Mayor Mendelson? Many say his record, politics leave the door open

When D.C. Council member Marion Barry gave his annual pep talk about the state of Ward 8 in March, only a few white city residents were invited.

None was a council colleague.

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But as Barry spoke, Phil Mendelson (D-At Large) walked into Matthews Memorial Baptist Church and sat in a rear pew. Mendelson listened as Barry (D) pitched ideas to rebuild a Southeast ward that is 94 percent black and often feels shunned by many city politicians.

“It felt good,” Barry said. “I was impressed with Phil coming in for Ward 8. We don’t have a lot of white people over here that live and work . . . but Phil was there.”

That Mendelson attended underscores the 59-year-old’s low-key approach, one that has helped him develop a following that transcends racial and geographic lines in a city often divided by both.

Mendelson, who was overwhelmingly elected chairman by his D.C. Council colleagues after Kwame R. Brown resigned in disgrace in June, is now reaping the benefits of his three-decade career. The four-term council member has not drawn a formidable challenger for chairman, even as an Aug. 8 candidacy deadline looms before a special election for the job this fall.

The controversies surrounding the 2010 campaign of Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) have now led Mendelson to a political crossroads. As chairman, he is next in line to succeed Gray should the mayor be forced from office by an ongoing federal investigation into that election. Mendelson would become the city’s first white mayor since home rule.

Several activists and local leaders say that Mendelson would be able to smoothly transition into the role. The former activist- turned-politician is as comfortable on a couch in a Deanwood residence as he is at a picnic table in Glover Park.

“I truly believe that Mendelson has been on the right side of many critical issues in this city, and he listens,” said Rufus Mayfield, a veteran civil rights and community activist. “I think of Mendelson not as a white individual, but as an individual concerned with all areas of the city.”

Mendelson’s popularity in the African American community results from his activist upbringing, 1970s brand of liberalism, attentive constituent service, wonkiness and reputation as a humble public servant.

“I tend to think of issues in the city as issues, instead of ‘this is a concern among white voters’ or ‘a concern among black voters,’ ” said Mendelson, who added that he prefers being chairman and has no plans to run for mayor. “But I am sensitive to the fact that there are a lot of people in this city who feel it’s important that the mayor be African American.”

For years, Mendelson would drive to community meetings in some of the city’s toughest neighborhoods in his beat-up 1998 Mercury Mystique with his daughter, Adelaide. While Mendelson spoke, Adelaide, now 11, would sit in a corner or play with other children.

“It is just like she’s at home,” said Sandra Seegars, a Ward 8 Advisory Neighborhood Commission member. “That makes it seem he’s just one of us black folks and that he’s not acting like he’s above it all.”