Marion Barry In, 3 D.C. Council Incumbents Out
Lori Montgomery and Yolanda Woodlee, Washington Post, Sep. 15
Disgruntled voters in the nation’s capital ousted three veteran members of the D.C. Council yesterday, voting by overwhelming margins to replace the incumbents with two fresh new faces and a familiar old one — former mayor Marion Barry.
Barry defeated council member Sandy Allen in Ward 8, the city’s poorest ward. With 140 of 142 precincts reporting in the Democratic primary, Barry had received about 57 percent of the votes cast. Allen trailed with 25 percent and conceded the election to the former mayor.
Williams called Barry a “phenomenon,” adding: “If Marion is out to deliver for the children of this city . . . I’m with him all the way. If it’s about something else, then I’m not on the program.”
Barry, 68, was nearly mobbed as he arrived late yesterday at his campaign headquarters near Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Malcolm X Boulevard SE. After he stepped out of his white SUV, he began to dance to a live band set up under a tent.
As a throng of reporters converged upon him, Barry pointed a slender finger. “I told you so. I told you so,” he said.
