“I think he’s scratching for relevance.” – Ward 4 Councilmember Muriel Bowser, Nov. 14.

After another year on the D.C. Council and nine months of mayoral campaigning, Muriel Bowser‘s quote of the year comes down to a Twitter spat with Vince Gray. Chalk it up to Bowser’s uncanny inability to stay cheerfully on message on everything except her biggest competition in the race.

After a series of disastrous November days on the Red Line, Gray’s mayoral Twitter account told frustrated riders to direct their complaints to Metro board member Bowser and not, say, Gray himself. Bowser shot back with the quote above, which was a lot more cutting before Gray announced his election bid the following month and got all the relevance a pol could want.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery