Doug Sloan dropped out at the beginning the Ward 4 debate Monday night. (Courtesy of the Sloan campaign.)

At the Washington City Paper’s Ward 4 debate, the dominant theme was Brandon Todd vs. the world, or at least a bunch of other candidates. And some people were pretty unhappy about it.

Candidate Leon Andrews, in particular, took umbrage at a Washington Post editorial that deemed it a weak field. “This is a well-deserved field of candidates,” he thundered.

While about half the crowd seemed to be a Todd supporter, the other half energetically indicated that they want another option. But the field is still large and a viable candidate to challenge Todd—who has the backing of Mayor Muriel Bowser and all that comes with that—has yet to emerge.

Candidate Doug Sloan took one step toward achieving that by stepping down in the first few moments of the debate.

From his statement:

The mayor’s blessing comes with a lot of money, resources and political weight and it has contributed to a level of voter apathy unseen in previous elections. This is NOT what is best for ward 4. I don’t think the mayor should pick her successor; it compromises the integrity of our democratic process. I think the voters of ward four should choose our councilmember free of interference. Ward four needs an independent voice, but we won’t get that voice if so many people are putting their own ambitions ahead of what’s in the best interest of ward four residents.

And thus the five candidates at the debate became four, echoing what happened at last week’s Ward 8 forum. For the rest of the debate, Todd calmly stuck to his talking points about continuing Bowser’s progress (though he did resort to pettiness once, asking Renee Bowser how many times she’d run for the seat and lost when given the chance to ask any candidate a question) and Andrews, Bowser, and Dwayne Toliver made the case that the ward is in need of another direction—and that they are the one for the job.

After the debate, Toliver confirmed that there have been talks to coalesce around a candidate, but said nothing has been decided yet. Sloan didn’t endorse anyone before he sauntered out the front door into the waning sunlight.