Muriel Bowser

Ward 8 Special Election Too Close to Call

Brandon Todd wins in Ward 4

The special election for the D.C. Council's Ward 8 seat appears to be too close to call, but Marion C. Barry, the son of former Mayor Marion Barry who held the seat until he died in November, is out with just 7 percent of the vote, News4's Tom Sherwood reports.

LaRuby May has 26.94 percent of the vote to 24.55 percent for Trayon White, but there's just 152 votes separating them with 163 absentee ballots and some special ballots still to be counted.

In Ward 4, Brandon Todd won easily with 42.42 percent of the vote to fill the seat vacated by now-Mayor Muriel Bowser. That's almost twice his closest opponent, Renee L. Bowser (no relation to the mayor), who has 21.57 percent of the vote.

Barry's son was one of 12 candidates trying to replace him on the council. The elder Barry represented the poorest section of the city for the last 10 years of his life, and he remained beloved in the majority-black ward even though his citywide popularity never recovered after his 1990 drug arrest.

It's been 17 years since a special election needed to be held because of a council member's death.

Twelve candidates also ran for Bowser's seat, which opened once she won the mayoral election in November.

Ward 4 candidates:

  • Acqunetta Anderson
  • Leon T. Andrews Jr.
  • Ron Austin
  • Renee L. Bowser
  • Gwenellen Corley-Bowman
  • Judi Jones
  • Edwin W. Powell
  • Glova Scott
  • Douglass Sloan
  • Bobvala Tengen
  • Brandon Todd
  • Dwayne M. Toliver

 Ward 8 candidates:

  • Jauhar Abraham
  • Marion C. Barry
  • Sheila Bunn
  • Greta Fuller
  • Eugene D. Kinlow
  • LaRuby May
  • Anthony Muhammad
  • "S.S." Sandra Seegars
  • Keita Vanterpool
  • Leonard Watson Sr.
  • Trayon "WardEight" White
  • Natalie Williams
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