How Labor Beat Mayor Fenty (Part 1)

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)

The seeds of Adrian Fenty’s defeat on Tuesday were planted in the cold, dark days of January. Despite the prevailing political winds that said the hard-driving mayor who’d won every precinct in the city four years ago was a shoo-in for re-election, Metro Council President Jos Williams (at right) decided to see just how much strength was in those winds, commissioning a poll to test Fenty’s real popularity. The poll – jaw-dropping to many insiders -- revealed what unions already knew from years of battling the mayor: Fenty was seen as arrogant and out of touch by many of the city’s voters. Not only did the poll show that Fenty was vulnerable citywide, but that he had even lost his home base in  Ward 4, where he was a City Councilmember for six years. The poll created a stir but was dismissed as having been commissioned by labor, until the Washington Post’s own poll soon afterwards yielded identical results. Blood was in the water, and labor had drawn it. The problem was how to beat a candidate with $4.5 million dollars in the bank, a solid base of support in Wards 1, 2 and 3 and no viable opponent. Labor’s poll showed not only that Fenty could be beaten, but that Council Chair Vince Gray (center) had high positives with voters. Now we just had to convince Chairman Gray to leave his safe race for re-election and run for mayor. Key to a winning strategy would be an traditional "Labor to Labor" campaign, with union members talking directly to tens of thousands of union voters in the District, as well as a completely separate "independent expenditure campaign committee," the Community Labor Coalition For Change Committee, which would communicate with the general public. The Coalition – composed of TENAC, D.C.'s premier tenant advocacy organization, along with public and private sector unions -- would have four components: research, direct mail, a media campaign and a strong GOTV campaign, pooling resources to pull off one of the most impressive political upsets in the District's history.
Tomorrow: Part 2: The political mechanics of beating Fenty
- Rick Powell, Political/Legislative Coordinator; photo (l-r): Kendall Martin (Ironworkers Local 5 Business Manager), Vince Gray and Jos Williams; photo by Johnnie Walker, AFGE 383