Photo by Constructed Space.

The D.C. Democratic State Committee certainly didn’t win any good government awards with the opaque process through which they selected interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle earlier this month, nor have more recent accusations painted the city’s preeminent political party in a favorable light. A struggle is now brewing within the party over whether or not Biddle is the party’s chosen candidate, bringing to light the darker side of local machine politics.

Late last week, the D.C. Democratic State Committee sent out an email advertising two locations where Biddle would be collecting signatures for his nominating petitions over the weekend. (It also tweeted the information.) Both the email and the tweet drew the attention of two of Biddle’s challengers, both of whom accused the state committee of violating its own bylaws by using official means to endorse the Biddle campaign in its attempt to win the April 26 special election. A Biddle campaign official said that the email was sent independently by the committee; the campaign did not ask for the support.

In an email sent over the weekend to state committee Chairwoman Anita Bonds, Bryan Weaver, a former Ward 1 candidate and current At-Large hopeful, wrote:

While obviously the DCDSC selected Mr. Biddle for the temporary appointment to the At-Large seat on the council, the D.C. Democratic State Committee has not taken action to officially endorse any candidate and the party’s solicitation for volunteers and the use of these forms of social media from the party’s official accounts to promote his candidacy for the special at-large election are an obvious violation of DCDSC’s bylaws. There are at least 13 other Democrats who have taken out petitions seeking election for the At-Large D.C. Council position.

Jacque Patterson, president of the Ward 8 Democrats and a contender for Biddle’s seat, similarly chimed in an email to the committee’s membership, writing, “When has the State Committee ever sent out one candidates advertisements, literature or anything else when there were more than one Democratic Candidate in the race? It was my understanding Mr. Biddle won an interim appointment, not an endorsement.”