Bowser, Alexander Overwhelm Foes in Ward 4, 7 Council Races

Winners Build on Endorsements From Their Predecessors

Muriel Bowser and Yvette M. Alexander won seats on the D.C. Council yesterday, each crushing a crowded field of candidates and capitalizing on an endorsement from the city's top politicians, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray.

Bowser captured 41 percent of the vote against 18 opponents, including Michael A. Brown, her closest competitor. She will fill the Ward 4 seat vacated by Fenty (D) when he became mayor. Fenty had endorsed Bowser, campaigned and helped her raise $371,000 in contributions, far more than any other candidate.

Alexander, who will replace Gray (D) as the council member from Ward 7, defeated 16 candidates with 35 percent of the vote. She received nearly three times as many votes as Victor Vandell, 41, in second place. Gray had supported Alexander, who raised $180,000 in her campaign.

Bowser, a 34-year-old advisory neighborhood commissioner, entered her victory party last night as a supporter sang Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely."

"You invested in our vision," she said, "to focus on neighborhoods, reform our government, hold officials accountable and bring services to our community!"

She thanked her campaign team, concluding with thanks to Fenty, who was not present. The mention of the mayor got a large cheer. Fenty was apparently en route to Bowser's party after visiting Alexander first.

Fenty praised both candidates as he stood under Alexander's victory party tent at Anacostia Avenue and Benning Road NE and "Celebration" by Kool & the Gang played.

"Both of them deserve to win," he said in an interview. "Both worked very hard and obviously won a grass-roots campaign. Both will be fresh faces on the council."

Alexander, 45, a former insurance regulator, said she was excited by the victory. "The future of Ward 7 looks great . . . because I spent a lifetime improving the lives of Ward 7 residents."

Alexander and Bowser are native Washingtonians. The two black women will end a disparity on the D.C. Council, which had no black female members after Linda W. Cropp (D) stepped down as council chairman in January. It was the first time the city had been without a black female council member since it began electing members in the 1970s.

Black females make up about 32 percent of the District's population, more than any other such demographic division, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Yesterday's contest was in part a test of whether the popular Fenty and Gray could influence voters. Alexander and Bowser join 11 colleagues who have approved one key initiative this year, a mayoral takeover of D.C. public schools, a change that will probably dominate Fenty's four-year term.