Plenty of ANC Seats Still Up for Grabs
The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics tweeted today that a week into the Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) nominating process, 156 people have picked up petitions to get on the November ballot. As we reported last week, being elected to an ANC spot isn't very tough -- you just need 25 signatures to get on the ballot, and once you're on there, it's a safe bet that you won't face any competition.
So far, only 19 ANC seats (out of 286 across the city) are actually being contested, 14 of which will pit an incumbent against a challenger. Ward 6 seems to be the most engaged when it comes to ANC competition -- it lays claim to seven of the 19 contested seats, including one of only two three-way races in the city (the other is in Ward 5).
In one of the city's most exciting ANC match-ups, Leroy Thorpe is again challenging incumbent Kevin Chapple for the 2C02 seat, which is located in Shaw. Thorpe held the seat for 18 years, until he was defeated by Chapple in 2006 by only five votes. (Thorpe's margin of defeat in 2008 increased to 39 votes.) The City Paper covered Chapple's 2006 campaign here, and someone has posted some pretty juicy reasons not to vote for Thorpe here. That's just a small sampling of the kindling that's fueling the 2C02 electoral fire.
And what about ANC 5C, which recently drew the ire of many a young Bloomingdale resident when it voted to unanimously oppose a liquor license for the popular Big Bear Cafe? There's no competition for any of the seats yet -- though someone has picked up a petition for single-member district 5C03, currently represented by cafe owner Stu Davenport.
The process for getting on the ballot is only now getting started, so things are bound to change -- and hopefully get a little more exciting. ANC hopefuls have until September 3 at 5:00 p.m. to submit their 25 signatures and candidate declarations, so we're bound to see more names added to the list as the August weeks tick by.