We're approaching the halfway point of 2012 and Mayor Vince Gray is looking more and more vulnerable by the day. That can only mean one thing—it's time to speculate as to who could challenge or replace him come 2014. more ›

Former Mayor Anthony Williams is slowly making a comeback to D.C. politics and policy. more ›

It was somewhat inevitable -- there have been books written about him, he's been a part of a reality show (about himself) and HBO made a well-received documentary about his political career and legacy. So it was only really a matter of time before someone thought to make a movie about Marion Barry. But should Eddie Murphy star? more ›

This morning, Mayor Vince Gray appointed two new senior officials to better coordinate communications with the media and District residents, saying that he believed that not enough of his administration's priorities have been communicated to the public. more ›

Not only will he be enjoying a cordial breakfast with members of the D.C. Council -- well, unless two councilmembers let the swear words fly again -- but Mayor Vince Gray will be hamming it up with both New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama today. more ›

There are plenty of folks who think that a signature says a lot about a person. So what can we draw from the marks of the District's mayors? more ›

Being the documenter of as much local political minutiae as possible, we couldn't help but notice a new image of the Mayor greeting us at the top of the District's official website this morning. more ›

"Guess Who's Back" in the news? Adrian Fenty, who earned himself a shoutout from rapper/mogul/entrepreneur/NBA owner Jay-Z in a recent interview. more ›

Last night, Mayor Vince Gray officially responded to allegations, uncovered in the Washington Post on Tuesday, that his mayoral campaign improperly shifted campaign donations from cash to money orders in order to skirt legal caps and accepted donations from organizations that don't exist. more ›

When Vince Gray defeated former mayor Adrian Fenty last fall, we were pretty sure that Gray would likely be a little less prickly than his predecessor when it came to dealing with the media. But while it's one thing for the city's Mayor to be publicly available -- it's another thing for him to do it in a way that isn't putting people to sleep. more ›

About thirty minutes ago, NBC4 reporter Tom Sherwood reported via anonymous sources that Gerri Mason Hall, Mayor Vince Gray's Chief of Staff, is leaving the administration. At this point in time, however, the news has not been confirmed by the Gray administration. more ›

As the Post's Mike DeBonis reported last night, some Twitter users predictably took to the social networking service to criticize the District's response to the storm that hit the city overnight. Most prominent amongst the complainers may have been ABC's Jake Tapper, who not only wondered where all the plows were but also pondered recruiting Newark Mayor Cory Booker to help D.C. deal with the cleanup efforts. more ›

No matter how bleak the District's financial outlook remains -- right now, a $600 million deficit is staring us in the face for 2012 -- when Mayor Vince Gray finalizes his budget proposal in a few months, he'll slap a generic title on it that's supposed to speak to his executive priorities. Over the last decade, the names given to the budgets have reflected the purpose, personality and priorities of the sitting mayor. more ›

Last Friday, Mayor Vince Gray announced that he would be appointing Jeffrey Richardson, the current president of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, as director of the the city's Office of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs. Many are hoping that Gray, who called Richardson "a respected and credible voice for the GLBT community," will have a more robust relationship with Richardson than previous mayor Adrian Fenty had with Christopher Dyer, the last GLBT liason who admitted that he never met with Fenty face-to-face during his term to discuss issues. more ›

Former D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty may very well be spending some time in the near future raking in the dough as a motivational speaker/education reform advocate, but that isn't his real post-mayoral calling. Philadelphia-based consulting firm Heffler, Radetich & Saitta LLP announced this morning that Fenty would be joining their ranks as "an outside advisor and counsel." more ›

In November, we noticed that a can of Steel Reserve High Gravity Lager was part of the décor in Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells' office. Turns out we weren't the only ones to notice that newly sworn-in Mayor Vince Gray has some eye-catching mementos lined up in his revamped office, too. more ›

What's former mayor Adrian Fenty up to these days? It's been a whole three days since he passed the torch over to the new guy and, last we heard, he was thinking about heading back to Oberlin College to teach political science. Of course, Fenty also said that he was "literally exploring everything" when it came to his next job. more ›

Sold out isn't exactly the right term, since admission is free. But regardless: the supply of tickets to Sunday night's inaugural ball, during which Vince Gray and others will undoubtedly attempt to set the record for most people simultaneously hand-dancing in tuxedos and evening gowns, has been extinguished. Nikita Stewart reports that the Convention Center ran out of the 7,500 total tickets it had to give away at 11:05 a.m. this morning. Gray's ball is expected to host approximately 10,000 people on the whole -- that's a slight decrease in attendance from Mayor Adrian Fenty's 2007 bash (15,000 guests), but still a lot more partiers than Fenty predecessor Anthony Williams had at his 2003 celebration, which only attracted 3,000 people. Of course, Williams charged attendees $35 for the privilege of getting in the door; Fenty's party was, like Gray's, free. more ›

