D.C. votes in mayoral race in shadow of corruption scandal

WASHINGTON — District voters went to the polls on Tuesday to choose the Democratic mayoral nominee, who will likely be the city’s next mayor, in a dramatic race that has been dominated as much by a burgeoning campaign finance scandal as it has been about the candidates’ visions for D.C.

In this deeply Democratic city, whoever wins the party’s mayoral primary today will probably go on to win the general election in November. If incumbent Mayor Vince Gray emerges as the victor, he may be facing a formal federal indictment on corruption charges as he wages a general election campaign against independent candidate District Council Member David Catania in the fall.  

The most recent spate of public polling shows Ward 4 Council Member Muriel Bowser surging in the last days of the campaign for the Democratic nomination. Gray is battling accusations that he knew of and helped orchestrated an effort to funnel more than $650,000 in unreported funds into his first bid for mayor in 2010.

A Washington Post poll from late March showed Bowser with 30 percent support, with Gray close behind with 27 percent. A crowded field of Gray opponents has helped keep the race fluid.

Since his early days in office, Gray has been embroiled in a federal investigation into the illegal campaign activity. Three weeks before the primary, businessman and Gray campaign donor Jeff Thompson told federal prosecutors in the course of negotiating a plea bargain that Gray knew about the illicit funds and granted favors to Thompson’s company in exchange for the off-the-books cash. A number of Gray’s close personal aides have also been implicated in the scandal, but the mayor maintains that he knew nothing about the illegal activity.  

Several voters said the accusations weighed on them as they cast their ballots Tuesday morning.

“I feel like he’s a criminal,” said Mari Jackson, 51, a former Gray supporter from Ward 2 who switched her allegiance to Bowser. “He’s lost my trust.”

Keith Wade, a 73-year-old resident of Columbia Heights, said he, too, switched his support because of the campaign finance scandal, despite admiring Gray’s record in office. “Personally, I don’t think he’s telling the truth about the slush fund,” Wade said. “I think he’s  done a pretty good job, but you’ve got to have some ethical credibility.”

For some, voting for one of Gray’s opponents was little more than a protest vote, a vehicle to show their displeasure with the incumbent mayor rather than a vote of confidence of the other candidates, many of whom have had little management experience beyond the District Council.

Others, nevertheless, could not bring themselves to vote against a mayor whom they said they trusted most to manage the city’s affairs and who had done more to make sure the city’s economic boom was reaching all its citizens — wealthy and poor, recent arrivals and long-term residents.

Washington is a city that has seen its fair share of scandals among local politicians. Marion Barry, who was in his third term as mayor when he was arrested and convicted on drug-related charges while in office in 1990, managed to pull off a political resurrection, based on his popularity, particularly with black voters in Ward 7 and Ward 8, and win a fourth term in 1994. Barry, who campaigned on behalf of Gray, continues to serve on the District Council.

Frank Maduro, 31, a Gray campaign volunteer believes the race should be about results, not what he believes are baseless accusations. “It’s a bunch of hateful fearmongering that people are spending their time on,” he said. “It has nothing to do with job creation or affordable housing.”