Photo by Bullneck.

It’s August in an odd-numbered year in the District — quite the dry time, politically speaking. Council is on recess, the Mayor is taking trips and hitting the ribbon cutting circuit, and there’s generally a political malaise hanging in the haze. But this summer is different — with next year’s Democratic primaries now being held in April instead of the traditional September, races for seats are already starting to heat up.

Of course, the amount of intrigue in this particular round of Council elections might not involve quite the usual amount of fanfare. Ward 2’s Jack Evans is raking in cash, and, still without a legitimate challenger, appears to be a very safe bet for reelection. Ward 4’s Muriel Bowser, despite two challengers just found herself with a bunch of money ($85,000) and a plum new committee assignment which strengthens her credentials immensely. Ward 7’s race, between incumbent Yvette Alexander and Peaceaholics co-founder Ron Moten, will certainly be one to watch — though gauging Moten’s chances of winning at this point is a difficult task, and probably depends on how much juice Alexander can squeeze out of Mayor Vince Gray. The at-large seat currently held by Vincent Orange could potentially be another wide-open race, but a few months on the Council under his belt will certainly help Orange; the other At-Large Councilmember up for re-election, Michael A. Brown, only has to finish at least second in November’s general election to secure a spot on the Council because he’s a minority party member.

That said, could it be possible that the most fiery race could take place in Ward 8? There’s evidence it could be. Yesterday, Jauhar Abraham, who co-founded Peaceaholics with Moten, announced that he’d be challenging Barry in the spring, claiming he was “inspired by God.” Meanwhile, Barry appears to be consolidating his support in Ward 8, as former Barry public relations consultant Natalie Williams is seeking the top job at the Ward 8 Democrats. Mike DeBonis reports that Williams — a visible figure for anyone who has followed Barry — is taking on the organization’s current vice president Joyce Scott:

Scott, for the record, is also pledging outreach to new ward residents. Her slate of candidates, which includes former Council member Sandy Allen, is dubbed the “Ward 8 Action Democrats.” And she says Barry’s backing of Williams proved she’s more of the same-old. “He needs to get out of the way,” Scott said of Barry. “He needs to go on the back porch and write Tales from the Crypt.”

Williams rejected any notion that she would be a Barry puppet. “I made the decision to actually run by the time I spoke with Mr. Barry,” she said.

Barry isn’t lacking for support in the immediate area, but having Williams in charge of the ward’s Democratic group certainly wouldn’t hurt his reelection efforts. Not that Barry thinks he needs it, of course. “I’m gonna beat the hell out of [Abraham],” Barry told DeBonis. “No problem with that.”

Well, with discourse like that, at least it’ll be entertaining, if not competitive. Though Abraham will certainly have his work cut out for him if he wants to separate himself from the usual cadre of those seeking to dethone Barry — and will certainly hope to do better than Scott did in 2004, when she got a measly 68 votes.