TIL it’s National Chili Day: @kenyanmcduffie.bsky.social is at Ben’s (temporary) U Street location handing out free chili and mingling with voters/business owners.

New: Anita Bonds was the foremost fighter against ranked choice voting. So there's a certain irony that RCV will play a huge role in the crowded race to replace her. With 10 declared candidates and no obvious frontrunner, who can stand out? I looked at the state of the race wamu.org/story/26/02/...

Very interesting: Trayon White's attorney writes in a new doc that prosecutors have discussed introducing evidence of "bribes relating to contracting by the company Intralot." The informant who allegedly bribed White had a piece of Intralot's infamous sports betting contract...

Raymond says she’s also won the backing of former Ward 3 CM Mary Cheh. It’s gonna be tough for anyone to stand out in this 10-candidate field so I’ll be very curious to see who else starts to win serious support

A bit surprising to see former Ward 7 CM Yvette Alexander (on the left in this Insta story) speaking at a recent event for Janeese Lewis George. The pair isn’t exactly aligned on many issues: Alexander was a big Bowser/RFK booster, opposed same sex marriage for years, etc.

Notably, no McDuffie on this list as I'm hearing lots of people wondering when his campaign will get more visible. He missed last week's big Anacostia gathering to attend a fundraiser with Bowser pal Ben Soto, multiple sources tell me, which many see as a big missed opportunity.

New: AG Brian Schwalb is out with an opinion that Congress' disapproval of tax decoupling has no effect. He thinks Congress missed its 30-day deadline...and didn't apply changes to the 2025 tax year. They say the CFO can leave current rules in place. Will he? www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

New: A messy tug-of-war has broken out over ~$52m in unspent money. The Council created a "contingency list" last year to guide where excess revenue would go, but Bowser won't spend it. She says the childcare subsidy needs it instead to fill gaps: will lawmakers go along? wamu.org/story/26/02/...

An update on the long-running fight over DC budget documents: A judge held the city in contempt last week for refusing to hand over these agency budget requests. They ordered the city to post them publicly and will fine it $1500 per day it misses a deadline to do so.

School budgets are out: @mayorbowser.dc.gov wants to increase how much the city spends per student by 2.55%. Normally, this wouldn't be news (Bowser's often proposed increases to the UPSFF in the past) but it's notable as last year's budget called for cuts in FY27. That means cuts come elsewhere...

The end of the Housing Production Trust Fund as we know it? @robertwhitedc.bsky.social and @brianneknadeau.bsky.social are proposing a major overhaul to the city’s chief affordable housing loan fund, breaking it up into separate accounts, changing what the $ can be used for and who can invest in it

Hagler was a force in local politics for a long time and (despite some recent health issues) he remained engaged on all kinds of stuff: I was just texting him last week about the mayoral race (he was backing JLG). What a loss for DC. RIP.

New: It's deja vu all over again in DC now that Congress has again blown up the city's budget. Could DC get this blocked in court? Or maybe pass tax changes blocked by Congress back into law somehow? It's all on the table. Here's what local leaders are debating right now: wamu.org/story/26/02/...

A group of climate advocates including @wepowerdc.bsky.social and CCAN are calling on the council/mayor to hold off appointing any new Public Service Commission members until after the election: two are up this year. I've heard growing frustration with the PSC as gas/electric rates creep up:

In addition to his ties to Bowser, McDuffie will also likely face attacks from JLG/her allies over some of his donors' Republican leanings. For instance, there's David Carmen, major GOP lobbyist and Trump donor. He also raised cash for McDuffie in 2022: washingtoncitypaper.com/article/5650...

New: Bowser may not be running, but she still casts a shadow over the mayoral race. Are voters ready for a new direction, as outlined by @janeese4dc.bsky.social? Will @kenyanmcduffie.bsky.social's ties to Bowser hurt him? Or do they want more of the same? wamu.org/story/26/02/...

New: Newly appointed CM Doni Crawford tells me she plans to run for the at-large seat in the special election, ending weeks of speculation about her political future. Here's why she says she waited to announce her bid, and why she thinks she can win:

A Congressional update: @chmnmendelson.bsky.social says he now expects no vote on the tax decoupling disapproval until Thursday. With the extra time, he says CMs are discussing “flexibility” with what they passed: he wouldn’t elaborate. Bowser floated some sort of compromise yesterday…

At a mayor-council joint meeting, DC officials say there's lot of bad news for the '27 budget. Even the good news has major caveats: The healthcare alliance program (which covers people who don't qualify for Medicaid, like immigrants) is losing enrollment partly due to ICE fears.

More 2026 news: @simplystamper.bsky.social tells me she's switching from the at-large race over to the council chair contest. If she can get on the ballot, that could make it a three-way race between her, Phil Mendelson and Jack Evans...and put ranked choice voting in play to shake things up.

This is very funny for the agency to say, considering what I've heard/seen throughout the city. Consider my block in Shaw, which only just had its alley cleared and is approaching 3 weeks without pickup. Here's what the agency said when I put in a 311 request lol

Some 2026 news: @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social is endorsing Lisa Raymond, the ex-SBOE rep in Ward 6 running for the at-large council seat. The only other CM to weigh in on the race thus far, to my knowledge, is the person who gave up the seat: Anita Bonds backed former aide Kevin Chavous...

[email protected] just dropped her plan for universal childcare in the city. In short, she wants to beef up the childcare subsidy (but stops short of wanting it free for all) and expand the pay equity fund. Details here: janeesefordc.com/wp-content/u...

I hear Vincent Orange swung by the Washington Business Journal's Book of Lists party last night (one of its biggest yearly shindigs). Not unusual, per se, but I believe it's the first time he attended since suing the WBJ (and me!) for defamation. Awkward! washingtoncitypaper.com/article/5539...

