A Republican D.C. Council candidate is endorsing Mayor Adrian Fenty’s re-election, raising the possibility that increasing GOP support for the mayor will scare the city’s Democrats into voting for his opponent.
Over the last month, the Republican Party has been increasingly critical of D.C. Council Chairman Vince Gray, saying that Gray violated ethics statutes and demanding an investigation. The party hasn’t endorsed any of the mayoral candidates, and it is not fielding a candidate of its own.
Now Ward 3 Republican council candidate David Hedgepeth says he will endorse Fenty outside the Wilson Building on Tuesday morning.
“I suppose if you’re that partisan, you may not want to support Fenty because Republicans have endorsed him,” Hedgepeth told The Washington Examiner. “But I think Ward 3 voters are more reasonable than that.”
Political consultant Chuck Thies questioned whether Hedgepeth’s endorsement, with GOP criticisms of Gray, are enough to begin scaring Democrats from Fenty.
“Not enough people know about GOP support for Fenty to make it matter,” Thies said.
But in a city where “disdain for the GOP runs high, more news about it, yes, it could hurt,” Thies said.
Several political blogs covered Hedgepeth’s announcement Monday.
Hedgepeth said he has an ulterior motive for endorsing Fenty.
The mayor is likely to pick up a good chunk of votes from Ward 3’s many white voters who support schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee’s reform efforts. Hedgepeth’s Democratic rival, Councilwoman Mary Cheh, hasn’t endorsed a mayoral candidate, although she has been critical of Fenty and to a greater extent Attorney General Peter Nickles. Hedgepeth said he is not just making his support of the mayor known publicly because he believes in the school reform effort of Fenty and Rhee but also to draw Cheh out by casting her as afraid to declare her political leanings.
“Mary Cheh should tell her constituents where she stands,” Hedgepeth said.
Cheh said she may declare her support for a mayoral candidate, then took the opportunity to call out her opponent.
“In one way [Hedgepeth’s endorsement] shows how impoverished the Republican party is if the best it can do is find a Democrat to support,” Cheh said. “For a Republican ward candidate, there’s a certain amount of ego involved here if he thinks that his endorsement is helpful to the mayor.”
