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

Elected officials seem satisfied with marginal missions and mediocre pursuits when it comes to fragile families or vulnerable residents.

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

Democrats must remember we back Black and Brown working-class voters by becoming more relevant to daily life.

DEMOCRATS ended 2025 with important victories that steadied a rattled party still reeling from Donald Trump’s return to power. Yet even after those wins, Democratic approval ratings remain stubbornly low. A recent Quinnipiac University poll found only 18 percent of voters approve of the way congressional Democrats are handling their jobs. A record low of 73 percent disapprove. In stark contrast, congressional Republicans have a 35 percent approval rating while 58 percent dis

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 they say in horror movies, the call is coming from inside the house.  Under Donald Trump, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)...