Big turnout down at the rally to support the Washington Post: from national union leaders like @flyingwithsara.bsky.social to local DC Councilmember (and mayoral candidate) @janeese4dc.bsky.social

Early word I'm hearing from statehood folks is that a Senate vote is likely on this early next week: and because this can pass by simple majority (ie no filibuster) this has a very real chance of passing. DC could go from zero bills blocked by Congress in decades to 2 in 3 years...

Trayon White is blasting Bowser’s snow-clearing work in Ward 8, saying many neighborhoods still are facing “unsafe conditions.” This definitely matches what I’ve heard from people east of the river all week, there have been real challenges for folks trying to get kids to school

A quick update on this: WFP is also encouraging voters to rank @rashidabrown.bsky.social in Ward 1 (though they're still mainly backing Raj). This wasn't initially super clear in their endorsement (and I've heard grumbling from activists/campaigns about this). It's a new world with RCV!

[email protected]'s first mayoral fundraising report is out: He pulled in ~$289k in total ($214k from about 1500 DC donors). His campaign expects $1.4M with matching funds added. @janeese4dc.bsky.social added another $70k, with a total of 3600 DC donors. She'll have ~$1.6M with the match

By contrast, Robert White says he has about $485k in assets: disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/... But Kinney Zalesne takes the cake: she says she has ~at least~ $5 mil in Microsoft stock alone: disclosures-clerk.house.gov/public_disc/...

Some notable campaign finance numbers coming in the at-large race: -Oye Owolewa has over 200k in the bank -That's more than double his closest competitor, Candace Nelson, who has 84k -In their first reports, Lisa Raymond finished with $29k on hand, while Kevin Chavous has $21k

New: DC's chapter of @workingfamilies.org is making endorsements in DC Council races, picking: [email protected] in Ward 1 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] for at-large

Tom's out this week, so you're stuck with me on the mic this week! Tune in and pepper us with snow/politics questions.

New: Doni Crawford is the newest DC councilmember. But how long will she have the job? The special election race for Kenyan McDuffie’s seat is heating up. Will Crawford run? Is Elissa Silverman primed for a comeback? Or can Jacque Patterson/someone else break through? wamu.org/story/26/01/...

As if there isn't enough going on in DC right now, @cmcharlesallen.bsky.social is "frustrated by lack of information provided to the public about the public health and environmental risks posed" by the sewage spill into the Potomac. The letter he sent to DOEE: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

We're finally starting to get some clarity on the snow response as Council asks questions. FWIW, this is what @brianneknadeau.bsky.social (who has oversight of DPW) told me today:

A familiar name is joining the running for the at-large special election: Doug Sloan, political consultant and past Council candidate, has filed to run. Still no filing from Doni Crawford, though, as of yesterday...

I didn't find time to say this Friday, but: Margaret is a tremendous reporter and even better coworker. We are going to miss her tremendously, as will anyone who relied on her coverage of Northern Virginia (of which there is far too little these days!)

Some special election news: SBOE Pres. Jacque Patterson tells me he's dropping out of the delegate race and switching over to the independent at-large contest. He's the best-known candidate to join the race since Elissa Silverman. All eyes remain on Doni Crawford's decision...

Catching up on some 2026 filings I missed while I was away: [email protected] is running for shadow senator (for the seat currently held by Paul Strauss) -ANC Adam Prinzo is challenging Ward 3 CM Matt Frumin

DC Council meetings infamously don't start on time, and that has some lawmakers getting...creative to speed things along. @chenderson.bsky.social even started singing to get Phil Mendelson's attention today. (It didn't work.) Luckily, my mic caught part of it as I did another interview:

At last, I'm back in this country and on the beat! And not a moment too soon, with all the D.C. politics news I seem to have missed. I would say I've missed all of you, but Egypt is looking a bit better with this 20-degree weather we returned to...

Started the new year in Jordan for a (belated) honeymoon: Egypt is next! I’ll be back on the DC beat on Jan. 19. Save all the good stories for me until then.

After our story on this, @janeese4dc.bsky.social is out with a statement saying she's "deeply concerned" that DC seems to have walked away from negotiations on taking over the tennis center. She wants Bowser to submit a bid to lease the facility now that NPS has chosen this path:

New: The push to overhaul the Rock Creek Tennis Center is back on...with a twist. DC's efforts to get control of the federally owned site seem dead, but NPS wants to lease it to a private operator. Could Citi Open owner Mark Ein be in line to take it over? wamu.org/story/25/12/...

It's the final Politics Hour of the year! Join us as we recap this unusual year in D.C. politics, and make predictions about what comes next. Last year, I think I was pretty spot on when I predicted Trayon White would run in and win a special election: will I get lucky again??

After a bit of a delay, Lewis George's full report is online, confirming these numbers: $219k raised from about 2,500 D.C. donors. Some notable names among the contributors: CMs Brianne Nadeau, Zachary Parker, Charles Allen, Robert White and Christina Henderson.

Some 2026 news: ANC Brian Footer is dropping out of the Ward 1 race. He sent this to his supporters last night. His fundraising numbers were decent, so this is a bit of a surprise. Meanwhile, Ward 7 ANC Patricia Stamper has filed for the at-large race…

As Bowser announces her new police chief, it's worth noting WaPo's ed board called today for the hiring of one in the "mold" of Bill Bratton, devotee of the broken windows theory of policing, which values pursuing even the most minor crimes. How is that caring "about more than numbers"?

Another name to add to the list: @zachisrael.bsky.social, an ex-Ward 4 ANC, who's earned the support of some other ANCs and activists. A caveat for all these names, though: Mendelson seems to holding his intentions for this appointment very close to the vest right now.