Jul 11, 2008  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO J  | COMMENTS     

D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and At-Large D.C. City Council member Kwame Brown, both strong supporters of gay rights, are running unopposed in the city’s Sept. 9 Democratic primary.

While another four Democratic members of the Council face challengers in the primary, most political observers say the four incumbents — Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), Yvette Alexander (D-Ward 7) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) — are odds-on favorites to win the primary and the general election in November.

The Council’s lone Republican member, Carol Schwartz (R-At-Large), is being challenged in the city’s GOP primary by newcomer Patrick Mara, who has surprised City Hall insiders by raising more money than any past Republican challenger prior to a city primary.

Republican Party Chair Bob Kabel, who is gay, has predicted that Schwartz will win the primary because most of the city’s registered Republicans view Schwartz as a champion for the cause of good government. But Mara’s backers say the 33-year-old newcomer to D.C. politics might pull off an upset victory, although they acknowledge he faces an uphill race.

With few surprises expected in the Council races, many of the city’s political activists are looking toward a part of the Sept. 9 primary that has received little or no media attention so far: the race for “shadow” U.S. senator and the individual races for 48 seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee, the governing body of the city’s dominant Democratic Party.

Gay men have surfaced as leading forces in both of those contests. Veteran D.C. gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell is challenging incumbent “shadow” Sen. Paul Strauss, who has held the shadow seat for nearly 12 years. And Pannell and Jeff Richardson, the gay vice chair of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, are leading an insurgent slate of State Committee candidates.

The insurgent slate, which calls itself Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain, are challenging the leadership of State Committee Chair and veteran D.C. political activist Anita Bonds. Richardson is running as part of the insurgent slate for an at-large seat on the State Committee. Pannell is running for a seat for the committee in Ward 8, where Pannell has served as a longtime political activist.

“Our main objective is to push for voting rights for the District of Columbia, something that the State Committee has neglected to do,” Pannell said.

He said his reason for challenging Strauss is also due to what Pannell says has been Strauss’s failure to push harder and in a more visible way for the cause of providing D.C. with two voting senators and at least one voting member of the House of Representatives in Congress.

Strauss could not be reached for comment by press time. His gay backers have said Strauss has a strong record of support on gay rights and he has pushed for D.C. voting rights causes.

If Richardson’s and Pannell’s Obama4UnityBeatsMcCain slate wins, some State Committee observers say Richardson would have a shot at becoming the new chair of the State Committee, becoming the first openly gay person to hold that post.

With few voters familiar with the State Committee candidates running in the September primary, Pannell said gay Democrats could play a key role if they turn out in large number to vote for Pannell and Richardson’s slate.

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest gay political group, has yet to make endorsements for State Committee members. Pannell won a majority of votes among club members for his race for shadow senator, but he failed to obtain the 60 percent majority needed for a Stein Club endorsement.

The city created its two “shadow” Senate seats and one “shadow” House seat in the early 1980s as a means of promoting D.C. statehood. The seats have no congressional powers and come with no salaries. With Congress unlikely to approve D.C. as the nation’s 51st state any time soon, the shadow representatives have since turned their attention to promoting voting representation for D.C. in Congress.

But Pannell and others backing Pannell’s candidacy believe the city’s political establishment hasn’t been aggressive enough in pushing Congress to approve a bill that would give Norton, the city’s non-voting congressional delegate, a full vote in the House of Representatives.

Opponents of the bill have argued that Congress doesn’t have the authority to grant voting representation for D.C. and an amendment to the U.S. constitution is needed to provide D.C. with voting members in either the House or Senate.