There’s still one more election left in D.C. this year, and the results could turn on the enthusiastic endorsement of D.C. literary royalty George Pelecanos.

Pelecanos—the author of 20 crime novels primarily set in D.C.—is endorsing Frazier O’Leary in the Ward 4 State Board of Education race. O’Leary, who taught English in middle schools from 1971 until his retirement from Cardozo Education Campus in 2017, is competing against three other candidates in the December 4 special election to replace Lanette Woodruff, who resigned on July 31 (more on the special election, O’Leary, and the three other candidates here).

Pelecanos will be at a meet-and-greet with O’Leary on Thursday night at 1340 Ingham Street NW from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., according to an email sent to the Takoma D.C. listserv by Ward 3 State Board of Education member Ruth Wattenberg.

Pelecanos and O’Leary are friends, and Pelecanos even inserted what appears to be a reference to O’Leary in his latest book, The Man Who Came Uptown.

I love the shout out to retired @CardozoEC teacher Dr. Frazier O’Leary in George Pelecanos’s new novel The Man Who Came Uptown! @pelecanos1 pic.twitter.com/1kBiCcnOHJ

— Brian J. Pick (@brianjpick) September 23, 2018

Pelecanos and O’Leary met through the PEN Faulkner Foundation’s Writers in Schools program, which brings authors into classrooms to speak with students (the passage that mentions O’Leary actually also makes reference to the Writers in Schools program).

“He came to my class [through the program] for the first time 15 years ago at least, and he’s come every year since then,” O’Leary says. “We’ve become friends.”

The novels of Pelecanos, who lives in Silver Spring, largely focus on the District, and how its changing demographics have affected life for longtime residents and newcomers alike. The 2018 novel that mentions O’Leary is about a man who finds himself in a completely changed D.C. after spending time in prison for a youthful crime. Pelecanos also wrote episodes of “The Wire,” “Treme,” and other HBO series, and speaks about his books at D.C. public libraries.

This isn’t the first time the author has gotten involved in a local D.C. election. In 2014, he endorsed Busboys and Poets owner Andy Shallal‘s unsuccessful bid for mayor.