DC4D’s work in the 2022 primary
DC had near-record voter turnout in the 2022 primary: 32.26% of eligible voters cast ballots, a total of 132,182 people in all. That’s DC’s highest turnout in more than a decade — higher than even the hotly contested 2020 presidential election year. Some of DC’s most influential offices were up for election this year and all of them had fierce competition.
As we have for the past 18 years, DC for Democracy brought together a grassroots community of voters from across DC to elect leaders who will put people before profits. From November until June, we created opportunities to get to know the candidates, organized endorsement votes among DC4D members, and knocked doors, raised funds, and built support for our endorsed candidates. Here’s an overview of everything we did as part of the 2022 primary election.
DC4D hosted four candidate forums this election this cycle. In total, more than 2,300 people registered to get to know the candidates at these events.
Ward 5 Candidate Forum — The June 2022 primary season began for us in November 2021, when we hosted a Ward 5 Candidate Forum, the first forum of the season. Faith Gibson Hubbard, Gordon Fletcher, Zachary Parker, Vincent Orange, and Harry Thomas joined us for a conversation moderated by Jeremiah Lowery. 642 people registered for the event.
Council Chair and Mayoral Forum — Our second forum was a joint Council Chair and Mayoral Forum on December 8, 2021. Erin Palmer and Phil Mendelson debated questions in their race for Council Chair, and Robert White joined us to share his vision for DC Mayor. Kim Perry, Executive Director of DC Action, moderated the event and 596 people registered to join us.
At-Large Council candidate Forum — On February 16, 2022, eight candidates for the At-Large Council seat joined us for our At-Large Candidate Forum. Kim Perry joined us as moderator once again, and facilitated a fast-paced discussion between Anita Bonds, Sharece Crawford, Nate Fleming, Lisa Gore, Leniqua’dominique Jenkins, Ambrose Lane, Bradley Thomas, and Dexter Williams. 522 people registered for the virtual event.
Ward 3 Council Candidate Forum — After Mary Cheh announced that she would not seek re-election in mid-February, the race for Ward 3 Councilmember heated up fast. On March 24 we hosted a Ward 3 Candidate Forum with Ben Bergmann, Deirdre Brown, Henry Cohen, Tricia Duncan, Beau Finley, Matthew Frumin, Eric Goulet and Phil Thomas. Shelley Broderick, Dean Emerita and Joseph L. Rauh, Jr. Chair of Social Justice at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law, moderated the event.
Questionnaires
In addition to our candidate forums, we invited all candidates to complete a questionnaire providing more information about their views and positions. See all submitted questionnaires below.
Attorney General
Delegate to the U.S. House
U.S. Representative (Shadow)
Endorsement meetings and member votes
To allow for fair and open discussion about which candidates to endorse, DC4D held endorsement meetings and member votes in January, March, and April. The process for these meetings and voting is outlined in DC4D’s Rules of the Day. Anyone may attend DC4D’s endorsement meetings, but the conversations are not recorded. DC4D uses a modified ranked choice voting process, and candidates must win a two-thirds majority in order to earn DC4D’s endorsement.
January 19, 2022 endorsement meeting: Discussing Mayor, Council Chair, and Councilmember for Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6. Voting was conducted by electronic ballot between January 19 and 23. Endorsed candidates were Robert White, Erin Palmer, Brianne Nadeau, Zachary Parker and Charles Allen.
March 9, 2022 endorsement meeting: At-Large Council. Voting was conducted by electronic ballot between March 9 and 12. No endorsement was made.
April 13, 2022 endorsement meeting: Councilmember for Ward 3, Attorney General, Delegate to the U.S. House, and U.S. Representative (Shadow). No endorsements were made. This second vote for Ward 3 Councilmember was added after Mary Cheh announced she would not seek re-election.
Supporting endorsed candidates
Once DC4D has selected endorsed candidates, the fun begins! Between February and June, 53 DC4D members collectively powered:
28 canvasses where we knocked a total of 5,253 doors and connected with 951 individual voters
8 shifts collecting petition signatures to help candidates get on the ballot
5 farmers market pop-ups, including one with our allies at the DC Latino Caucus
1 phonebank
We raised $5,450 for endorsed candidates, all of whom used Fair Elections financing. If 100% of those donations were from DC residents, that would yield a matched total of $32,700.
And the results? Grassroots power swept the Ward-level races, where Brianne Nadeau, Zachary Parker, and Charles Allen all won the nomination. In the DC-wide races our candidates didn’t win but we made substantial gains. Robert White brought Muriel Bowser’s support down from 79.9% in 2018 to 49.8% this year. And Erin Palmer brought Phil Mendelson’s support down from 63.0% in 2018 to 54.8% this year. Both Robert and Erin are thoughtful and principled leaders who ran exceptional campaigns, and we look forward to supporting their future efforts.
People power made all this possible. Thank you to everyone who attended a forum, read candidates’ questionnaires, attended a meeting, voted in our endorsement process, donated, or knocked doors. And thank you to all the candidates who took time to join these events and share their vision for a better DC. Onward!
