District of Columbia
Lewis George holds strong lead over McDuffie in D.C. mayor’s race
Gay Council member Parker wins in Ward 5; bi candidate leads in Ward 1
D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) was leading former D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (D-At-Large) in the D.C. primary race for mayor late Tuesday night by a margin of 52.79 percent of the vote compared to 36.57 percent for McDuffie with 64 percent of the votes counted, according to information released by the D.C. Board of Elections at 11:55 p.m.
A Board of Elections spokesperson informed the media by email that the board had stopped its vote counting shortly before midnight and would resume its counting Wednesday morning, June 17.
The late-night returns showed Lewis George and McDuffie were far ahead of the other five candidates competing in the Democratic primary for mayor, with candidate Rini Sampath, who self-identifies as queer, receiving 2.93 percent of the vote.
Of the remaining Democratic mayoral candidates, former Council member Vincent Orange received 3.73 percent; businessman Gary Goodweather received 3.0 percent; and civic activists Hope Solomon, 1.09 percent; and Ernest Johnson 0.53 percent.
Election board spokesperson Sarah Graham noted in her email to the media that the initial vote percentages released Tuesday night were counted under the city’s newly implemented ranked choice voting system, which was in place for mayor, D.C. Council, D.C. congressional delegate, and D.C. attorney general. She said the follow-up “round-by-round tabulation results” when voters’ second, third, fourth and possibly fifth choices are counted under the ranked choice system, they are estimated to be released between Sunday, June 21 and Wednesday, June 24.
“The final round-by-round tabulation results will be released on or after June 26, 2026,” she stated. The ranked-choice system does not go into effect if a candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote.
Lewis George and McDuffie have strong records of support on LGBTQ issues, and Goodweather expressed strong support for LGBTQ issues during the campaign. The Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ political group, endorsed Lewis George for mayor.
Although the election board had yet to declare a winner in the mayor’s race, with 36 percent of the votes cast not yet counted, Lewis George delivered a rousing speech at her election-night event at the Howard Theatre that many of her supporters considered a victory speech. Among those attending the event and expressing the belief that Lewis George was the expected winner was Capital Stonewall Democrats President Stevie McCarty.
“There’s still a lot of votes to count, but I feel very confident and it looks really good,” he said in referring to Lewis George and the LGBTQ community members who supported her campaign.
Like the other races for D.C. Council, the D.C. congressional delegate seat, and D.C. attorney general, most if not all of the candidates had either expressed support for LGBTQ rights or had strong records of support, like McDuffie and Lewis George. LGBTQ activists have said that meant LGBTQ voters would be choosing a candidate based on issues other than LGBTQ rights issues.
In other races, D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member, was far ahead of two Democratic challengers, with 76.37 percent of the vote. Challengers Bernita Carmichael and Bridgete French received 15.28 percent and 7.57 percent respectively.
Political observers believe Parker is the strong favorite to win re-election in November against a Republican and a Statehood Green Party candidate.
In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, where five LGBTQ supportive candidates were competing for the seat being vacated by Democratic incumbent Brianne Nadeau, who is not running for re-election, community activist Aparna Raj, who identifies as bisexual, was leading gay candidate and LGBTQ rights activist Miguel Trindade Deramo by a margin of 46.7 percent to 20.27 percent in a five-candidate race.
The other candidates were Rashida Brown, 17,18 percent; Jackie Reyes Yanes, 9.98 percent; and Terry Lynch, 5.75 percent.
In the race for the D.C. delegate seat to the U.S. House of Representatives, which is being vacated by retiring Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), D.C. Council member Robert White (D-At-Large) was leading in a five-candidate race with 63.16 percent of the vote. His leading opponent, D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) had 21.45 percent of the vote.
The vote count for the other candidates was 7.66 percent for Kinney Zalene; 4.55 percent of Trent Holbrook; and 2.8 percent for Greg Jaczko.
In other D.C. Council races Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Council member Matthew Frumin (D-Ward 3) were unopposed in the Democratic primary and are considered strong favorites to win re-election in November.
Nine Democrats competed for the At-Large D.C. Council seat being vacated by Council member Anita Bonds (D), who is not seeking re-election. Community activist and local pharmacist Oye Owolewa, who was endorsed by Capital Stonewall Democrats, was leading in the Democratic primary with 33.77 percent of the vote.
The vote count percentage for the other candidates were: Lisa Raymond, 15.22; Kevin Chavous, 13.84; Greg Jackson, 10.95; Candis Nelson, 7.67; Dwight Davis, 6.02; Dyana Forester, 3.72; and Leniqua Jenkins, 3.0.
