Photo by Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

Patrick Mara, one of the seven candidates in the April 23 race for an At-Large seat on the D.C. Council, is returning a $1,000 donation from a conservative political action committee that includes in its platform opposition to D.C. statehood.

Mara, the race’s lone Republican, reported the donation from Freedom’s Defense Fund in his latest campaign finance report. Upon noticing the contribution, Democratic candidate Elissa Silverman noted that organization claims it only supports candidates who pledge to “stop Washington, D.C. from achieving statehood-resulting in two more liberal members in the United States Senate.”

But Mara says his campaign sent the money back hours before Silverman made her statement. “For the record, we decided this morning to return the contribution,” Mara writes in an email to reporters this afternoon. He adds that he is including with the refund check a letter asking Freedom’s Defense Fund to alter its position toward the District.

In the past, Mara has served on the board of directors of the pro-statehood group D.C. Vote and has pushed the Republican National Committee to adopt pro-statehood language in its official platform.

In the mean time, Mara says that when it comes to discussing inter-candidate squabbles, he’d rather have a direct conversation. “If Elissa wants to talk, she has my number.”