Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh won’t say anything bad about Vincent Orange—-but she’d rather see someone else in his at-large seat anyway. On Saturday, Cheh is co-hosting a fundraiser for Orange challenger Robert White.

Councilmembers endorsing challengers to their colleagues is unusual, but not unheard of. Touting White’s ethics, Cheh says she thinks she could work with him.

“I think he would be a nice addition to the Council,” Cheh says.

For his part, Orange has won over the local AFL-CIO affiliate and several other unions. He also has the backing of Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans and Mayor Muriel Bowser, meaning that Cheh’s White endorsement represents another break with Bowser’s Green Team. 

Orange claims that he isn’t concerned about Cheh trying to put him out of a job.

“It will not interfere with my victory,” Orange writes to LL.

Meanwhile, White is getting punchy. White got into it last night at a Caribbean-American Political Action Committee meeting, accusing rival David Garber of skipping candidate forums in predominantly African-American wards. When Orange showed up, White said he had botched job training as the Council’s workforce development boss. (Orange responded that White was “far from the truth.”)

“He’s going to sell you coal and convince you that it’s diamonds,” White said.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery