The Barras Report Blog

IN DC, many people have asserted that the June primary will usher in a generational shift in the city’s political class. What does that really mean? Is it simply that several politicians who have been around for decades are finally leaving the arena, as in the case of the pending retirement of DC Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton?  Perhaps the essential question is this: Will the incoming delegate be capable of effectively breaking the creative and political rigor mortis that set in

When DC for Democracy, a far-left-leaning local political advocacy group, held a virtual forum earlier this year, candidates for DC delegate repeatedly used the words “fight” and “statehood.” Were they simply tapping into a key policy pillar of the sponsoring organization whose endorsement they hoped to win? Or were they channeling incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton , who has been called the “warrior on the Hill” and has announced plans to retire at the end of her term this year

FORMER DC at-large Councilmember Bill Lightfoot declared during an interview with me that this moment in the city’s political life is “an opportunity.” Is that an understatement?  After all, Mayor Muriel Bowser and Councilmembers Anita Bonds and Brianne Nadeau have all announced they won’t seek reelection. The ambitions of other officeholders, including Ward 4’s Janeese Lewis George, Ward 2’s Brooke Pinto, at-large member Robert White and Council Chair Pro Tempore Kenyan McDu

As the audience inside the Woman’s National Democratic Club on New Hampshire Avenue NW waited last November for Ward 2 DC Councilmember...

SOME people have become accustomed to vote trading in national and local politics. There is the belief that such transactions lead to...