Voters appeared to reelect their Ward 2 council member for a four-year term and selected their local governing body representatives for the next two years in unopposed elections Tuesday night, unofficial D.C. Board of Elections results show.
Ward 2 incumbent Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who represents Foggy Bottom Campus residents, seems to have secured her seat with about 93.5 percent of votes, defeating write-in candidate Rondell “Magic” Jordan. Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission Chair Trupti Patel and Secretary Ed Comer, who represent single-member districts 2A03 and 2A04, respectively, appear to have won reelection, and voters elected ANC newcomer May Yang and ANC returner Jim Malec to represent 2A02 and 2A08, respectively.
Each ANC candidate appeared to have won with more than 92 percent of votes. Four candidates ran for nine total ANC seats in this race, leaving single-member districts 2A01, 2A05, 2A06, 2A07 and 2A09 vacant, but Patel said earlier this month that she is “positive” the rest of the body’s seats will eventually be filled by write-in candidates after election night.
DCBOE’s unofficial results show write-in votes in each of the vacant single-member districts, but it’s unclear if a write-in candidate will fill the seats. DCBOE said in a post on X that it will continue to provide daily election results updates until all eligible ballots are counted.
D.C. voters also seem to have elected to implement ranked-choice voting and open primaries in future elections by passing Initiative 83 with 74.7 percent of votes.
Incumbent Brooke Pinto wins reelection with more than 93 percent of votes
Pinto appears to have secured the Ward 2 council seat with 93.49 percent of votes in the D.C. Council election Tuesday night, according to DCBOE. Pinto’s name appeared alone on the ballot but Jordan, a civil rights attorney, challenged her with a write-in campaign. DCBOE unofficial results state that 6.51 percent of votes went to a write-in, but it’s unclear what proportion went to Jordan.
Pinto, previously an assistant attorney general for former D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, took office in June 2020 after winning a special election to serve the remainder of former Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans’ term after he resigned in January 2020. She narrowly secured the Democratic nomination for her next term in June 2020, with 28.4 percent of the vote in a three-way race before defeating two independents in the November election that year, tallying more than 68 percent of the vote.
During her tenure, Pinto has introduced and passed legislation to streamline business licensing processes to support small, local businesses and expanded access to menstrual products in public city spaces. She became the chair of the council’s Judiciary and Public Safety Committee in December 2022, where she became tasked with addressing rising crime in the District and pushed through the controversial Secure DC bill, which harshened punishments for some crimes and allowed city police to create temporary drug-free zones in public spaces with illegal drug activity.
Pinto has twice faced allegations that she violated campaign finance rules — in 2020 for not reporting a property as her campaign headquarters in campaign finance reports and in 2021 for raising $21,000 to pay off campaign debts more than six months after her election. D.C.’s Office of Campaign Finances dismissed the 2020 complaint.
Newcomer May Yang secures first term in ANC 2A02 with more than 96 percent of votes
Yang appears to have won the 2A02 seat with 96.44 percent of votes in the ANC election Tuesday night, running unopposed. Yang, an attorney at a local law firm, said earlier this month that she decided to run as a way to meet her neighbors and act as a sounding board between neighbors on contentious local issues like unhoused encampments.
ANC Chair Trupti Patel clinches fourth 2A03 term with about 92 percent of votes
Patel appears to have won her fourth term in the 2A03 seat, amassing 92.09 percent of votes running unopposed. Patel graduated from GW with a master’s degree in 2005 and said earlier this month that she planned to retire but decided to run again to oversee the conversion of The Aston, a former GW dorm in 2A06 that D.C. officials are converting into a homeless shelter.
Patel became ANC 2A chair after Malec resigned in April, and 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.”
ANC Secretary Ed Comer wins second term in 2A04 with more than 98 percent of votes
Comer seemed to have secured the 2A04 seat for a second term in the unopposed race, winning 98.21 percent of votes. Comer said earlier this month that in his second term, he hopes to communicate with GW to promote neighbors’ use of campus spaces like Gelman Library and encourage people to attend student-run events, like theater shows.
ANC returner Jim Malec secures 2A08 seat with more than 97 percent of votes
Malec appears to have won 2A08 with 97.45 percent of votes after running unopposed in Tuesday’s election. Malec, the former chair of the ANC from May 2023 to May 2024, resigned from the ANC in April when he moved outside his previous single-member district, ANC 2A02.
Malec serves as co-chair of the Community Advisory Team, overseeing community debate on The Aston. He said earlier this month that he hopes to get the shelter’s opening “over the finish line” after about a year of delays, and that he wants ANC members to be more visible in the community and engage in “proactive” communication.