In the Ward 6 D.C. Council race, Democratic incumbent Charles Allen, a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter who received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement, was far ahead of his two Democratic challengers with 74.43 percent of the vote. Gloria Ann Nauden had 18.68 percent, and Michael Murph had 6.51 percent.
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, an outspoken supporter of LGBTQ rights who also received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement, had 90.34 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, with his sole opponent J.P. Szymkowicz receiving 9.15 percent.
In the special election to fill the At-Large Council seat that must go to a non-Democrat under the city’s Home Rule Charter, and which was vacated by McDuffie when he decided to run for mayor as a Democrat, former Council member Elissa Silverman was leading with 54.75 percent of the vote. Incumbent Council member Doni Crawford, who was temporarily appointed to the seat, was in second place with 34.81 percent of the vote. A third candidate, Jaque Patterson, had 19.27 percent. All three candidates ran as independents.
In the separate D.C. Republican and D.C. Statehood Green Party primaries held on June 16, all the offices for which a candidate from those two parties were on the ballot ran unopposed. No Republican candidate ran for D.C. mayor in the primary. With a large majority of D.C. voters being registered as Democrats, no Republican or Statehood Green Party candidate has won election to public office in D.C. for at least the past 10 years or longer. No known LGBTQ Republican or Statehood Green Party candidate was on the ballot in the June 16 primary.
District of Columbia
Push to elect more LGBTQ ANC members yields results
31 of 43 known LGBTQ ANC members elected in 2024 seeking re-election
A 2026 list of candidates released by the D.C. Board of Elections shows that 31 of the 43 known LGBTQ candidates who won election in 2024 as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners have filed the required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot this year to run for re-election.
The Washington Blade reported in 2024 that 43 known LGBTQ candidates won election to ANC seats that year in the November election
In a related development, the president of Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, said the group this year has recruited at least 39 LGBTQ candidates to run for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats in the city’s Nov. 3 general election.
The group’s president, Stevie McCarty, an incumbent ANC member in the city’s Shaw neighborhood who is running for re-election, said the 39 candidates and possibly more responded to the group’s Queering ANCs campaign launched on July 7 that includes a website with detailed instructions for how best to run for an ANC seat.
“Since launching in early July, the site has drawn more than 20,000 views, and 39 candidates have used it to actually run,” McCarty said in a statement. He said he wasn’t sure if all the 39 candidates wanted to be identified as LGBTQ, and he was reviewing the list of incumbent LGBTQ ANC members who won election in 2024 to determine if any of the 39 candidates recruited were among those incumbents. He said he was not ready to release the names of the 39 candidates he said his group recruited to run for an ANC seat.
If none of the 39 candidates recruited by Capital Stonewall Democrats are among the 31 known LGBTQ ANC incumbents running for re-election, it would mean at least 70 LGBTQ ANC candidates will be on the city’s November election ballot.
McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats will send candidate questionnaires to the known LGBTQ ANC candidates as part of its process for endorsing candidates in the November election. He said he expects the group to help campaign for and provide financial support for the ANC candidates it endorses.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, zoning, liquor licenses, and economic development. Although ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or actions by city agencies, the agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty said in the Capital Stonewall Democrats statement announcing the launch of the Queering ANCs campaign in July. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
Some local LGBTQ activists, who asked not to be identified, said they were not aware of a significant boost in new LGBTQ ANC candidates from the Queering ANCs campaign. However, they praised the effort to recruit more LGBTQ ANC candidates and said the campaign could have yielded more candidates if it had started sooner than less than a month before the deadline for becoming a candidate.
McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats will continue to recruit LGBTQ D.C. residents to run as write-in candidates for ANC seats, especially in the 45 single member districts in which no candidate will be on the ballot. The Board of Elections candidate list shows many ANC single member districts that have just one candidate running without an opponent.
Following is a list of 33 known LGBTQ ANC candidates running in D.C.’s November 2026 election and the single member districts and neighborhoods in which they are running. All but two – Vida Rangel and J. Swiderski – are incumbents running for re-election. The Washington Blade will update this list if and when more LGBTQ ANC candidates become known.
