These lists include all members of the Council of the District of Columbia since its creation in 1975. All members are elected to 4-year terms (except for the initial 2-year terms for half the members elected to the first council, in 1974).
These lists include all members of the Council of the District of Columbia since its creation in 1975. All members are elected to 4-year terms (except for the initial 2-year terms for half the members elected to the first council, in 1974).
On June 1, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered that the 3-member commissioner system that had governed the District for nearly 100 years be replaced by a single commissioner and a 9-member city council all appointed by the President. The commissioner, sometimes referred to as the mayor-commissioner, would be able to veto the actions of the council, and council could overrule the veto with a 3/4ths majority. [1] Congress had 60 days for either house to reject the rule. Only the House introduced a disapproval resolution, supported by Republicans and Southern Democrats, but it failed 244–160. [2] Each member of the council served a 3-year term starting February 1, with seats staggered by three years; except for those appointed initially in 1967. In the event that a member's term expired, they would remain a member until a replacement was confirmed and sworn in. By law, a maximum of six members could be from any one party.
Because of a low salary and the fact that terms lasted until a replacement was available, membership was quite fluid. (Changes in italics)
On October 30, 1973, members voted to represent areas of town. They did not use the ward system, which had been created for the school board, but instead used the service area system created by the mayor in 1970. There were 8 wards, 9 service areas and 9 members of the council. [15] They were assigned:
The chairman who served the longest uninterrupted period of time is Linda A. Cropp, who served 9 years, 146 days, from August 8, 1997, to January 1, 2007. [16] David A. Clarke served the longest as chairman, counting all terms (with interruptions), serving 10 years, 185 days (from January 3, 1983, to January 3, 1991, and again from September 27, 1993, to his death on March 28, 1997). [17] The chairman who served the shortest period of time is Kwame R. Brown, who served 521 days from January 2, 2011, to June 6, 2012. [18]
The council member who served the longest uninterrupted period of time is Jack Evans, who served 28 years from May 13, 1991, to January 17, 2020. Evans also holds the record for serving the longest period of time counting interrupted service. The council member who served the shortest period of time is Arrington Dixon, who served 121 days between his special appointment to an at-large seat on August 15, 1997, and December 14, 1997 (when David Catania was sworn in after winning a special election on December 3, 1997).
The at-large council member who served the longest uninterrupted period of time is Hilda Mason, who served 21 years, 273 days from April 2, 1977, to January 1, 1999. Mason also holds the record for serving the longest period of time counting interrupted service. The Group 1 at-large council member who served the longest uninterrupted period of time is John L. Ray, who served 17 years, 359 days from January 8, 1979, to January 1, 1997. Ray also holds the record for the Group 1 at-large council member serving the longest period of time counting interrupted service. The Group 1 at-large council member who served the shortest period of time is Arrington Dixon. The Group 2 at-large council member who served the longest uninterrupted period of time is Hilda Mason. Mason also holds the record for the Group 2 at-large council member serving the longest period of time counting interrupted service. The Group 1 at-large council member who served the shortest period of time is Sekou Biddle, who served 123 days from his appointment on January 7, 2011, until May 9, 2011 (his successor, Vincent Orange, was sworn in on May 10 after a special election held April 26, 2011).
There are four at-large members at any time, elected in groups of two. Group 1 was elected in 1974 to 2-year terms and elected in years divisible by 4 thereafter: 1976, 1980, ..., 2008, 2012, etc. Group 2 is elected in years divisible by 2 but not by 4: 1974, 1978, ..., 2010, 2014, etc. In 1974, Group 1 consisted of Marion Barry and Jerry A. Moore, Jr. [19]
The Ward 1 member is elected in years divisible by 2 but not by 4: 1974, 1978, ..., 2010, 2014, etc.
The Ward 2 member was elected in 1974 to a 2-year term and elected in years divisible by 4 thereafter: 1976, 1980, ..., 2008, 2012, etc.
The Ward 3 member is elected in years divisible by 2 but not by 4: 1974, 1978, ..., 2010, 2014, etc.
