Just securing this weekend’s one-on-one debate with a D.C. mayoral front-runner elevated the profile of first-time candidate Marie Johns, her campaign said Sunday.
The debateitself — in Ward 8 — has caused even a bigger stir, campaign spokeswoman Liz Rose said.
“It’s gone from ‘Marie Who?’ to ‘Johns for Mayor,’” Rose said.
The face-off was hyped as a historic debate, a one-on-one match-up in Anacostia, a contest between the young, camera-friendly D.C. Council Member Adrian Fenty and the experienced business leader Marie Johns.
More than 300 onlookers jammed into the courtyard of the Woodland Terrace public housing complex, and things got so heated the referee had to step in several times and warn the loud group of campaign supporters against crowding and heckling the debaters.
Johns came out on the attack, accusing Fenty of seeking publicity, rather than answers to the District’s problems. She questioned why Fenty chose to debate her in the out-of-the-way public housing complex, where she said fewer people would notice.
“We’ve had enough debates downtown,” Fenty countered. “We’re going to debate in a community where people need the help of the D.C. government.”
Johns baited Fenty into a two-person debate when she publicly challenged him on a call-in radio show. Johns has been third in recent polls, behind Fenty and Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp, but still ahead of some of the experienced candidates.
Questions were opened to the boisterous audience response, and both candidates stayed on message until Ward 8 resident Cynthia McDuffie complained that Fenty was the only candidate who has visited Woodland Terrace and she was tired of politicians only coming around during election season.
Johns said Fenty gets paid well as a D.C. council member and he should be visiting the neighborhoods.
“I’m not going to pay someone a cookie for doing their job,” Johns said. As a president of Verizon Washington, she helped upgrade the technology of the neighborhood schools, she said.
Johns said she agreed withFenty that the District should be run as a business.
“I’m the only candidate who has won and earned the title and done the job as a president and CEO,” Johns said.
Fenty said as a D.C. Council member he’s been on the District’s board of directors for six years. He cited a recent headline that called him a “born manager.”
