We’re Running a Brighter Campaign!

Erin Palmer
4 min readJun 16, 2022

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The last day to vote for Erin for DC Council Chairwoman is less than a week away! DC Democrats have until June 21st to turn in their ballots or vote in person. The Board of Elections has mailed ballots that you can return by mail or at any one of 55 drop boxes across DC. You can also vote early at any vote center now through June 19th, and (of course!) on Election Day on June 21st. Find out where to vote here.

Tell your family, friends, and neighbors why you are voting for Erin for DC Council Chairwoman. You can find easy-to-use materials to send emails and information about Erin here.

I am the only Fair Elections candidate in the race for Council Chair — that means I’m funded by DC neighbors and I’m not taking corporate or political action committee money. Fair elections is important not just because it empowers more people to run for office but also because it keeps corporate and dark money out of local elections, including in this race for one of the most influential positions in DC.

The current Council Chair — Phil Mendelson — has received fewer than half of his donations from DC individuals. Instead, he’s taking substantial amounts of money from Doug Jemal, who tried to build a child immigrant detention center in my neighborhood; America’s largest private prison and immigrant detention center provider; and the president of the Commanders, a scandal-ridden team seeking public land and subsidies to build a stadium in DC; among others. We also know that outside entities are pouring more than one million dollars into local races to influence the outcome, often hiding where and from whom this money is coming.

I’m proud to have hundreds more individual DC donors than the current Council Chair and that 94% of my donations are from DC residents. But what I’m most proud of is that I’m rejecting donations from corporations and political action committees, which means I’m accountable to you — DC residents.

Erin is proud to be funded by DC residents. You can read more about how Erin has hundreds more DC donors here.

I recently received a wholehearted endorsement from the DC Tenants Advocacy Coalition (TENAC). They recognized that the current Council Chair “takes credit for affordable housing laws that look good on the surface but underneath are full of loopholes.” While the current Council Chair and the outside groups spending over a million dollars on our local elections claim he is a tenant and affordable housing advocate, he has failed on these issues repeatedly, including:

I am committed to housing as a right. That includes my Safe Housing Action Plan, which provides tangible proposals for how we move past years of inaction for safer housing that can help us serve and protect the many residents living in unsafe and unhealthy housing. And my DC Council Accountability Plan — the first-ever plan of its kind for a more modern, ethical, and accountable DC Council — which would correct for years of mismanagement and scandal at the DC Housing Authority and a Housing Production Trust Fund that has failed for years to follow the law requiring production of deeply affordable housing.

Erin is dedicated to values-based leadership that acts to make sure every DC resident has safe, stable, and secure housing. As an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, she has been a leader in supporting hundreds of units of affordable housing in her neighborhood, like in the historic apartment building above.

Join us as we close out election season and celebrate on Election Day! We’re rounding out this election joyfully and in celebration of all our efforts to build a brighter DC for all of us. Sign up to volunteer now through Election Day — June 21st. And on Election Day we will gather in the evening at one of our favorite local spots where we always feel loved and welcomed — Simple Bar and Grill (5802 Georgia Avenue, NW) — to celebrate all we’ve accomplished. RSVP here.

Join us on Election Day — June 21st — to celebrate all we’ve done to build a brighter DC for all of us. RSVP here.

Election Day is only 5 days away. We know that values-based leadership can guide our Council in meeting our neighbors’ basic needs; building safe, stable, and secure communities; and empowering the Council to conduct meaningful oversight to make sure our agencies deliver on their programs. I am dedicated to leading with those values every day, and I’m honored for your support.

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