Fiona Greig

After exploring the option of running for the Ward 2 seat on the D.C. Council for the last few weeks, Fiona Greig has officially launched her campaign against incumbent Councilmember Jack Evans (D-Ward 2).

Greig, a manager at McKinsey and Company, had been testing the waters since September regarding a race against Evans, a 20-year incumbent. Yesterday at Greater Greater Washington, she laid out her vision for the city, which squares with the urbanist philosophy that is slowly growing in influence throughout the District:

Today, attracting new residents isn’t a problem—retaining them once they have children is the new strategic challenge to growing our city’s tax base. Schools, parks and walkable, livable communities are the issues that are critical to retaining these families and thus to growing our tax base.

One would expect that the DC Council would have pivoted to focus on schools, parks and walkable, livable communities. Yet we still have councilmembers who see parks and transportation as constituent services, not as the linchpins to improving our city’s fiscal position. We have councilmembers who disengage from education issues instead of holding the Mayor accountable for outcomes in their Ward.

Greig certainly has quite a challenge ahead of her. Evans has raised $230,000 thus far, and he’s also rented out campaign digs in Logan Circle. (Ward 2 has remained surprisingly campaign sign-free so far, however.) Evans has also started running ads in the Current Newspapers, which target Ward 2 neighborhoods, touting his tax-cutting bonafides.

“In these tough times we need Jack Evans eliminating waste, holding down taxes, and protecting the things that make DC a great city,” reads one ad.

Greig will certainly be challenging Evans on that part — she argued in her GGW post that Evans failed to properly oversee the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, from which millions of dollars have been stolen in recent years.

At this point, the only member of the Council who remains unchallenged is Vincent Orange (D-At Large), though rumors keep surfacing that Sekou Biddle, who briefly held the seat before him, wants a re-match of the April 26 Special Election.