D.C. voters re-elected Mayor Muriel Bowser, and in a defeat to the mayor, voted to to give D.C. Council member at large Elissa Silverman a second term.
Bowser won 79 percent of the vote, with 93 percent of precincts reporting, the NBC Washington results page shows.
The race for D.C. Council at-large seats was the race to watch in the District, with Bowser throwing her weight and donor network behind restaurateur and community activist Dionne Reeder.
But Silverman was able to retain her seat. The Council member, an Independent, backed D.C.'s paid-family-leave law and has scrutinized city agencies. She objected to the Council's decision to overturn the voter-backed initiative to raise the minimum wage for tipped workers.
Reeder runs a restaurant in Anacostia and said that as a Council member she would boost the economy and affordable housing. She had Bowser's support, marking the first time in recent memory that the city's mayor openly tried to defeat a sitting Council member.
Voters chose two candidates for at-large seats on the Council: Silverman and Council member Anita Bonds.
D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine also retained their seats.
Lower down on the ballot were candidates for D.C. State Board of Education. The races for four seats — in wards 1, 3, 5 and 6 — drew attention and beaucoup bucks from across the country.
Emily Gasoi won in Ward 1, Ruth Wattenberg won in Ward 3, Zachary Parker won in Ward 5, and Jessica Sutter won in Ward 6.
Despite maximum donations being capped at $200, 10 candidates have raised well more than $200,000 collectively, all for a shot on a nine-member board that has relatively little authority, the News4 I-Team found.
Some say the election has become a proxy war between traditional district school and charter school advocates, especially as the D.C. Council contemplates expanding the board’s power. Others reject the narrative as too simple a way to define candidates and say the high-dollar hauls reflect the realities of modern campaigning.
