The 2024 Council of the District of Columbia election will take on November 5, 2024, to elect members to six seats on the city council. The primary took place on June 4, 2024.
Muriel Bowser won election to a third term in the 2022 election becoming the first mayor to win a third term in the city's history.[1] The District of Columbia Home Rule Act states that "not more than two of the at-large members shall be nominated by the same political party" which results in the Democratic Party being unable to run in all at-large districts.[2]David Catania, a member of the city council from 1997 to 2015, was the last member of the Republican Party elected to the council, but changed his political affiliation to independent in 2004.
This will be the first election that will allow for non-citizens to vote for DC council members after a law enacted in early 2023.[3][4] While non-citizens are explicitly forbidden from participating in federal elections such as for U.S. President and the U.S. House of Representatives, some municipalities allow them to vote in local elections.[5] As of April 30, 2024, only 372 non-citizens were registered to vote, representing less than 0.1% of all registered voters in the District.[6]
Democratic nominee and incumbent Robert White and Independent and former staffer to U.S. Senate and city council staffer Christina Henderson advanced in the general election over dozens of other candidates. Now both incumbents, the two are running for reelection.[10]
Incumbent Brooke Pinto won election in a June 2020 special contest, and subsequently in that year's general election to fill the seat of Jack Evans, who resigned amid a conflict of interest scandal.[17]
Pinto, a 28-year old lawyer, came under scrutiny during the election season after finance reports showed her father, a venture capitalist from Connecticut, donated large sums of money to her campaign bank account. In addition, she did not participate in the city's Fair Elections program which enabled her to partially self-fund her campaign. Pinto had the most out-of-state donors out of any candidate in the race.[18] Regardless, Pinto won the election and became the council's youngest member in its history. She announced her re-election bid in June.[19]
Pinto chairs the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. The position has grown to be extremely influential considering the skyrocketing homicide and carjacking numbers throughout the city.[20]
Incumbent Vince Gray has long been a fixture of local politics, serving respectively as the city's mayor, council chair, and as Ward 7's councilor on separated terms. Gray only attends council meetings through video calls. Some of his constituents have expressed their concern and wish for Gray to step away gracefully from the political scene. In December 2023, Gray announced he would be stepping aside from council activities once his term concluded in January 2025.[28]
No Republican candidate made the primary ballot for Ward 7. Noah Montgomery filed as a write-in candidate and won the nomination with a single vote.[39]
Incumbent Trayon White charted a campaign for mayor in 2022, though finished third in the primary with just about 9% of the primary vote. White even lost his own constituency, Ward 8, to incumbent Muriel Bowser.[40]
White announced his reelection bid during a radio interview with WAMU in September 2023. He won his primary in June 2024, but was arrested on federal bribery charges in August.
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