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

LAST year, during the city’s annual budget deliberations, Ward 5 DC Councilmember Zachary Parker was on the hunt for money to fund a local child tax credit ; undoubtedly, he hoped it would be the signature legislation for his first term, allowing him to comfortably campaign for reelection. However, even with the possibility of an end-of-the-year surplus, the city’s economy was on the ropes, making it difficult for him and the legislature’s other spendthrifts to satiate their