Mayoral hopeful Tommy Wells looks pretty good in the campaign poll the Post published earlier this week. Facing Jack Evans, Muriel Bowser, and a hypothetical re-election bid from Mayor Vince Gray, Wells fell slightly behind Bowser and nearly within the margin of error against survey leader Gray. In a fundraising letter today, Wells touted the results, calling the race “a dead heat.”

Wells’ campaign isn’t talking about another, unreleased survey, though. As part of the campaign’s nearly $15,000 payment to pollster Celinda Lake, Lake asked respondents who they would vote for if the mayor stayed out. The survey showed that the mayor’s voters would split evenly between the three councilmembers, Wells tells LL, leaving Bowser still slightly ahead.

LL is skeptical that Wells and Evans would actually make off with two-thirds of Gray’s voters, but we’ll have to leave it there for now—-Wells says that he won’t be releasing any more poll results.

Lake’s firm also surveyed respondents on what the race would look like if Evans or Bowser wasn’t in the race. “I get Jack’s vote, but Jack gets Muriel’s vote,” Wells says.

Photo by Darrow Montgomery