Local
Can the LGBT vote rescue Mendelson?
In shocker, pro-gay incumbent trails after ‘political identity theft’
A Washington Post poll showing that the largely unknown D.C. shadow senator, Michael D. Brown, is leading incumbent Council member Phil Mendelson by 17 points in the at-large City Council race has shocked the city’s political establishment and raised the question of whether LGBT voters could save Mendelson from defeat.
Virtually all political observers agree that Brown’s lead over Mendelson, by a margin of 38 to 21 percent among registered Democrats, is due to voter confusion over Brown’s name, which is the same as that of incumbent D.C. Council member Michael A. Brown (I-At-Large).
The Post poll found that 29 percent of respondents said they were undecided in the at-large Council race among candidates running in the Sept. 4 Democratic primary.
The better-known Michael A. Brown, who enjoys widespread support across the city, is not running for re-election this year and has endorsed Mendelson. At a news conference Tuesday, he accused Michael D. Brown of engaging in “political identity theft” to capitalize on the name confusion. Michael D. Brown is listed on the ballot only as “Michael Brown.”
Michael D. Brown did not immediately return a call seeking comment. At a candidates’ forum earlier this year, he expressed support for LGBT equality, including same-sex marriage. Brown, a Democratic Party activist and political consultant, isn’t actively campaigning and has raised only a token amount of funds for his candidacy.
The poll, released by the Post on Tuesday, shows that gay former city parks and recreation director Clark Ray, who is also running for the at-large seat, garnered only 7 percent support from voters eligible to cast their ballots in the Sept. 14 Democratic primary.
With Council member Brown and mayoral candidate Vincent Gray, chairman of the City Council, endorsing Mendelson and participating in an aggressive campaign to overcome the name confusion, some political observers think Mendelson may have a shot at overtaking shadow senator Brown to win the race by a narrow margin.
That means LGBT voters as well as other voters supporting Ray could provide Mendelson with a razor-thin margin needed to win re-election if they switch sides in the race, according to LGBT activists following the contest.
“I think that would be the best situation,” said gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell, in urging Ray backers to vote for Mendelson. “I cannot see Clark picking up the votes needed to win. Phil Mendelson has been not just a friend and advocate for our community, he’s been a true champion,” said Pannell.
Many LGBT activists have said they would have backed Ray if he had run against someone other than Mendelson, who is widely recognized as a longtime supporter of LGBT rights and a lead supporter of the city’s same-sex marriage law.
The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group, endorsed Mendelson over Ray. And the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, a non-partisan group, gave Mendelson a rating score on LGBT related issues of +10, the group’s highest score. Ray received a GLAA rating of +5.5.
Ray, meanwhile, said he will continue to campaign for votes and push for the LGBT and non-LGBT issues he’s been running on since he entered the race more than a year ago.
“I got into this with a clear conscience that it was going to be a tough race and I am certainly not going to step out of it with 14 to 15 days to go,” he told the Blade Tuesday.
Gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein, one of Ray’s campaign advisers, said the name confusion over shadow senator Michael Brown also has hurt Ray. According to Rosenstein, many voters mistakenly supporting the “wrong Brown” would have voted for Ray and may still do so if the name confusion issue is resolved.
In what some political observers say is yet another ironic twist in the at-large Council race, a Mendelson defeat on Sept. 14 could make it more difficult for Ray to win another at-large seat on the Council in an expected special election in 2011.
Council member Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) is expected to win his race for the Council Chair seat being vacated by Vincent Gray, who is leading Mayor Adrian Fenty in the city’s mayoral contest. A win by Kwame Brown would create a vacancy in his at-large seat, which would be filled in a special election next year.
Many LGBT activists said they would strongly back Ray for that seat, and Ray has hinted that he would consider running for the seat if he lost his race against Mendelson. But if Mendelson loses to shadow Sen. Brown in the Sept. 14 primary, many political observers expect him to enter the race for Kwame Brown’s seat in the special election next year, making it far more difficult for Ray to win the seat.
Gay GOP candidates
dispute low GLAA ratings
Two gay Republicans who are running for D.C. City Council seats this year complained that the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance exhibited partisan bias against the two Republicans by assigning them rating scores lower than what they believe they deserve.
The local gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans and the gay chair of the D.C. Republican Party, Robert Kabel, backed up the two candidates’ allegation.
