Vincent Gray awoke midmorning Wednesday to the reality that he will be the next D.C. Council chairman, the second most powerful elected official in the District and the statutory successor to the mayor’s office.
The primary election Tuesday wasn’t close, as virtually every political observer and pollster predicted. Gray, the first-term Ward 7 council member who ran on a platform of “One City,” won a decisive 57 percent to 42 percent victory over three-term Ward 3 Council Member Kathy Patterson.
“It’s not one that I had anticipated,” Gray said of the wide margin. “It says we have a great deal of support and our message resonates throughout the city.”
A District native with 30 years of experience in government and social services leadership positions, Gray will run unopposed in the Nov. 7 general election. So his victory is assured and he can start pondering transition.
In her last three months on the council, meanwhile, Patterson said he hopes to strengthen the District’s open meeting act and pass an omnibus homeland security bill into law. She told her disappointed supporters Tuesday night that they had run a good and honest campaign. She then visited Gray at his victory party to personally concede.
“As far as I’m concerned,” she said Wednesday, “that’s the way it’s done.”
There will be monumental changes on the 13-member council come January and beyond. New council members will grace the dais from Wards 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.
Unlike current Council Chairman Linda Cropp, Gray is unlikely to hand out committee chairmanships based on council tenure and “leave Democrats on the sidelines,” he said. Rather, he will “try to find a standing committee for everybody on the council.”
Gray’s position on committee assignments is symbolic of his reputation as a consensus-builder.
“It’s been a style of leadership that I have attempted to manifest throughout my life,” he said. “I want to be inclusive.”
Adrian D. Brocks, a D.C. political junkie and cab driver, said he voted for Gray after watching his “meteoric rise” on the council.
“He has a broad resume and I haven’t heard bad things in the grapevine,” Brocks said. “He seems to be dedicated to what he wants to do.”
