One of the District’s hardiest political addresses is once again occupied: Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans will be locating his campaign headquarters at 1005 7th St. NW, on the highly visible northeast corner of 7th and New York Avenue.
Evans, who is being challenged thus far by Mount Vernon Square lawyer and community activist Cary Silverman, follows in the footsteps of numerous other city politicos—-many who had checkered experiences on the premises:
- In 1998, the building housed one of At-Large Councilmember Carol Schwartz‘s failed mayoral runs.
- In 2000, Schwartz ran her successful re-election campaign out of the building—-a rare unqualified success for the edifice.
- In 2002, Mayor Anthony A. Williams also ran a re-election campaign out of the building. You know, the one with all the fake ballots and the write-in votes.
- In 2004, incumbent At-Large Councilmember Harold Brazil‘s campaign occupied the space. He was overthrown by insurgent Kwame Brown.
- In 2006, mayoral hopeful Michael A. Brown moved his campaign in. He ended up with a mere 650 votes after throwing his support to Linda Cropp less than a week before the Democratic primary.
Red-and-white Evans signs appeared all over the three-story building, owned by developer Doug Jemal, earlier this week; Evans campaign manager Keith Carbone says phone lines still need to be installed and furniture ordered for the storefront. A kickoff event for the office, he says, is scheduled for later this month.
Perhaps Evans will be able to avoid any bad juju on the premises—-he is, after all, the first non-citywide candidate to move in (the office is located in Ward 2’s eastern flank—-the area Silverman considers his base). Carbone says he’s not worried about any of that. “We’re not going to be superstitious,” he says.