There are six Democrats, one Independent, one Statehood Green Party Member, and one Republican running for the seat. Shane was advocating the Republican, Patrick Mara, because the article said he fiscally conservative and socially progressive. Mara said he loves the gays. I, as a rule, will not vote for a member of that party on principle. I have voted Republican in the past when I lived in Montgomery County, MD, and the Congresswoman was a very liberal Republican, but she was an exception. I can't see ever doing it again.
I decided to vote for Joshua Lopez, a young Hispanic who was a former aide of former Mayor Adrian Fenty. My favorite line from his profile is that he relies on a BMW to get around: "bus, Metro, and walking." He is only 26, but the DC Council could use some fresh blood.
Shane said he would consider Lopez if I could find anything about him showing he supports gays. So, I looked on his homepage, but was not having much luck. Finally, there was a small blurb that said he participated in a forum with the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, which is THE LBGT political organization in the city. There was a question and answer format statement he provided, which was on the Stein Web site, and the answers were sufficiently pro LBGT to convince Shane to join me in voting for Lopez.
Interestingly, though, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club is actually endorsing Sekou Biddle, who is serving as interim Council member and is backed by the Democratic establishment and the current mayor, Vincent Gray. That last part of that sentence is enough to turn us off. We are not Gray fans. We'll stick with Lopez.