The Ward 4 member was elected in 1974 to a 2-year term and elected in years divisible by 4 thereafter: 1976, 1980, ..., 2008, 2012, etc.
The Ward 5 member is elected in years divisible by 2 but not by 4: 1974, 1978, ..., 2010, 2014, etc.
The Ward 6 member is elected in years divisible by 2 but not by 4: 1974, 1978, ..., 2010, 2014, etc.
The Ward 7 member was elected in 1974 to a 2-year term and elected in years divisible by 4 thereafter: 1976, 1980, ..., 2008, 2012, etc.
The Ward 8 member was elected in 1974 to a 2-year term and elected in years divisible by 4 thereafter: 1976, 1980, ..., 2008, 2012, etc.
Background colors indicate party:
| Democratic | Republican | Statehood | independent |
| Year | Chair | At-large councillors | Ward-level councillors | Makeup | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | |||||||
| 1975 | Tucker | D. Moore | Hobson | Barry | J. Moore | Clarke | Wilson | Shackleton | Dixon | Spaulding | Winter | Hardy | Coates |  |
| 1976 | ||||||||||||||
| 1977 | Mason | Rolark | ||||||||||||
| 1978 | ||||||||||||||
| 1979 | Dixon | Kane | Ray | Jarvis | ||||||||||
| 1980 | ||||||||||||||
| 1981 | Crawford | |||||||||||||
| 1982 | ||||||||||||||
| 1983 | Clarke | Smith | ||||||||||||
| 1984 | ||||||||||||||
| 1985 | Schwartz | |||||||||||||
| 1986 | ||||||||||||||
| 1987 | Nathanson | Thomas Sr. | ||||||||||||
| 1988 | ||||||||||||||
| 1989 | Lightfoot |  | ||||||||||||
| 1990 | ||||||||||||||
| 1991 | Wilson | Cropp | Evans | Brazil | ||||||||||
| 1992 | ||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Clarke | Chavous | Barry | |||||||||||
| 1994 | ||||||||||||||
| 1995 | Patterson | Whittington | ||||||||||||
| 1996 | ||||||||||||||
| 1997 | Cropp | Dixon | Brazil | Schwartz | Ambrose | S. Allen |  | |||||||
| 1998 | Catania |  | ||||||||||||
| 1999 | Mendelson | Graham | Orange |  | ||||||||||
| 2000 | ||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Fenty | |||||||||||||
| 2002 | ||||||||||||||
| 2003 | ||||||||||||||
| 2004 | Catania | |||||||||||||
| 2005 | K. Brown | Gray | Barry |  | ||||||||||
| 2006 | ||||||||||||||
| 2007 | Gray | Cheh | Bowser | Thomas Jr. | Wells | Alexander | ||||||||
| 2008 | ||||||||||||||
| 2009 | M. Brown |  | ||||||||||||
| 2010 | ||||||||||||||
| 2011 | K. Brown | Biddle | ||||||||||||
| Orange | ||||||||||||||
| 2012 | Mendelson | Bonds | McDuffie | |||||||||||
| 2013 | Grosso | |||||||||||||
| 2014 | ||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Silverman | Nadeau | Todd | C. Allen | May | |||||||||
| 2016 | ||||||||||||||
| 2017 | R. White | Gray | T. White | |||||||||||
| 2018 | ||||||||||||||
| 2019 | ||||||||||||||
| 2020 | Pinto | |||||||||||||
| 2021 | Henderson | George | ||||||||||||
| 2022 | ||||||||||||||
The Socialist Party USA, officially the Socialist Party of the United States of America, is a socialist political party in the United States. The party was established in 1973 as one of the successors to the Socialist Party of America, which had broken up a year prior, resulting in another group called Social Democrats, USA and the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee (split).
Walter Edward Fauntroy Jr. is an American pastor, civil rights activist, and politician who was the Washington, D.C. delegate to the United States House of Representatives from 1971 to 1991. He was a candidate for the 1972 and 1976 Democratic presidential nominations as a favorite son.
The Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) is a caucus made up of African-American members of the United States Congress. Representative Steven Horsford from Nevada is the caucus chairperson, having succeeded Joyce Beatty from Ohio in 2023.