It might be Christmas Eve, but that doesn't mean it isn't a notable day for D.C. government -- on this day in 1973, the Congress approved the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which enforced the District Charter, provided the city an elected mayor and Council, established several positions and agencies like the Chief Financial Officer, the Board of Elections and the Board of Education, and also outlined how the city should operate on a basic level. Of course, the Act also reaffirmed Congress' tight grip over the District's laws and budgets, making it pretty clear that the city's government simply exists because Congress lets us have one -- a standing that the District has never been able to shake. If you're following city affairs and you haven't actually sat down to read this thing, it's definitely an informative read. more ›

Get ready for some prayer and go-go: the District of Columbia State Democratic Party has released the schedule for Vince Gray's Mayoral Inuaguration, which will take place on January 2, 2011. All events will be held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center and are free and open to the public. more ›

This afternoon, Mayor-elect Vince Gray announced he will retain Office of Planning chief Harriet Tregoning, along with several other Adrian Fenty appointees. more ›

It hasn't been a particularly good couple of weeks for Mayor Adrian Fenty. First, a whole bunch of people that he appointed to office were told that their services would no longer be needed. Then they started a press conference without him, striking a blow to what little ceremonial authority Fenty might have been clinging to in his last weeks as chief executive. Mayor-elect Vince Gray implicitly taunting him during another presser is just the cherry on top. more ›

Homicide statistics have often been bandied about as an easily digestible, if flawed, metric of how well a mayor has battled crime during a given administration. Not surprisingly, the homicide watch in D.C. -- a city where, at one point in the late 1980s and early 90s, more than 400 people were being murdered every year -- has gotten a lot of attention during outgoing Mayor Adrian Fenty's term. Police Chief Cathy Lanier stoked additional interest in the number by proclaiming her goal to reduce the city's homicide total to under 100. Lanier and Fenty didn't reach that goal during the mayor's term. But that hasn't stopped the media from proclaiming Fenty's excellent performance in tamping down the homicide count during his nearly four years in office. more ›

Did you know that commercial office, retail and service buildings in Washington are required by law to provide at least ten percent of the number of car parking spaces for bike parking? (For example, if a development had 100 parking spaces, they would be required to have at least 10 places for people to park a bike.) It's true -- the Bicycle Commuter and Parking Expansion Act of 2007, which passed the Council in November of that year, issued such requirements for the storage of two-wheeled conveyances at buildings around D.C. Not that it's really mattered, though: the bill didn't actually include any way for the city to enforce such parking minimums. more ›

Martin Austermuhle, DCist politics reporter/columnist, stick figure artist extraordinaire and recipient of two write-in votes for Mayor (no, I am not kidding), will be live tweeting from the headquarters of the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics tonight as the District's votes are tallied. Polls in the District close at 8 p.m. You can follow along with Martin below. more ›

Yesterday, we featured some of the oddest candidate statements from the D.C. Voter Guide -- but self-proclaimed "First Afro-Latino in History" Carlos Allen was nowhere to be found. Don't worry though: the White House crasher-cum-mayoral candidate may have penned a mundane candidate statement, but he was just postponing the political awkwardness until today. more ›

He's lost an election, and now his prized appointment has resigned. So what's next for Mayor Adrian Fenty? Well, he might be heading back to school. The Post reports that Fenty has confirmed that he has had conversations with Oberlin College, his alma mater, to return to the school and teach political science. (Sidebar for happy hour discussion: can you imagine what it would be like to having Fenty as your professor?) After today's big press conference, Fenty told the Post that he's "literally exploring everything" when it comes to his next job. He also didn't disown the Fenty write-in camp, which is creating some interesting cognitive dissonance in the media this afternoon. more ›

Mike DeBonis does us all a favor with this transcription of Mayor Adrian Fenty's appearance on "Urban Focus," a Brooklyn cable television program. In Fenty's first real sit-down interview since he lost the primary election to Vince Gray, he stated that his loss was a symptom of his polarizing educational reforms. "If it's a war," Fenty said, "someone's got to be at the front of the line, and they've got to get killed first. That's how you win a war, is by going forward." That's the takeaway quote, but there's also this fun little tidbit: "I'd like to do something ... that uses similar skills, talents, techniques that I've been able to build up as mayor of the District of Columbia, as city council member for six years," said Fenty, who also said he'd be "ready to hit the ground running" after his term runs out in January. Certainly doesn't sound like he'll be fading into obscurity anytime soon. more ›