D.C. Council candidates scramble for primary votes

The driver on Benning Road NE cried out to D.C. Council candidate Tom Brown, standing in front of his modest campaign headquarters Sunday: “What you up to?”

“Countdown! Countdown! Countdown!” Brown shouted back.

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Voter’s guide

Find everything you need to know about Tuesday’s primary races

With hours dwindling before Tuesday’s District primaries, candidates scrambled across the city hunting for votes on foot, in the mail and on wheels. Brown’s Democratic race for the Ward 7 council seat stands to be one of the election’s most competitive, along with the at-large Democratic council race that includes incumbent Vincent B. Orange.

Brown is one of four candidates trying to unseat five-year member Yvette M. Alexander, and he has seen a surge of support in recent weeks, picking up major endorsements from newspapers, labor and business groups.

He tried to solidify his support Sunday by knocking on doors after attending three Palm Sunday church services and doing a radio interview. Alexander attended Sunday Mass at her home parish, Holy Redeemer in Ward 6, and spent time with friends and family a day after organizing a motorcade of more than a dozen vehicles through her home ward’s streets.

Palm Sunday, she said, was a “friends and family day,” light on campaigning. “Tomorrow is another day,” she said. “We haven’t wrapped it up. We’re still going hard.”

Also running are Kevin B. Chavous, a Hillcrest lawyer and son of a former council member; William Bennett II, a Deanwood minister; and Dorothy Douglas, a Deanwood activist and school board member. A small group of 1,400 registered Republicans in the ward will also vote in a rare contested GOP primary, between activist Ron Moten and businessman Don Folden Sr.

In an election in which most observers expect that fewer than 50,000 will vote, 6,051 voters had already cast ballots at early voting locations that closed after Saturday’s balloting.

A tough race has emerged in Ward 8, where former mayor Marion Barry is facing hard-charging Democratic challengers in his campaign for a third consecutive council term. Races in other wards are less competitive, with incumbents Jack Evans of Ward 2 and Muriel Bowser of Ward 4 expected to win their Democratic primaries handily.

Voters will also choose party nominees for president, although no surprises are expected: President Obama is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, and on the GOP side, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney is heavily favored to secure the 16 delegates up for grabs. Romney’s chief rival, Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, did not attempt to qualify for the ballot in the District.

The final hours of the Democratic at-large contest have turned into a grudge match between the incumbent and Sekou Biddle, who briefly filled the seat last year before losing to Orange in an April special election.

Former Prince George’s County Council member Peter Shapiro and Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner E. Gail Anderson Holness are also vying for the seat, and the expected low turnout has kept the citywide race fluid.