“It’s outrageous that GLAA thinks they can rate two gay men so low for ‘gay-supportiveness’ and get away with it without anyone asking questions,” said D.C. Log Cabin President Robert Turner in a press release.
Marc Morgan, who is running for the Ward 1 Council seat, received a GLAA rating of +3. Tim Day, who is running for Council in Ward 5, received a GLAA rating of +1.5.
The GLAA rating system includes scores ranging from -10 to +10 based on the group’s evaluation of candidates’ responses to a GLAA questionnaire and their record on LGBT and other issues the group deems important.
GLAA Vice President Rick Rosendall disputed complaints that Morgan and Day were singled out for partisan bias in a statement on the group’s online forum. He said their questionnaire responses did not show a full understanding of some of the complex issues raised in the questionnaire, even though the two expressed support for LGBT causes and concerns.
GLAA noted that Day lost points when he appeared to state on the questionnaire that he supports a proposal by D.C. Council member Yvette Alexander calling for adding a “conscience” clause to the city’s same-sex marriage law. The clause, which was defeated in committee, would have allowed businesses providing wedding-related services that are not linked to religious institutions to refuse on religious or moral grounds to provide those services for same-sex weddings.
Morgan told the Blade that GLAA apparently wasn’t aware of his longstanding record of support on LGBT issues in other states, such as Arizona, where he worked on efforts to oppose ballot measures seeking to ban same-sex marriage. Morgan said he and Day plan to submit a revised questionnaire to GLAA for the November general election, which he said would better elaborate on their positions and records.
GLAA allows candidates running in the general election to revise their questionnaires, and the group sometimes makes changes in its rating scores based on changed questionnaire responses.
Morgan and Day are running unopposed in the Sept. 14 Republican primary. Morgan would be up against gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) in the November general election if Graham wins his primary race on Sept. 14. Graham received a +10 GLAA rating. Day would be the challenger to Council member Harry Thomas (D-Ward 5) if Thomas wins the Democratic nomination in the primary. Thomas received a GLAA rating of +6.
District of Columbia
Third LGBTQ candidate running for Ward 1 D.C. Council seat
Community organizer Aparna Raj a ‘proud daughter of immigrants’
In what appears to be an unprecedented development in local D.C. elections, three known LGBTQ candidates are now running for the open Ward 1 D.C. Council seat in the city’s June 16, 2026, Democratic primary.
Longtime Ward 1 community organizer Aparna Raj, a bisexual woman who identifies herself on her campaign website as a “queer woman of color,” announced her candidacy for the Ward 1 Council seat on Aug. 12 of this year.
The Washington Blade didn’t learn of her status as an out-LGBTQ candidate until late last month when one of her supporters contacted the Blade after publication of the Blade’s story about the second of two gay male candidates running for the Ward 1 Council seat – Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Miguel Trindade Deramo.
Trindade Deramo’s candidacy announcement on Nov. 18 followed the announcement in July by fellow gay Ward 1 ANC commissioner Brian Footer that Footer is running for the Ward 1 Council seat in the upcoming Democratic primary.
If any of the three Ward 1 LGBTQ candidates were to win the primary and win in the November general election, they would likely become the second LGBTQ member of the D.C. Council. Then gay D.C. Board of Education member Zachary Parker, a Democrat, won election to the Ward 5 Council seat in 2022. Parker, who is up for re-election in 2026, is considered by political observers to have a strong chance of winning the upcoming election.
“Aparna Raj is a community organizer, union member and proud daughter of immigrants,” her campaign website states. “She is running for D.C. Council in Ward 1 because she believes everyone – from Adams Morgan to Park View, from Spring Road to U Street – can and should have what they need to survive and thrive,” the statement on her website continues.
It adds, “Aparna is a renter, a queer woman of color, and a democratic socialist fighting for a better world … She lives in Columbia Heights with her husband, Stuart, and their little dog, Frank.”
In a Dec. 5 interview with the Blade, Raj said she identifies as a bisexual woman and has been a longtime supporter of D.C.’s “queer and trans communities” on a wide range of issues that she says she will continue to address if elected to the Council.
She said she currently works as a communications manager for a nonprofit organization that supports local elected officials across the country on issues related to economic justice.
As the daughter of parents who immigrated to the U.S. from India, Raj said she will continue her work as an advocate for D.C.’s immigrant communities, especially those who live in Ward 1.
