Updated: Nov. 4, 2024, at 4:50 p.m. 

With a trio of leaders in Foggy Bottom and West End closing their chapters of serving the neighborhoods’s local governing body this year, five of its nine seats are set to be vacant once new terms begin in January.

Yannik Omictin, Joel Causey and Evelyn Hudson — three members of the Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission who have each served for two or more two-year terms — are not staging a run in the upcoming election Nov. 5. Two incumbents on the nine-member governing body, Chair Trupti Patel and Secretary Ed Comer, face no opposition in their runs to continue representing their single-member districts of 2A03 and 2A04, respectively.

Former ANC Chair Jim Malec looks to return to the body as a commissioner for single-member district 2A08, and the only candidate who is a newcomer, May Yang, is running unopposed for single-member district 2A02. Two seats on the body are already vacant after 2A07 commissioner and GW alum Dasia Bandy and 2A08 commissioner Jordan Nassar resigned this fall. Luke Chadwick, the former 2A05 commissioner, dropped his reelection bid in September.

With four candidates running for nine total ANC seats in this race, single-member districts 2A01, 2A05, 2A06, 2A07 and 2A09 are set to be vacant by the end of election night.

ANCs, tasked with gathering information on and helping mitigate community concerns for District officials, have little legislative power, but D.C. agencies are required to give “great weight” to their recommendations and proposals. Candidates who wish to appear on the ballot are required to declare candidacy several months before Nov. 5, but write-in candidates can win the empty seats with only a handful of votes.

If no write-in candidates emerge and seats remain unfilled past January, when newly elected commissioners begin their terms, the ANC will hold a special election the following year. Some candidates said people aren’t running for ANC because the position is unpaid and a large time commitment — between 20 and 30 hours a week — which members said contributed to poor attendance at meetings this past term.

Patel said high ANC turnover extends to all districts, but she is “positive” the rest of the body’s seats will eventually be filled by write-in candidates after election night.

“We’ll run with the commission that we have and look forward to hopefully having a full commission of nine,” Patel said.

Here’s what you need to know about each of ANC 2A’s races this year:

2A01: Two-term GW alum does not stage run for reelection this year

Omictin, a 2021 alum who has served on the ANC since 2020, is not running for reelection this year, leaving the single-member district that represents Mitchell and Thurston halls and apartments like The York and The Statesman empty. He said he is proud of what the body accomplished during his tenure, but the ANC is an unpaid role with a high workload, leaving him “exhausted.”

In his two terms as commissioner, Omictin was a staunch critic of unhoused encampment clearings and an advocate for affordable housing solutions, denouncing the city’s plan to clear the encampment at 21st and E streets until more shelter space becomes available and advocating for housing voucher accommodations for unhoused people.

He has also called on Mayor Muriel Bowser to transfer D.C. Circulator bus routes and fleets to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority to preserve local transportation in the area. He has supported expanding bike lane implementation.

2A02: Seat to represent ANC’s only new face

Yang, an attorney at a local law firm, is running unopposed in single-member district 2A02, which encompasses the uppermost northwest quadrant of West End. The seat has been vacant since Malec resigned in April after moving out of the area.

Yang said she decided to run for the seat because she views it as a way to meet her neighbors.

“It’s a really nice feeling of just getting to know people,” Yang said.

Yang said she is still determining what role she wants to play on the ANC but hopes to serve as a neutral sounding board between neighbors on contentious issues like unhoused encampments and The Aston.

“A lot of people have different opinions, and most of them are valid,” Yang said. “I try not to make it a judgment of character and more of a from different points of view and standards and see if there’s common ground that we can find.”

2A03: Patel runs unopposed, eyes on her fourth term

Patel, who graduated from GW with a master’s degree in 2005, is running unopposed for her fourth term in single-member district 2A03, which lies between New Hampshire Avenue and Georgetown.

