Does The DC Democratic Party Straw Poll Mean Anything?

Photo courtesy of
‘CPAC Straw Poll’
courtesy of ‘Gage Skidmore’

This past weekend, the DC Democratic Party held their convention at Howard University’s Law School, and as part of the festivities, the assembled citizens held a straw poll election of candidates for Mayor. The showing wasn’t good for Mayor Adrian Fenty, who was booed by those in attendance. They were all there to see Council Chairman Vincent Gray, who received just over seven hundred votes. Mayor Fenty could only come up with just under two hundred.

Is this straw poll a big deal? Probably not. If it had meant anything, I would imagine the Mayor would have rallied a comparable number of supporters to make it a close vote. In 2006, the straw poll voted strongly for Vincent Orange and Linda Cropp, with Fenty only gathering few votes, but he drew much more heavily at the primary election, where he won all the precincts.

This was an empty victory, largely geared toward the Democratic Party apparatus, and not the citizens as a whole. Keep an eye on the polls.

I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.

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One thought on “Does The DC Democratic Party Straw Poll Mean Anything?

  1. I don’t believe Vince Gray will be able to recover from his shenanigans trying to kill the streetcars. He’s painted himself as a later day Marrion Barry, and alienated anyone that was on the fence.