“And I feel very strongly that we need someone who will organize and fight for the working class, who will fight for renters and workers and immigrants and families, to not just be able to get by but to be able to live a full life here,” she told the Blade. “Making sure that we’re providing enough for renters and for workers means that is an LGBTQ+ issue,” she said. “That is an issue that benefits the LGBTQ+ community.”
Among the things she will also address as a Council member, Raj said, will be to push for the city to do all it can to counter the policies of the administration of President Donald Trump.
“When the LGBTQ community is so under attack right now and when queer and trans folks are facing homelessness, are making less money on the job than their cis counterparts – when folks are scared about whether they will be able to continue healthcare or be able to hold on to their job through this period, having someone that takes on their landlord, that will stand on picket lines with workers and will certainly fight the Trump administration – all that is an LGBTQ justice issue,” she told the Blade.
Raj, Trindade Deramo, and Footer are among a total of six known candidates so far who are competing in the June 16 Democratic primary for the Ward 1 Council seat.
The other three, who are not LGBTQ, are Ward 1 ANC member Rashida Brown, longtime Ward 1 community activist Terry Lynch, and Jackie Reyes-Yanes, the former director of the Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs.
Similar to Raj, Trindade Deramo and Footer have been involved as community activists in a wide range of local LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ issues as described on their respective campaign websites.
And like all candidates on the ballot for the city’s 2026 primary, the three LGBTQ Ward 1 candidates will be competing for voters under the city’s newly implemented rank choice voting system. Under that system, voters will have the option of designating one of the LGBTQ candidates as their first, second, or third choice for the Council seat,
“I’m really excited about ranked choice voting,” Raj said. “And I think it’s great that there’s so many incredible candidates who are dropping into the Ward 1 race,” she said. “We’ll also be including a lot of voter education into our campaign materials as well since this will be the first year that D.C. is doing ranked choice voting.”
The three LGBTQ Ward 1 candidates are running at a time when local political observers are predicting the largest change in local D.C. elected officials, including the office of mayor and D.C. Council, in decades following the 2026 election. Longtime D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), announced on Dec. 5 that she will not run for re-election in 2026.
Her announcement came shortly after Mayor Muriel Bowser announced she too is not running for a fourth term in office as mayor and about a month after incumbent Ward 1 Council member Brienne Nadeau (D) announced she is not running for re-election.
Bowser’s announcement prompted speculation that more Council members will run for mayor, some of whom will give up their Council seats if they either win or lose the mayoral race because their respective Council seats are also up for election in 2026.
Thus the 2026 D.C. election shakeup, in addition to bringing about a new mayor, could result in five or six new Council members on the 13-member Council.
Maryland
FreeState Justice launches 501(c)(4) group
FreeState Equality will focus on policy and advocacy
FreeState Justice, an LGBTQ organization that provides legal services, community programs, and public education in Maryland, announced the launch of FreeState Equality on Wednesday.
The new, independent organization intends to pursue advocacy and policy work beyond the legal capability of FreeState Justice, a 501(c)(3) non-profit. FreeState Equality functions as a 501(c)(4) organization, meaning it can partake in political activity.
“We are committed to transparency throughout this process and look forward to continuing our work together in service of LGBTQ+ Marylanders,” said FreeState Justice Executive Director Phillip Westry.
FreeState Equality will take on policy, advocacy, and civic engagement initiatives while FreeState Justice will pursue legal and direct-service work, according to Westry.
While both organizations adhere to similar values, they will feature separate leadership, operations and compliance.
FreeState Equality is hosting its first launch fundraiser on Dec. 10 at the Brass Tap in Baltimore. The event, held from 5-7 p.m., will feature insight from FreeState Equality staff about how Maryland policy can support the state’s LGBTQ community.
Attendees can purchase fundraiser tickets on Zeffy for $25 general admission, which includes a free first drink. The organization also welcomes additional donations.
By LEE O. SANDERLIN, PAMELA WOOD and BRENDA WINTRODE | Maryland House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, the first woman and first person of color to hold her position, stepped down from her leadership post Thursday, effective immediately.
Jones, 71, has been a member of the legislature since 1997 and ascended to the top role in 2019 following the death of longtime House Speaker Michael E. Busch.
Jones held a meeting with top House Democratic leaders Thursday afternoon, sources said, at which she informed them of her decision. In a statement, Jones described the changes of life’s seasons and said she was ready to focus on what lies ahead.
The rest of this article can be found on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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