During his recent campaign for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, Republican Patrick Mara often argued that advocates for D.C. voting rights and autonomy didn't do enough to engage congressional Republicans, opting instead to demonize them. Mara didn't win the race -- he came in a close second to Vincent Orange -- but he's recently been given a chance to put his pro-Republican voting rights pitches to the test. more ›

It's all said and done -- Vincent Orange won the April 26 At-Large Special Election and will be heading back to the D.C. Council. As usual, we've got some closing thoughts on the last D.C. election until, well, eleven months from now. more ›

Everything -- and we mean everything -- you need to know about tomorrow's special election to select a permanent at-large D.C. Councilmember. more ›

We've said it before, we'll say it again -- at this point, next Tuesday's At-Large Special Election is totally up for grabs. No one candidate has risen up above the rest, and institutional support and endorsements have splintered in a number of ways. more ›

With early voting having begun this week and the election day less than two weeks away, the contest for the April 26 At-Large Special Election remains fluid and unsettled, with no one candidate yet rising above the rest. The uncertainties in the campaign to fill the seat once occupied by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown is a product not only of the candidates, though, but of the ever-shifting political environment in the District. more ›

With less than a month left to go until the April 26 At-Large Special Election, the nine candidates vying for the seat vacated by D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown are struggling to win over what are likely to be a small number of voters that will decide the contest. more ›

News this morning from the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics is that while Republican Patrick Mara and Bryan Weaver will likely stay on the ballot for the April 26 At-Large Special Election, Jacque Patterson will most likely be knocked off due to challenges filed by Interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle and Alonzo Edmondson, a supporter of fellow candidate Vincent Orange. more ›

In February, Ward 1 resident Maria Cardona signed a nominating petition to get Bryan Weaver on the ballot for the April 26 At-Large Special Election. According to Interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle's campaign, however, Cardona is one of 1,417 questionable signatures on Weaver's petitions.

But she's also Weaver's wife. more ›

Interim D.C. Councilmember Sekou Biddle (D-At Large) filed a series of challenges to nominating petitions submitted by Bryan Weaver, Patrick Mara and Jacque Patterson late yesterday afternoon, setting in motion a process that may well find some or all of the trio kicked off the April 26 Special Election ballot. more ›

Did you know that Patrick Mara, current Ward 1 Member of the D.C. State Board of Education and a candidate running in the race to fill an at-large D.C. Council seat, is a Republican? Did you also know that former President George W. Bush and Senator John McCain are also Republicans? If you did not realize these facts, then boy, do we have the site for you. more ›

Having the support of the city's political establishment pays off -- literally. more ›

Talk about crossing the aisle. This photograph, captured last August during the Columbia Heights Day festival at Harriet Tubman Elementary School, features recently announced At-Large Council candidates Patrick Mara, a Republican, and Bryan Weaver, a Democrat, posing after competing in the event's cupcake eating contest. more ›

Patrick Mara, a Republican who tried to win a seat on the D.C. Council in 2008, is trying again -- he announced today that he is jumping into the race for the At-Large seat once occupied by Council Chair Kwame Brown and now held by interim Councilmember Sekou Biddle. more ›

Failed Republican D.C. Council candidate Patrick Mara is claiming credit for flipping the vote of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski on this morning's cloture vote for the D.C. Voting Rights Act. In a statement released to the press, the DC Republican Committee cited Mara's meeting with Murkowski's staff prior to the vote. more ›

While we soak in Barack Obama's historic victory over Senator John McCain (who delivered a moving and honorable concession speech), we can't ignore the change that came to our own backyard. Few of the results caught any of us by surprise. We did, though, rid ourselves of a pesky ANC commissioner, though. more ›

Like D.C. Wire, we've heard reports of "Write-in Carol Schwartz" pencils being handed out to voters, some of which have then been left behind in voting booths, in violation of electioneering laws. Could this last-ditch pencil strategy be just the ticket for a Schwartz write-in victory? Maybe, but City Desk is reporting that Schwartz has failed to get her supporters out to a number of important precincts. more ›

We might not have Joe the Plumber or $150,000 in stylish threads, but the final days before a number of local races are decided have gotten plenty exciting. There's internal fighting, a second-time-around endorsement and a drunk-driving charge. more ›

Over the last month, the safe assumption in District political circles was that the two At-large seats on the D.C. Council would be going Brown-squared come November 4 -- current Council member Kwame Brown would keep his seat and Democrat-turned-Independent Michael Brown would finally get elected to something. But things have recently gotten just a little more interesting. more ›

Maybe every political debate from now on should be held on a night where pretty much everyone has somewhere more important to be. more ›

This year's At-large D.C. Council race just won't go quietly into this goodnight, and neither, she announced today, will longtime Republican Council member Carol Schwartz. Even though she initially said last week that she would not launch a write-in campaign after losing the GOP primary to upstart challenger Patrick Mara, Schwartz today announced that she will now do just that. more ›

Let's face it -- a local election in an off year and in the midst of a heated presidential campaign won't attract much attention, much less lots of voters. And tomorrow's District primary likely isn't much of an exception. more ›

D.C.'s primary elections are less than a week away, this coming Tuesday, Sept. 9. By now you should have received your sample primary ballot, and, if you're a registered Democrat, are likely still trying to determine exactly what all those Democratic Party slates are -- stay tuned to DCist for plenty more primary election countdown posts to help you sift through it all in the coming days. more ›