With deep pockets and a reputation as a consensus-builder, Vincent Gray, the first-term Ward 7 D.C. Council member, on Tuesday won the Democratic nomination for D.C. Council chairman, the second most powerful elected position in District government.
Gray defeated three-term Ward 3 Council Member Kathy Patterson 58 percent to 41.7 percent, clearly proving the voters had taken well to his “One City” mantra. Polls had the race as a statistical dead heat in the days leading up to the primary, but with more money in the bank and stronger endorsements, Gray was thought to have the advantage.
“One city is a place where Ward 3 and Ward 8 people understand the issues we face are the same,” Gray said during his celebration at the Hyatt on Capitol Hill. “That’s what one city is.” A District native, graduate of D.C. public schools and of The George Washington University, Gray stormed into the chairman’s race in March at the behest of others, he said, who recruited him to run. With 30 years of experience managing local social service agencies, including the District Department of Human Services in the early 1990s, Gray cast himself as a unifier who will herd the council’s 13 voices into an efficient legislative body.
He framed Patterson, a hard-nosed former newspaper reporter, as a maverick who has little thought for positions other than her own. She is “not so easy to get along with,” Gray said during the campaign.
Patterson fought back against those who painted her as difficult to work with, arguing a man with the same reputation would be praised.
“It is a wonderful thing to have done the right thing,” Patterson said of her campaign. “I have no apologies, no regrets.”
Examiner Staff Writers Kelly Mahon and Andrew White contributed to this report.
