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The already crowded field of candidates hoping to win a D.C. Council at-large seat in November just got yet another candidate, with Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kishan Putta registering as a candidate yesterday.
Putta, a 40-year-old healthcare consultant, points to his work lobbying Metro to expand 16th Street NW bus routes and pushing the District Department of Transportation to repave the 15th Street NW cycletrack as evidence that he would be a successful councilmember.
“I think we need leaders who have both good ideas and the proven ability to convert those good ideas into good results—-into great results,” Putta says.
Putta, who moved to the District in 2005, says he’s focused on making the District more affordable.
“We’ve got so much growth in this city, but we want to make sure that people feel comfortable staying here and don’t feel like they have to be pushed out when they have children,” Putta says.
Putta tells LL that he’s a registered independent, which allows him to be eligible for the at-large seat reserved for nonmajority party candidates that Councilmember David Catania is giving up to run for mayor. Unlike some of his newly independent opponents, though, Putta says he switched his party registration years ago. (LL has requested his registration anyway).
As for whether his party-hopping opponents aren’t abiding by the spirit of the set-aside seat, Putta isn’t as outspoken as the District’s unhappy Statehood Green and Republican Parties have been.
“Thanks for the question,” Putta says. “I think for now I’ll pass.”
Photo courtesy of Kishan Putta