Taking Aim at Schwartz
D.C. Republican Is an Election Target
Roll Call Staff
A Republican on the D.C. City Council? It sounds improbable for a city that gave President Bush just 9 percent of its vote in 2004. But for 15 of the past 23 years, Carol Schwartz has filled that unlikely role, winning four elections and serving as the council’s only Republican for much of that time.
She has done it out of her belief that political competition leads to better government and with the help of a curious rule guaranteeing that the two victorious at-large candidates in any given election cycle are from different political parties. So far the rule has worked to Schwartz’s benefit because it leaves an opening for at least one Republican, independent or Green Party member to win an at-large council seat.
But in 2008, when Schwartz is up for re-election, competition for that opening could be intense. Two Independent candidates, both of whom say they would run as Democrats if they could, are hoping to oust Schwartz by casting her as an obstructionist to the agenda of Democratic Mayor Adrian Fenty and his allies on the council.
The Challengers
Adam Clampitt and Dee Hunter will tackle the difficult task of keeping the public interested in the general election phase of the 2008 race in a city where the September Democratic primary normally marks the end of the political season.
The campaign also will illustrate the extent to which party identification plays a role in city elections dominated by nonideological issues such as economic development.
“She’s a big backer of President Bush, there’s no doubt about that,” Clampitt, a Capitol Hill resident who works at the public relations giant Burson-Marsteller, said of the incumbent.
Schwartz donated $2,000 to Bush in 2003, according to federal election records. She also donated $1,000 this year to Republican Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), who could be vulnerable in 2008.
But Clampitt and Hunter make clear that they intend to focus more on Schwartz’s opposition to Fenty and other members of the council than on her Republican affiliation.
“I think this is really going to be decided on the issues,” Clampitt said. “This is about making the city a better place.”
Schwartz led the fight against D.C.’s restaurant smoking ban and voted for public financing of the new Nationals baseball stadium. She also opposes Fenty’s plan to close 24 public schools.
“Frankly, some members of the council are an impediment to [Fenty’s] agenda, and one of those members is my opponent, Carol Schwartz,” said Hunter, 42, a lawyer and advisory neighborhood commissioner from the U Street area. “We’re at a crossroads in the District. We’ve elected a new mayor who has an exciting agenda of improving our schools, providing affordable housing and raising the bar across the board as it relates to government services.
“Carol Schwartz clearly has positioned herself as an opponent to the administration. From going around door-to-door, the clear sentiment is it’s time for new leadership,” Hunter said.
Clampitt, 33, added that he intends to run a campaign on the idea of change and youth, noting that Schwartz was first elected to the D.C. school board 20 days before he was born.
“She’s really representative of the old D.C. government of [former Democratic Mayor Marion] Barry,” Clampitt said. “That’s where she comes from. She’s really resisted a lot of the change happening to the city.”
Schwartz and her supporters counter that she is a nonpartisan legislator who boasts considerable achievements and experience from her more than 20 years in office. Schwartz was on the Board of Education for eight years before winning an at-large council seat in 1984. She did not run for re-election in 1988 after her husband died, but she won her seat back in 1996 and easily has been re-elected twice.
Schwartz responded to repeated requests for an interview for this article only with a phone message, in which she said people see her as a “fair-minded, nonpartisan person who does what’s right for the city.”
D.C. Republican Party Executive Director Paul Craney agreed.
“She’s been in office so long because she makes friends with a lot of constituents and has a lot of relationships with D.C. voters,” Craney said. “A lot of people will say, ‘I’m a Carol Democrat. I’m a Schwartz Democrat.’ People look at her as who she is, not as much at the party label. Because of that she has a lot of respect in the city.”
Playing by the Rules
When D.C. was granted home rule in 1973, the designation came along with some election requirements. Each political party gets only one nominee in contests for the two at-large seats at stake each cycle. (There are five at-large seats on the council; the council chairman also is elected city-wide.)
After the September primary in which Democrats, Republicans and the DC Statehood Green Party pick their nominees, those winners plus independents advance to the November general election. The two candidates winning the most votes in that election are granted the at-large seats.
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