Interim At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds will keep her seat on the D.C. Council for the next term, beating out five other challengers in a special election on April 23.
Bonds, the D.C. Democratic Party chair and former senior government official under former Mayor Marion Barry, assumed the temporary position when former at-large councilmember Phil Mendelson became city council chairman, according to her campaign website.
Matthew Frumin, head of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission of the Tenleytown and Friendship Heights area, finished fourth with 11 percent of the vote, despite a sizeable fundraising advantage.
Only 9.8 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots, almost a percentage point lower than the previous special election, according to Washington Post report.
Bonds received 32 percent of the vote, beating out former Washington Post columnist Elissa Silverman by 2,314 votes.
Bonds did well in Wards 4, 5, 7 and 8, where she captured 60 percent of the votes, according to the D.C. Board of Elections.
Republican Patrick Mara, who earned a Washington Post endorsement, finished third, trailing Silverman by 2,373 votes.
Community activist Perry Redd and Democrat Paul Zuckerberg followed with less than two percent of the vote each. Zuckerberg studied law at AU and centered his campaign around decriminalizing marijuana, according to his campaign website.
The Charter Amendment, which would allow the D.C. government to spend taxpayer money without federal oversight, passed with 83 percent of the vote, according to the D.C. Board of Elections.
“We know we have to get in there, dig in there and try to make a difference for all citizens of the District of Columbia,” Bonds said during her victory speech Tuesday night.
lsandoval@theeagleonline.com
