.