As of Friday afternoon, Wendell Felder has won the primary race for DC Council member in Ward 7.
Felder took 23.5% of the total vote -- almost 400 votes more than runner-up Ebony Payne, according to the D.C. Board of Elections count. Payne conceded the race on Friday afternoon.
Because voters in the District are overwhelmingly registered Democrats, the winners in Tuesday's Democratic primary can be expected to win in this fall's general election in D.C.
Ward 7 was the most closely watched race in the District. Council member Vincent Gray (who's also a former D.C. mayor) is not seeking re-election due to health reasons. It was a crowded field, with 10 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination.
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Felder declared victory on Tuesday evening with a narrow lead over Payne. Payne issued a statement Thursday afternoon saying she would not concede until every vote is counted.
"It is never easy challenging the status quo, and we’ve known since day one that this was going to be an uphill battle and very competitive," Payne said in her statement. "As of 6/6 at 3pm, all precinct election results have not been published on the D.C. Board of Elections website. Every vote needs to be reported."
"We wait until all the votes are counted and reported before conceding to anyone," Payne's statement continued in part.
The Washington Post called the race for Felder on Thursday evening.
On Friday, just before 12:30 p.m., Payne released a statement conceding the race.
"The votes have been counted and we have come up a few hundred short of winning out of over 12,000 votes cast in this race," Payne said. "I have called Wendell Felder to congratulate him on becoming the Democratic nominee."
News4's Mark Segraves contributed to this report.
