Mendo Once Again in the Hot Seat With 2010 Campaigns on the Horizon
Clark Ray
As D.C. Wire reported yesterday, former director of Parks and Recreation Clark Ray has all but officially announced he'll be running against Mendelson in 2010, the first volley in what has so far been a slow-to-develop campaign season for the coming local elections. Ray will apparently target Mendelson's stances on education and crime, both areas on which he has differed from Mayor Adrian Fenty and various members of the D.C. Council.
Mendo is a politician whose survival on the council remains something of a surprise. Detail-oriented and a contrarian by nature, Mendelson might be the exact type of thinking man you want working on public policy, but not exactly a guy known for glad-handing, kissing babies for the camera or, you know, actually campaigning. When he was challenged in 2006 by lawyer A. Scott Bolden, Mendelson didn't really seem to have much of a campaign operation, leaving Bolden to relentlessly hammer at the incumbent without much of a response. Intense, widespread distaste for Bolden saved Mendo from having to worry too much, though: the incumbent won with 64 percent of the vote to Bolden's 36 percent.
Ray is clearly organized, and he's got the appearance of independence from the mayor's office after being summarily fired from the top spot at DPR earlier this year. So all he needs to be is marginally likable and he might pull off a win, right? Maybe not -- that's Mendo's charm, it seems. No one knows how to unseat him.
Looking ahead to other races, Mayor Fenty's re-election campaign will parallel contests for the Council Chair, two At-Large seats (Mendelson's and Catania's), Wards 1, 3, 5 and 6, and the D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House. Current D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton will likely continue her reign unopposed, and Tommy Wells in Ward 6 seems safe. Should current Council Chair Vincent Gray want to stay where he is, he looks like a sure winner, but if he wants to go after Fenty, that might throw his seat into play. The biggest contests might be in Wards 1, 3 or 5. Someone always has an axe to grind with Jim Graham in Ward 1, and while Ward 3 might be the richest of the city's wards, it also seems to breed particularly active (and sometimes contentious) campaigns. Over in Ward 5, Harry Thomas, Jr. could end up facing opposition from black ministers if he continues to support same-sex marriage legislation. And will David Catania decide to run again? He still hasn't said.
Then there's the question of Fenty. He's got the most money and still maintains some of his reformer credentials, so he'll be tough to challenge. But there have been mutterings, including Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) and Council member Kwame Brown (D-At Large). Should either of them run for mayor, it would leave their seats open for new blood.