WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham will now face a sole Democratic primary challenger in his bid for a fifth term.
Bryan Weaver, who ran against Graham in 2010, dropped out of the primary race on Wednesday. Weaver says in a statement that he will now run in the general election as a “progressive independent.”
That leaves Brianne Nadeau as the only Democrat challenging Graham. Nadeau is a publicist and former neighborhood commissioner making her first bid for council.
Weaver says the anti-incumbent vote is split too often in council races, leaving the city with “ethically challenged leaders.”
The 68-year-old Graham has represented Ward 1 since 1998. Last year, Graham’s colleagues voted to reprimand him after the city’s ethics board found that he improperly intervened in the lottery contracting process.
