When Mayor Anthony Williams welcomed D.C. Council Member Carol Schwartz during a recent dedication ceremony, he described the longtime public servant as “the one Republican in the District of Columbia.”
He was only kidding. Probably.
The District’s penchant for Democrats is well established, and is most clearly demonstrated through voter registration statistics — 74 percent of registered voters classify themselves as Democrats, 16 percent as independents and only 8 percent as Republicans.
But the Democrats’ dominance is more substantial than the numbersshow.
In the recent mayoral primary, for example, Republican candidate David Kranich was unopposed, yet only 65.3 percent of his own party — 1,513 people — voted for him. Another 804 Republicans wrote in a choice of their own.
The most popular write-in candidate for Republicans? Democratic mayoral nominee Adrian Fenty, according to the Board of Elections and Ethics.
“What we have to do is indeed get the message out that we have a party,” Kranich said.
But is victory possible?
“It’s definitely possible,” Kranich said. “We beat the British back in the 1770s.”
Realistically, Republicans have few prospects for triumph in the Nov. 7 general election, but the party does offer a slate of candidates. In addition to Kranich, Republican nominees are contesting in three D.C. Council races: Marcus Skelton for an at-large seat, Theresa Conroy for Ward 3 and Tony Williams for Ward 6.
During a recent Ward 3 community meeting, Conroy said her opponent, Democratic nominee Mary Cheh, was introduced as the next Ward 3 council member. Conroy, a former Marymount University professor, was forced to explain there is still a race, that “it’s not over.”
“The system accepts the primary as the de facto result,” Conroy said. “I don’t know what the Republican Party in the District can do.”
It is conceivable for a Republican to win in one of the District’s upper-income wards, if the GOP were to run as a “Rockefeller-type” Republican, said Harold Wolman, professor of public policy at The George Washington University.
But a citywide seat is out of the question, Wolman said, at least for now.
“African-American communities vote Democratic,” he said. “That’s the beginning and end of it. Unless the demographics change enormously, I don’t see Republicans citywide becoming competitive.”
Top GOP write-ins for D.C.mayor
» Adrian Fenty, Democrat
» Linda Cropp, Democrat
» Marie Johns, Democrat
» Vincent Orange, Democrat
Source: Board of Elections and Ethics
