DISTRICTLINE LOOSE LIPS
General Elections
Darrow Montgomery/File
Attorney General Karl Racine could have quite a few allies on the D.C. Council after 2020.
By Mitch Ryals Not quite a year ago, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine was all in on Kamala Harris. His national profile on the rise, boosted by his office’s lawsuits against President Donald Trump and his work as the co-chair of the Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA), and Racine was an obvious contender for the Department of Justice’s top post in a Harris administration. A 2019 Politico profile called him “perhaps the single most important player in restoring Democratic clout in America’s legal system.” But a lot has changed since then. Harris’ campaign officially collapsed late last year, and Racine has yet to make another endorsement (Mayor Muriel Bowser, mean-
while, has loaned her support to billionaire Mike Bloomberg). While Racine mulls over his role in the national landscape, he’s started shifting his attention to local races ahead of D.C.’s June Democratic primary. A quick scan of the candidates in each of the local primary races reveals a common thread: Racine. Janeese Lewis George worked for the Office of the Attorney General as a prosecutor in juvenile court and is challenging the incumbent, longtime Bowser ally Brandon Todd, in Ward 4. At-Large Councilmember Robert White worked on Racine’s transition team and was hired as OAG’s director of community outreach after losing the non-majority at-large race in 2014. He was elected to the Council
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as a Democrat in 2016 and is running for reelection this year. Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White joined Racine’s staff as a community development specialist after he lost the 2015 special election to LaRuby May by about 100 votes. Trayon White came back and defeated May, another Bowser-backed candidate, in the 2016 Democratic primary. One of his challengers this year is May’s former Council staffer Mike Austin. The newest entry into the crowded Ward 2 field, Brooke Pinto, announced her candidacy less than a month before the deadline to turn in petitions to qualify for the ballot. She worked under Racine’s direct supervision in his policy office. “And Veda Rasheed in Ward 7,” says
Racine, reminding LL of yet another former staffer looking for a spot on the Council. Rasheed is the only former staffer and current office seeker Racine is not officially supporting, citing his existing relationship with Ward 7 Councilmember Vince Gray. But, he says, he is willing to help the other four candidates however he can, be it with endorsements, fundraising, or door knocking. What does that mean in a town where political coattails haven’t counted for much recently? “He’s building a political machine,” says Chuck Thies, a political consultant and ardent Bowser critic. “And if that wasn’t obvious after Trayon and Robert, it’s now indisputable. You don’t endorse four candidates, all of whom are former employees, and don’t have that be part of a political machine.” (Thies is the treasurer of Gray’s reelection campaign and speaks in his individual capacity.) The impact of Racine’s endorsements could have implications beyond his own political benefit. His chosen candidates, with the possible exception of Pinto, whose campaign is still young, are ideologically to the left of Bowser and her Green Team, who are generally more business- and developer-friendly. Racine pushes back against the idea that he is actively recruiting OAG employees for Council campaigns. “The bigger point is this: I think the Office of the Attorney General … attracts people to the office that are extremely public interest-focused and want to make a contribution to the District of Columbia,” he says. “And we’ve got good people who care about individuals and their interests and give them challenging assignments so that they can grow.” At the suggestion that four or five potential allies on the Council could boost a future run for Bowser’s job (Racine was a speculative candidate in 2017), the AG sticks with the same answer he’s given in the past. “I think that’s a question that people always ask, but that question does suggest intention,” he says. “I don’t have an intention, number one, to recruit folks to have them run for the city council, nor have I expressed
