Photo by Danielle Scruggs

The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics has finished counting all the ballots in last week’s Democratic primary for the at-large seat on the D.C. Council currently occupied by Vincent Orange, and the winner is—Vincent Orange. After counting more than 4,000 provisional ballots cast in the April 3 vote, the board announced that Orange increased his margin over runner-up Sekou Biddle from 543 to 1,746.

Orange’s wound up with 23,719 votes to Biddle’s 21,973 in an anagrammatic finish.

Orange’s margin of victory is large enough to avoid triggering an automatic recount, meaning that with the Democratic primary effectively serving as the general election, he has all but guaranteed himself a full term in the at-large seat. It also completes a sweep by Council incumbents.

Undoubtedly, people will continue to discuss if another candidate favored by progressive voters, former Prince George’s County Council member Peter Shapiro, peeled away enough votes from Biddle to serve as a “spoiler” candidate. Shapiro denied such labels, though he was called the “Ralph Nader of D.C. politics,” by frustrated Biddle supporters on election night. Shapiro finished with 6,206 votes after all the ballots were counted. A fourth candidate, the Rev. E. Gail Holness Anderson, finished with 4,348.

UPDATE, 6:40 p.m.: Sekou Biddle released the following statement following the elections board’s announcement:

Congratulations to Councilmember Orange on winning this very close race. While the votes did not go in our favor today, it is clear from today’s results that the majority of residents of the District want and expect more of their leaders than they are getting right now. I promise to continue to serve the residents of the District and to hold our elected officials to a higher standard than they have been able to achieve recently