Open Ward 1 DC Council Seat Sparks Five-Way Race

[Anonymous]

From Alex Koma today at WAMU https://wamu.org/story/25/10/02/the-first-open-ward-1-d-c-council-seat-in-decades-kicks-off-a-frenzied-race/

According to the already declared candidates and the ones seemingly about to announce, we have:

Aparna Raj, tenant organizer and former co-chair of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America https://aparnafordc.com/
Terry Lynch, whose primary distinction in the article seems that he is a long-time Mt Pleasant resident https://terrylynchfordc.com/
Brian Footer, gay Shaw yuppie who works at KPMG https://www.brianfooterdc.com/
Rashida Brown, Park View ANC who is seemingly going to be Brianne's chosen successor (yet to announce formally)
Jackie Reyes-Yanes, longtime Green Team operator whose DC government employee profile said she lived in Ward 5 as recently as 6 weeks ago https://web.archive.org/web/20250810032840/https://communityaffairs.dc.gov/content/about (yet to announce formally)

Koma's article also included some swipes from Brianne at Raj, seemingly trying to clear the left/center-left lane for her chosen successor:

Raj has also been heavily involved in pro-Palestine organizing in the wake of the October 7 attacks two years ago, including the movement urging voters not to support President Joe Biden in the 2024 primary over his Gaza policies. Nadeau, who is Jewish, believes that work puts her out of step with the ward’s Democrats.

Raj is competing with Brown to win over left-leaning voters, so it is perhaps no surprise to see conflicts bubbling up between their camps early—particularly after Raj’s strong launch to her campaign. She claims she raised more than $30,000 from 844 small-dollar donors on her first day of fundraising in August; for contrast, Nadeau raised about $55,000 over the entire duration of her 2022 reelection campaign.

While Raj remains proud of her Palestinian organizing, she also believes voters in the ward care more about her plans to address the city’s affordability problems than her foreign policy stances.

“Whether it’s people in Palestine, whether it is people here, we really need to be in solidarity with each other,” Raj said. “That is sort of the goal of the Trump administration to get us to turn on each other and to get us to see these movements for humanity as oppositional to each other.”

Also worth noting that this race is going to have rank-choice voting (although still a closed primary), so it'll be interesting to see how that shakes out.

[Anonymous]

Based on all that, Terry Lynch is the obvious choice. Everyone else is a nutjob.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Based on all that, Terry Lynch is the obvious choice. Everyone else is a nutjob.

Looking at his campaign site, he has no real policy proposals, with one of his main issues seemingly being anarchist My Little Pony graffiti on street signs (the following picture is from his "The Issues" page, captioned "graffiti tagged signs - Adams Morgan in Ward 1"



I guess he's authentically representing the "cranky senior" base.

[Anonymous]

Are there any normal Democrats here? Or are they all crazy people who think Bernie Sanders is a conservative?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on all that, Terry Lynch is the obvious choice. Everyone else is a nutjob.

Looking at his campaign site, he has no real policy proposals, with one of his main issues seemingly being anarchist My Little Pony graffiti on street signs (the following picture is from his "The Issues" page, captioned "graffiti tagged signs - Adams Morgan in Ward 1"



I guess he's authentically representing the "cranky senior" base.

The rest of the candidates are all whack jobs with horrible ideas. I'll take the long time resident focused on extremely local issues every time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on all that, Terry Lynch is the obvious choice. Everyone else is a nutjob.

Looking at his campaign site, he has no real policy proposals, with one of his main issues seemingly being anarchist My Little Pony graffiti on street signs (the following picture is from his "The Issues" page, captioned "graffiti tagged signs - Adams Morgan in Ward 1"



I guess he's authentically representing the "cranky senior" base.

The rest of the candidates are all whack jobs with horrible ideas. I'll take the long time resident focused on extremely local issues every time

Excuse you. Brian has dedicated himself to public service as a consultant for the CMS, a leader in the LGBT community, and as the Chair of ANC 1E. And I think you'll find that he's much closer to what you're looking for in a candidate, as someone who is running as a pragmatic problem solver that can bridge progressive-moderate divides, rather than just being some cranky old man.

Try doing some research and actually looking into people's platforms before you speak. OP even gave your lazy ass the links to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Based on all that, Terry Lynch is the obvious choice. Everyone else is a nutjob.

Looking at his campaign site, he has no real policy proposals, with one of his main issues seemingly being anarchist My Little Pony graffiti on street signs (the following picture is from his "The Issues" page, captioned "graffiti tagged signs - Adams Morgan in Ward 1"



I guess he's authentically representing the "cranky senior" base.

The rest of the candidates are all whack jobs with horrible ideas. I'll take the long time resident focused on extremely local issues every time

Excuse you. Brian has dedicated himself to public service as a consultant for the CMS, a leader in the LGBT community, and as the Chair of ANC 1E. And I think you'll find that he's much closer to what you're looking for in a candidate, as someone who is running as a pragmatic problem solver that can bridge progressive-moderate divides, rather than just being some cranky old man.

Try doing some research and actually looking into people's platforms before you speak. OP even gave your lazy ass the links to do it.

Hi Brian

[Anonymous]

Not a single candidate is worthy of the office. For some it’ll be their first real job. No real platform.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there any normal Democrats here? Or are they all crazy people who think Bernie Sanders is a conservative?

Probably 50% of posters here think Sanders is a right winger.

[Anonymous]

Need someone who is more in the middle.

[Anonymous]

If you didn’t have a reason to support the return of the control board, you do now!

[Anonymous]

Lol, if nothing else this is a representative sample of much of DC , for better or worse. Cranky old dude who should have moved to Florida a decade ago, wacky socialist, rich successful gay guy, Bowser ally who of course doesn’t even live in the Ward she’s running for office in. Chef’s kiss.

[Anonymous]

Is this Aparna Raj’s first real job?

[Anonymous]

For decades, Lynch headed the downtown coalition of congregations, representing different churches and temples with BIDs and before city agencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For decades, Lynch headed the downtown coalition of congregations, representing different churches and temples with BIDs and before city agencies.

Hi Terry