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While Muriel Bowser managed to place two of her campaign staffers on the D.C. Council earlier this year, it’s been just as interesting to see her draw previously non-aligned councilmembers into her orbit ahead of their re-election campaigns.
Bowser has been talking up At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange lately. Now, after weeks of speculation, there’s evidence that Bowser’s Green Team will be backing Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander in next year’s June primary.
On Wednesday, donors will fete Alexander at a Georgetown waterfront fundraiser at Tony & Joe’s. Hosts include two FreshPAC donors, Emmanuel Bailey and Edwin Villegas, who donated a combined $15,000 to the soon-to-close Bowser political action committee. More tellingly, the host list also includes close Bowser associate David Jannarone.
Alexander tells LL that Bowser is backing her re-election, and she’s returning the favor.
“I’m supporting the Green Team,” Alexander says. “I’m Team Alexander, but I support the Bowser administration.”
So far, Alexander’s most prominent Ward 7 opponent is D.C. Democratic State Committee bigwig Ed Potillo. Former fire chief Kenneth Ellerbe is rumored to be interested. Most intriguingly, though, ex-mayor Vince Gray, which could set up a battle between Gray and Alexander, the former protege who endorsed his 2014 re-election campaign hours after he announced it.
The potential for a tough re-election campaign could make Alexander a top candidate for FreshPAC help, if it wasn’t about to meet its demise. On the phone with LL, Alexander didn’t seem too put out by the disappearance of hundreds of thousands of political contributions that could have helped her next year.
“Hey, the fundraising helps,” Alexander says.
Photo by Darrow Montgomery