Scanning the June 10 campaign fundraising reports for the at-large D.C. Council race, one number stands out: $18,117.
That’s the total amount of money Council Member Phil Mendelson, a two-term incumbent, reported spending since launching his re-election bid. Meanwhile, lawyer A. Scott Bolden has outraised and outspent Mendelson many times over, collecting $336,173 and laying out $233,377.
Which raises the question, what is Mendelson waiting for?
“I’m going to spend more money in this campaign than I have in previous winning campaigns,” Mendelson said. “History has shown repeatedly that spending three, four, $500,000 in a campaign for council doesn’t win elections.”
Mendelson has been relatively quiet, and political observers are wondering when he’s going to make a move.
This week, for example, a huge issue fell into his lap — the explosive Inspector General’s report on the emergency response to the attack on New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum. While Mendelson asked deliberate, often technical questions of Fire Chief Adrian Thompson during a judiciary committee hearing, the two frontrunners in the mayor’s race — as well as Bolden — called for Thompson’s job, grabbing the spotlight.
“People who know me know that I’m thoughtful, that I don’t grandstand,” Mendelson said.
Polls show Mendelson with an approval rating below 50 percent in a race with a sizable number of undecided voters. Low name recognition among District incumbents is not unusual, Mendelson said, but Bolden argues his opponent is vulnerable to a challenge — though fighting an establish council member requires him to “raise twice as much and spend twice as much.”
“If after eight years of service over 50 percent of the voters are undecided about his leadership, something’s very wrong with your leadership and your tenure,” Bolden said. “Regardless of what he does, my race is to reach the most likely voters in this city so that they know there is a viable alternative to decide on.”
