This post was written by staff writer Catherine Moran.
Alumnus and former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray won the Ward 7 D.C. Council seat on his 74th birthday in a landslide.
Gray, a Democrat, defeated his two Independent opponents with 87 percent of the vote, according to the D.C. Board of Elections.
People were already waiting outside the The Chateau on Benning Road NE more than 45 minutes before the watch party began. Inside, the large room quickly filled up with more than 100 people standing at the bar counter and banquet or conversing at the dozens of tables with sky blue tablecloths and candles. Pop music blasted across the room, and posters for Gray and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton decorated the room.
A big white sheet cake with a big blue icing letter “7” on top sat untouched on a table off to the side of the podium.
Gray said he decided run because he sees himself as a public servant and wanted to work on “troubling” topics in Ward 7. Gray said that while economic development, education and crime are his top priorities, he will listen to his constituents first and foremost.
“I have to be able to understand what is important to them,” Gray said.
Gray talked about how he wants to eliminate property taxes for people who are “financially strapped” or above a certain age, referencing a bill he worked on with Council member Anita Bonds.
Gray thanked the people that helped with phone banking and greeted people at the polls.
“We have lots of work ahead of us,” he said.
Gray also announced a summit on Dec. 3 to help establish priorities for the city, citing the large turnout for a similar summit he help when he was mayor.
“People told us what was important and we worked to craft that plan into the future of the city,” Gray said. “I still have copies at home of the One City Action Plan. And frankly that helped us shape the ensuring work over the next four years.”
“What I hope comes out of the summit is a we have an opportunity to state what we as the people of ward 7 want to see this ward become,” he said.
Gray, who grew up in D.C., was the first African American to join the Jewish fraternity Tau Epsilon Phi while he was at GW, and became the first chapter fraternity president to serve two consecutive terms.
“I had a great time at GW,” Gray said. “I met a lot of good friends.” He added that some of those friends were at the watch party.
Gray beat the incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty in 2010, but lost reelection in 2014 to Muriel Bowser, who won the Democratic primary, after a slew of campaign finance scandals.
Colicchio Proctor, one of Gray’s cousins, said that she is “very, very, very proud” of Gray at his watch party. Proctor said that she’d like to see more restaurants and businesses like Walmart or Target come to Ward 7.
“They have it in Northwest, but we need it in Southeast as well,” Proctor said. “I like the things I see in Georgetown.”
ANC Commissioner Edward Rhodes, who worked on Bowser’s mayoral campaign, said he supports Gray because he helped to create more jobs while mayor.
“He did a wonderful job as mayor,” Rhodes said. “Vincent Gray is gonna win, winning by a landslide, because he’s done what a lot of his constituents wanted him to do.”
Rhodes said that he voted a week ago and “will always vote.”
“If I was upon my death bed I’m going to crawl to the voting place and I’ll try to vote to let me die in peace,” Rhodes said. “So many died and worked so hard so that I can vote.”