1A04 – (Columbia Heights) Jeremy Sherman, he/him
1A10 – (Columbia Heights) Vida Rangel, she/they [non-incumbent candidate]
1B03 – (Columbia Heights/U Street) J. Swiderski, they/he [non-incumbent candidate]
Jamie S. Sycamore, he/him
1B06 – (Columbia Heights/Meridian Hill) Miguel Trindade Deramo, he/him
1B07 – (U Street) Matthew Holden, he/him
1E01 – (Park View) Brad Howard, he/him
2B02 – (Dupont Circle) Jeffrey Rueckgauer, he/him
2B03 – (Dupont Circle) Vincent Slatt, he/him
2C01 – (Penn Quarter) Michael D. Shankle, he/him
2F05 – (Logan Circle) Christopher Dyer, he/him
2F07 – (Logan Circle) Kevin Cataldo, he/him
2G01 – (Shaw)Parker Griffin, he/him Howard Garrett, he/him
2G02 – (Shaw) Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro, he/him
2G04 – (Shaw) Steven McCarty, he/him
3B06 – (Wesley Heights) S. Robert Rodriquez, he/him
3F05 – (Van Ness/Cleveland Park) Adrian Jesus Iglesias, he/him
4B01 – (Takoma) Doug Payton, he/him
4B10 – (Lamond Riggs) Jinin Berry, she/her
4C06 – (Petworth) Christen Boss Hayes, they/them
4E02 – (16th Street Heights) Vince Micone, he/him
5B04 – (Brookland) Ra Amin, he/him
5B05 – (Brookland) Mónica Martínez López, she/her
5D05 – (Trinidad) Salvador Sauceda-Guzman, he/him
5F06 – (Eckington) Joe Bishop-Henchman, he/him
6B03 – (Capitol Hill) David Sobelsohn, he/him
6B09 – (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle) Karen Hughes, she/her
7C01 – (Deanwood) Brian Glover, he/him
7C03 – (Lincoln Heights) Carlos Richardson, he/him
7C04 (Deanwood) Anthony Lorenzo Green
7C08 – (Capitol View) Brandon M. Scott, he/him
8A01 – (Fairlawn) Tom Donohue, he, him
8B06 – (Garfield Heights) Marcus Thomas Hickman, he/him
District of Columbia
Gay-owned pizzeria in Dupont Circle burglarized
Protest Pizza owners say community has expressed support
Gay activist Randy Downs said he and his business and life partner Ricky Bennett are grateful for the support they have received from the Dupont Circle community after they released a video showing a suspect breaking into their recently opened pizza shop and taking money from a cash register shortly before 3 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 21.
The surveillance video shows a man wearing black clothing with his face covered, smashing the glass front door of Protest Pizza, located at 1633 ½ P St., N.W. The video, which Downs and Bennett provided to D.C. police, also shows the suspect climbing over the bar to get to a cash register, which he opened to take out cash.
A D.C. police report obtained by the Washington Blade lists the incident as a Burglary in the Second Degree and says the owners reported “approximately $78 in cash” was taken from the cash register. The report says the incident is not listed as a suspected hate crime.
Downs told the Washington Blade that after he and Bennett reported the break-in and theft on social media, they received an overwhelming showing of support from neighbors and others, including business owners, from across the nation.
“The break-in was upsetting, but it is not what will define Protest Pizza,” Downs said. “What defines us is how quickly people showed up,” he told the Blade. “One person came looking for a cash register; our community saw a gathering place worth protecting. The response reminded us that Protest’s real value was never in the register.”
Downs said he and Bennett, who live around the corner on the section of 17th Street, N.W., near several other bars and restaurants, including the gay bar JRs are located, opened Protest Pizza in November 2025.
“Ricky and I built Protest Pizza as a positive, welcoming, queer owned neighborhood restaurant and bar — a space for protest and joy,” he said.
A D.C. police spokesperson said police offer a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction of a suspect responsible for the type of burglary and theft that occurred at Protest Pizza. Police say anyone with information to help solve this type of crime should call the police tipline at 202-727-9099.
District of Columbia
Advocates honored at Engendered Spirit Awards
Annual ceremony held at conclusion of Trans Pride DC
The 2026 SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards ceremony took place at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in D.C. on Saturday. The ceremony was held at the conclusion of the day-long Trans Pride DC: Encore.
Honorees included D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs Deputy Director Vida Rangel; the LGBT+ Counseling Collaborative, Inc.; and Connor Keuntje, CLP, CLPC.
Trans Pride DC: Encore was held throughout Saturday with several workshop sessions and a virtual conversation with actress and advocate Dominique Jackson.
The annual Engendered Spirit Awards were renamed the “SaVanna Wanzer Engendered Spirit Awards” in honor of SaVanna Wanzer, founder of D.C. Trans Pride. Wanzer died on April 24 of this year.
Speakers at the ceremony included Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and Bianca Sprague, executive director of D.C. Trans Pride.
“The intent behind this award and honoring members of our communities, organizations, and allies, is to really elevate all of the work that they’re doing to provide resources, tools, learning opportunities and connections: centering trans folks, gender non-conforming, and gender diverse individuals,” Sprague said.
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