After 8 Years, Incumbent Faces Challenge in Primary

Fenty brushed off Evans's previous criticism as part of politics. "I get more upset with people who try to have it both ways. . . . You always know where he stands."

Evans now stands with Fenty, particularly on the schools takeover. Fenty is approaching the government much the way Evans said he would have had he won the mayor's race in 1998, Evans said.

Evans grew up in Nanticoke, Pa., with an older sister. His father was a florist, and his mother was a teacher, he said. "It was 1950s, 1960s small-town America," he said. "People really did yell at you from the porch and your mother told you to go out and just be home before dark."

He attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, then moved to the District in the 1970s. "Seventy-six. It was the best summer of my life," he said. "I was making $125 a week, which was a lot of money back then. Rent was $85 a month."

Evans took a job at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He received his law degree from the University of Pittsburgh and went into private practice in 1984. By then, he had helped found the Ward 2 Democrats and became active in Dupont Circle, where he lived at the time.

Silverman, who grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., has a similar path. He has a brother. His mother is a homemaker, and his father earned his doctorate in computer science at night school.

"It was a multiethnic neighborhood," said his father, Ronald Silverman. "He learned to deal with all kinds of people, all kinds of problems."

Cary Silverman worked at Fayva, a discount shoe store, and became manager at 17. At the State University of New York at Geneseo, he was elected class president and student government president. "Once I got in, I got addicted" to politics, he said.

Silverman moved to the District to attend law school at George Washington University and now is part of a small law firm.

After he began working as a lawyer, Silverman lived in Logan Circle. Then he moved to Mount Vernon Square, where he appears to have a strong support base, along with Foggy Bottom.

As for major endorsements, the kind that bring money and heft, how many? "Um, none," he said, adding that he has youth, energy and money that can pay for signs and mailings. "I have enough to be competitive."

Staff writer Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report.