The House Republican Conference is the party caucus for Republicans in the United States House of Representatives. It hosts meetings and is the primary forum for communicating the party's message to members. The Conference produces a daily publication of political analysis under the title Legislative Digest.
The 1972 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 7, 1972, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 93rd United States Congress. This was the first election held after the 1970 United States redistricting cycle. It coincided with the landslide reelection victory of President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon's Republican Party managed to gain a net of twelve House of Representatives seats from the Democratic Party, although the Democrats retained a majority.
District of Columbia home rule is the District of Columbia residents' ability to govern their local affairs. As the federal capital, the Constitution grants the United States Congress exclusive jurisdiction over the District in "all cases whatsoever".
The D.C. Statehood Green Party, known as the DC Statehood Party prior to 1999, is a green progressive political party in the District of Columbia. The party is the D.C. affiliate of the national Green Party but has traditionally elevated issues of District of Columbia statehood movement as its primary focus. Party members refer to the Statehood Green Party as the second most popular party in the District because, historically, STG candidates win the second highest vote totals in the city, ahead of the Republican Party but behind the Democratic Party. As of February 2023, there are approximately 4,140 voters registered in the Statehood Green Party, or 0.79% of registered voters in the city.
Arrington Dixon is an American politician who is a former Chair and Member of the Council of the District of Columbia of Washington, D.C.
Philip Riley Sharp is an American politician and nonprofit executive who served ten terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Democratic representative from Indiana from 1975 to 1995.
Edwin D. "Ed" Hill was an electrical worker, labor union activist and labor leader in the United States. He was the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), AFL-CIO from 2001 until his retirement in 2015.
David Allen Clarke was an American civil-rights worker, attorney, and Democratic politician in Washington, D.C. Elected as one of the original members of the Council of the District of Columbia when D.C. gained home rule in 1974, Clarke served as its chair from 1983 to 1991, and again from the death of John A. Wilson in 1993 until his own death in 1997.
Pauline "Polly" Ehrlich Shackleton was an American Democratic politician in Washington, D.C. She was elected as one of the original members of the Council of the District of Columbia in 1974 when D.C. gained home rule. She represented Ward 3 on the council from 1975 to 1987.
Sterling Tucker was an American civil and political rights activist and politician in Washington, D.C. He was the first chair of the Council of the District of Columbia and was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of the city in 1978.
Hazle Reid Crawford was an American real estate developer and Democratic politician in Washington, D.C.
On November 7, 1978, Washington, D.C., held the second election for its mayor as a result of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The primary election of the Democratic Party took place on Tuesday, September 12, with At-Large Councilman Marion Barry defeating incumbent mayor Walter E. Washington and Council Chair Sterling Tucker to become the Democratic nominee for Mayor. Barry defeated Republican nominee Arthur Fletcher and two marginal candidates in the general election on November 7, 1978.
Sharon Schuster Bulova is an American politician who was chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in Virginia. A Democrat, she was first elected chairman in a special election on February 3, 2009. Bulova was reelected in 2011 and again on November 3, 2015. She retired at the end of her last term in January 2020.
John A. Nevius was a member and chair of Washington, DC's pre-Home Rule city council. Nevius was first appointed to the council by President Lyndon Johnson from 1967 to 1969. In 1972, President Richard Nixon appointed him as Chairman of the council. In 1974, the advent of home rule brought DC's first elected council and council chairman. Nevius, a self-described "WASP Republican," did not run for the position, and he was succeeded by Sterling Tucker.
The Socialist Workers Party of the District of Columbia is a minor political party in the District of Columbia The party advocates for statehood for the District of Columbia and ending Congressional control over the District's laws and finances. The party wants to abolish capitalism and replace it with a socialist economy.
The U.S. Labor Party was a political party in the District of Columbia It campaigned for modernization, humanism, and social conservatism. A spin-off of New York-based Students for a Democratic Society, the U.S. Labor Party campaigned for policies that increased economic growth and prosperity and criticized laws and judicial rulings that were socially liberal.
