Adrian Fenty, the 35-year-old political fireball who vowed to carry his vision for the nation’s capital to every resident of every ward, won the Democratic nomination for mayor Tuesday and in all likelihood will serve as the District’s fifth elected chief executive.
With his message of constituent service, a dynamic door-knocking campaign, a clear lead in the polls and a massive get-out-the-vote effort, Fenty, the Ward 4 council member, dispatched his chief rival, D.C. Council Chairman Linda Cropp, 57 percent to 32 percent with 75 percent of the precincts reporting.
Marie Johns, the former Verizon executive, received 8 percent of the vote, and Ward 5 Council Member Vincent Orange picked up 3 percent, also with 75 percent of the precincts reporting.
Fenty still must win the Nov. 7 general election, where he will face Republican Dave Kranich and Statehood Green Chris Otten. But Fenty’s triumph, making him the youngest mayor in D.C. history, is virtually assured in a city that votes 90 percent with the Democrats.
“This victory belongs to the residents of the District of Columbia,” Fenty told supporters during his victory celebration, under a tent near his Florida Avenue Northwest headquarters.
The next mayor will be tasked with overseeing a $9 billion budget and roughly 33,000 employees, tackling a human services system in disrepair, battling a persistent crime problem, turning around student achievement and rebuilding neighborhoods that missed out on the economic development boom.
Fenty has promised to run the city like a business, lead improvement in the public schools, follow best practices he’s rooted out from other big-city mayors, spread opportunity across the District and hold agencies accountable for failures.
“Anybody who’s satisfied with the education system hasn’t been paying attention,” Fenty said.
Fenty and Cropp had raised more than $5 million combined, making this the most expensive political race in D.C. history. They poured those dollars into an unprecedented media buy featuring professionally crafted television, radio and Internet advertisements.
But Fenty, who launched his bid in June 2005, was a vigorous, unyielding candidate, knocking on thousands of doors day after day. Despite consistent leads in the polls, Fenty stuck to his mantra: “We’re taking nothing for granted.”
“We need some people who will stand up to the old guard,” said Jaime Contreras, chairman of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, one of Fenty’s labor endorsements.
Meanwhile, after 26 years as an elected D.C. official, Cropp will be out of a job come January — as will Orange, the second-term council member whose campaign never took off. Johns, the well-regarded CEO long thought to be a dark horse to win, lagged third in the polls throughout the campaign.
Cropp was unable to keep up with Fenty’s grassroots campaign. She accused him of spending too much time on his BlackBerry, of chiding ideas without offering his own solutions and of ignoring the rigors of the day-to-day government operation. But her negative ads backfired, and she failed to use Mayor Anthony Williams’ endorsement to her advantage.
“We tried the best we could,” Williams said Tuesday night of the election day effort.
In her concession, Cropp said, “We still will move forward to make Washington, D.C. a better place.”
The city, she said, has not reached its potential.
District voting generally went smoothly Tuesday, save for a few morning technical and manpower glitches, and some confusion about precinct location thanks to a misprint in the official D.C. voter guide. Turnout, campaign volunteers said, was lower than expected, but reportedly picked up later in the day.
“Of course, some poll workers arrived late, which is not good, but we didn’t have to turn away any voters,” said Bill O’Field, spokesman for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics.
Examiner Staff Writers Bill Myers and David Francis contributed to this report.
