Ward 4 voters picked Muriel Bowser to take over Mayor Adrian Fenty’s unexpired seat on the D.C. Council on Tuesday, while longtime Ward 7 activist Yvette Alexander will pick up where Council Chair Vincent Gray left off. Bowser, an Advisory Neighborhood Commission member, got 40.5 percent of the vote in a field of 18 other challengers in Tuesday’s special election. The race proved to be a battle between Bowser, who was endorsed by Fenty, and Michael Brown, who ran a failed bid for the mayor’s seat last year.
Brown trailed Bowser with 27.1 percent of the vote. Bowser had given her victory speech by 10 p.m.
“We can’t rest,” Bowser said. “Tomorrow we have to start to work.”
Alexander, who received Gray’s endorsement, took a commanding lead in a field of 16 other candidates, taking 34 percent of the vote.
Her closest competitor, Victor Vandell, received 12.3 percent. Alexander, reached while she was en route to her victory party, said she was ready to get to work. Fenty, Gray and several other council members were at her party by 10 p.m.
“I’m really excited for the future of Ward 7,” Alexander said. At least three candidates running in the election raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for their war chests — Bowser, Alexander and Brown. Wards 3 and 4 voters also turned out to pick Sekou Biddle as their District 2 Board of Education representative. Biddle got 30.4 percent of the vote in a field of six candidates.
Turnout across all wards remained low throughout Tuesday afternoon, with more than 21,000 votes cast. There are 57,000 registered voters in Ward 4 and 61,000 in Ward 7. Only 394 votes had been cast at Sharpe Health School on 13th Street NW in Ward 4 by 3 p.m., precinct captain Jacqueline Arguelles said.
Fenty and his wife, Michelle, provided two of those votes, she said. “Normally we have almost 4,000,” Arguelles said.
A little more than 100 people voted at Peace Lutheran Church off East Capitol Street in Ward 7 by about 2 p.m., precinct captain Carolyn Budoo said. Alexander arrived at the church around that time to rally voters, but was instead greeted by a sidewalk full of volunteers from various campaigns, including ANC member Patricia Malloy, who wore a shirt supporting Greg Rhett.
Tuesday’s election went off with few reported problems, Board of Elections and Ethics spokesman Bill O’Field said. The Board of Elections and Ethics has 10 days to certify Tuesday’s election. Swearing in is expected after May 11, O’Field said.
