A D.C. Council comeback was perhaps a bit too much too soon last year for Harry Thomas Jr. But as he navigates his political resurrection, chair of the Ward 5 Democrats is a decent consolation prize.
Through a mix of persistence and luck (and some amusing bumbles on the part of local politicos), Thomas was elected as chair of the Ward 5 Dems this past weekend. It amounts to the most prominent post yet for the disgraced former councilmember following his 2012 resignation, though he’s also won spots as an advisory neighborhood commissioner and Democratic state committeeman in recent years.
This latest election, held at the Lamond-Riggs/Lillian J. Huff Library on Saturday, was relatively (and disappointingly) drama free. Thomas was running unopposed, but his election has, predictably, set tongues wagging in Ward 5 as Thomas slowly but surely inches his way back to political prominence.
“Nobody here has forgiven or forgotten,” says Debbie Steiner, a longtime activist in the ward and a former Edgewood ANC, referring to Thomas’ infamous admission that he misappropriated $350,000 in taxpayer funds meant for children’s programs. “That’s why he had to drop out of the primary…When the ward found out he was running again, it was in an uproar.”
The problem, as Loose Lips hears it, is that this uproar was too little too late. Interest in the Democratic organization dwindled in recent months, several local activists tell LL, so hardly anyone noticed that a leadership election was approaching to replace past chair Gordon-Andrew Fletcher. By the time Thomas’ detractors noticed he was set to waltz to an easy win, they weren’t able to find a candidate that met party rules to run against him. Not too many people may be happy about it, but Thomas will once again fill his father’s shoes: Harry Thomas Sr. preceded his son as the Ward 5 Dems’ leader a few decades ago before he spent three terms as councilmember.
“I don’t want to confuse people and anyone to think that I’m using this as a stepping stone, because I’m not: I’m doing this to build a party,” Thomas Jr. tells LL. “There is a side of redemption in life, and a side of hope that people have got to keep no matter what the circumstances are. And I think that’s what made me a resilient enough person to run for this.”
Thomas’ unlikely path to the chairmanship can be traced back to Fletcher’s decision to step down back in January.
He started his term leading the Ward 5 Dems on slightly rocky footing, retaining his seat by just 12 votes following a leadership election that drew allegations of racism and sexism from his rivals (both of which he denied). Fletcher was also the only member of his seven-person slate of officers to win—he followed that up with a fourth-place finish in the Ward 5 Council primary, last among the major contenders for the seat.
But Fletcher tells LL that the job quickly became a bit too much for him to handle for other reasons, as he juggled the demands of a new baby with his duties chairing his local advisory neighborhood commission. He decided to step back and let his first vice chair, Jennifer Blemur, serve out the remainder of his term.
“We tried to do it in a way that created the least amount of friction possible,” Fletcher says.
Yet several Ward 5 Dems tell LL that the organization floundered a bit amid the transition. With Fletcher distracted throughout 2022 and Blemur taking over during a year without an election cycle to fire up local Democrats, attendance at meetings regularly dwindled to the single digits.
“That’s what happens when things get run into the ground,” laments Tim Thomas, a Ward 5 committeeman and former chair of the Ward 5 Dems himself.
As the end of Blemur’s term approached in July, some local politicos expected her to run again. But she opted against it, forcing the Dems to start casting about for qualified candidates. (Blemur declined an interview with LL.)
Standards for such party positions are generally pretty forgiving, but a key requirement is that candidates for leadership have to attend several recent meetings of the organization. And with those meetings shrinking (and becoming less frequent), that meant the pool of contenders was pretty small.
Thomas says he qualified to run, but turned down the opportunity despite some Dems urging him to pick up his old role as chair: “I did my turn, so let someone else have it,” he reasons. He says he asked Robert Brannum, another former chair, to run instead, but Brannum also passed.
With other last-minute candidates knocked out by the meeting attendance requirements, that left just the former councilmember in the running for chair’s seat. Steiner says she and others urged current Ward 5 Councilmember Zachary Parker to intervene in the race and find someone else to run, but he declined to do so in a bid to “bring the ward together.” In a brief conversation with LL last week, Parker sounded resigned about Thomas Jr.’s ascension, but didn’t express any outward opposition.
Despite his brief flirtation with a run against Parker in the primary last year, Thomas says he’s fully supportive of the new councilmember and he plans to work closely with him in his new role. Although many of his relationships are with the ward’s older residents thanks to his family connections, he says he also hopes to bring more young people into the party and run a “diverse and inclusive” organization that can help push back against the “attacks that are happening on us in Congress.”
Thomas acknowledges that he faced some skepticism over his past as he campaigned for the position. But he believes that most local Democrats were able to look beyond his foibles because he’s stayed engaged with the community since he was released from prison in 2014. He’s gotten back involved with youth softball clinics, and he says that’s won the confidence of many people he’s spoken with in the ward (as ironic as that might be, considering his legal troubles stemmed from his youth sports nonprofit years ago).
“I’d like to think that a lot of people had a lot of confidence in me and said, ‘Oh, Harry knows, he’s been there before, and he’s gonna do it,’” Thomas says. “And I’m sure there are some people that may not have felt that way. But that’s OK. My job is to bring them to the table.”
The District has, famously, been a forgiving town for scandal-ridden politicians, as exemplified by figures such as Mayor-for-Life Marion Barry and Ward 7 Councilmember Vince Gray. The past few years have brought rumors that everyone from Michael Brown and Kwame Brown to Jack Evans will seek redemption for past misdeeds. In that context, it makes perfect sense that Thomas would get another shot.
“We should always have a forgiving posture as a society, and that’s what occurred with Harry Thomas,” Fletcher says. “He can represent our long-term residents and what community service was in the ward years ago.”
Tim Thomas is hopeful Fletcher is right, but he can’t help but wonder what else will come next. “Knowing Harry, he’ll probably try and run for chair of the whole Democratic Party,” Tim Thomas jokes.
Of course, Thomas Jr. says “I don’t think I would rule out anything, but it’s not because I’m running” for anything. His bid for Council (and, briefly, shadow representative) never really gained traction last year, so he’s keeping his focus elsewhere for now.
“I think too many people put their eyes too far down the road, as opposed to, you know, doing what you have to do every day and every day will take care of the rest,” Thomas Jr. says.