After three terms on the ANC, Patel said she planned to retire but decided to run again to oversee the opening of The Aston, a former GW residence hall in single-member district 2A06 that D.C. officials are converting into an unhoused shelter. The governing body voted in June 2023 to request that officials establish a Community Advisory Team to provide input on the conversion, and two ANC commissioners were elected to represent the body on the team in November 2023.

Patel, who took over as chair of ANC 2A after Malec resigned in April, led the body in sponsoring two resolutions requesting The Aston’s roof undergo repairs after D.C. officials determined in fiscal year 2023 it needed “immediate replacement.”

“The Aston, which is the bridge housing facility that is in ANC 2A, definitely needs a strong, balanced commission in making sure that it operates, opens correctly and it serves the population that is the most vulnerable efficiently and effectively,” Patel said.

2A04: Comer stages second-term run

Comer will run unopposed for the single-member district 2A04, which stretches from K Street to the Arlington Memorial Bridge by the Potomac River. Comer said in his second-consecutive term, he hopes to communicate with GW to promote neighbors’s use of campus spaces like Gelman Library and encourage people to attend student-run events, like theater shows.

“I would like to see more connection between activities at GW and the neighboring community,” Comer said.

2A05: Chadwick dropped out in September

Chadwick, who took over the previously vacant single-member district 2A05 seat in January, withdrew his reelection bid in late September, leaving the seat vacant. The master’s student at Georgetown University said he would not have been able to balance his “professional and academic responsibilities” with the ANC’s time commitments.

When Chadwick entered the ANC in January, he filled the last remaining vacant seat on the commission. He most recently sponsored a resolution in May requesting that city officials change heating and cooling time frames to allow rental companies more flexibility in meeting tenant needs.

“I hope that another member of our community will be able to pick up where I leave off,” Chadwick said in an email. “It has been a deeply rewarding experience that has filled me with so much pride for our part of the city.”

2A06: Causey leaves ANC after two terms

Causey is not running for reelection in single-member district 2A06, which includes the northeastern side of West End and properties like Yours Truly and the Ritz-Carlton.

Causey, who first joined the ANC in January 2021, stepped down as chair of the ANC in April 2023 after The Hatchet reported he is a registered sex offender in Florida, but he continued to serve out his term as a commissioner. He represented his district on The Aston’s Community Advisory Team and was a voice behind efforts to remove bike lane barriers and fully illuminate the traffic signals on Virginia Avenue to increase pedestrian safety.

Causey did not return a request for comment on his decision to not run for reelection.

2A07: Seat left vacant after alum resigns

No one is running for single-member district 2A07, which covers Potomac House, South and Guthridge halls. The seat was formerly filled by Bandy, who graduated from GW in May and resigned in August to pursue education outside of D.C. after graduating.

2A08: Malec seeks to return to ANC amid Aston delays

Malec, the former chair of the ANC from May 2023 to May 2024, is running for single-member district 2A08 — which starts at the intersection of 20th and L streets — after he moved to the District in April.

As co-chair of the CAT, Malec oversees community debate on The Aston. He said he hopes to help get the shelter’s opening “over the finish line” after almost a year of delays, which is an “amazing opportunity” to show D.C. and other cities how neighborhoods can work to solve homelessness.

ANC members need to conduct more “outbound” and “proactive” communication by being more visible in the community, Malec said.

“We should be where people are so that we can hear from them about what is happening in the community and act on that but also so that they know that we exist, so they can become involved in that,” Malec said.

2A09: Hudson leaves ANC after serving for five years

Hudson is not running for reelection for single-member district 2A09, which covers Amsterdam, Madison, Fulbright and JBKO halls and the GW Hospital, leaving the seat vacant. Hudson has not been to an ANC meeting since May 2023 due to health issues.

Hudson was elected in 2019 and lauded initiatives like the GW Hospital’s helipad for emergency medical care. She did not return request for comment on why she’s departing the body.

This post has been updated to correct the following: 

The Hatchet incorrectly reported that A07 commissioner Dasia Bandy and 2A08 commissioner Jordan Nassar resigned in July. Bandy and Nassar resigned this fall. We regret this error.