After months of hinting at a run against Vince Gray in the Ward 7 D.C. Council race, ANC commissioner Veda Rasheed is throwing her hat in the ring.

Rasheed, who also works as an attorney in the District at May Lightfoot PLLC, announced on Monday that she is running against Gray and two other challengers for the seat.

“I’m ready to start the job day one. I come with a legal background, I have done decades of work in Ward 7, and I have never left Ward 7,” Rasheed tells DCist. “I’m a third-generation Washingtonian.”

Rasheed was born and raised in River Terrace. She has represented ANC 7E01 since 2018 and served as an appointee to the Mayor’s Commission on African-American Affairs since 2017. Previously, she worked as a community engagement specialist for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

Rasheed says her staff knocked on about 400 doors this summer and came away with the “overwhelming support” of residents who want change. “People see the old ways aren’t working and they want to see a different way,” she says.

But she was unable to offer many specifics about the ways in which incumbent Gray has failed in his capacity as a councilmember or her plans for change. Rasheed says she wants to focus on protecting women from violence, in part by opposing any legislation that would decriminalize sex work (a bill was introduced to that effect in June). “I’m opposing prostitution because it exploits women. Women are becoming victims to violence,” she says.

She also says that she would encourage Ward 7 residents not to sell their homes in order to slow or stop gentrification and displacement, and that she plans to focus broadly on the issues of healthcare, education, economic development, and public safety.

Pressed on Gray’s deficiencies, Rasheed repeated that “the old ways aren’t working,” and that Gray has had three different chances to turn things around for the ward, given that he’s held three different posts in city government: Gray served as the Ward 7 councilmember twice, the chairman of the D.C. Council , and the mayor of the District.

Gray was first elected to the D.C. Council in 2004, and served as the Ward 7 councilmember until 2007. He then ran for chairman, and served in that position until the end of 2010. He was elected mayor in 2010, and lost his reelection bid to Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2014 in the wake of a federal investigation into his 2010 mayoral campaign. Gray was never indicted in that investigation, but some of his staffers were. He made a comeback bid in 2016, unseating his former protege, Yvette Alexander, for the Ward 7 seat.

Gray confirmed to The DC Line earlier this year that he would run for reelection for his position.

Rasheed will also run against another ANC commissioner in the race, Anthony Lorenzo Green, who represents ANC 7C04. Green has been an outspoken critic of police and an advocate of criminal justice reform, and he also argues that Gray has not done enough to help the residents of his ward.

James Jennings, who ran as a write-in candidate in Ward 7 during a 2007 special election, has also filed to run.

This story was updated to reflect the correct dates that Vincent Gray was first elected to be Ward 7 Councilmember and when he served as chairman. 

Previously:
ANC Commissioner Anthony Lorenzo Green Announces Run For Vincent Gray’s Ward 7 Seat