Second-term D.C. Council Member Phil Mendelson prevailed Tuesday in his toughest re-election challenge, picking up the Democratic nomination for his at-large seat by soundly defeating lawyer A. Scott Bolden in the primary.
With 130 of 142 precincts reporting, Mendelson had 63.2 percent of the vote to Bolden’s 36.3 percent.
Mendelson, a deliberate legislator, had never faced a challenge like the bombastic Bolden. In previous elections, the incumbent squared off against multiple challengers who would split the black vote, leaving Mendelson, who is white, to win with less than 50 percent support.
“You know, for somebody who hates campaigning, I think I pulled it off,” Mendelson said. “I think people don’t understand the breadth and depth of support I have around the city.”
Bolden, a partner at Reed Smith, challenged Mendelson at virtually every turn as an ineffective chairman of the Judiciary Committee, where the incumbent had oversight of public safety and justice-related matters.
A self-described “activist,” Bolden challenged Mendelson to act quickly after New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum was murdered, but Mendelson declined. When Mayor Anthony Williams publicly scolded Mendelson for taking his time with an omnibus crime bill, Bolden joined in the castigation, but Mendelson never backed down.
Among his endorsements, mostly those representing business interests, Bolden also won the support of the Fraternal Order of Police.
Though Bolden actively campaigned for the seat for more than a year, Mendelson only recently launched his aggressive re-election bid. Mendelson cast himself as a friend of the average voter, of tenants, of the environment and of labor, while describing his challenger, the former president of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, as an ally of big business who “doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”
“He’s always been there supporting the neighborhood issues, even before he became council member at large,” said Laura Shell, of Logan Circle. “Phil’s a great guy.”
