Ward 3 Dems Straw Poll Released

From the Ward 3 Dems:


DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and DC Council Chairman Vince Gray finished in a near dead heat in a straw poll of Ward 3 Democratic voters with Gray narrowly defeating Fenty by six votes. The straw poll was held last week, but the nearly 400 ballots were counted tonight after all voters were first certified as meeting eligibility criteria. The straw poll was conducted by the Ward Three Democratic Committee.

In the final straw poll tabulation, Gray received 174 votes to Fenty’s 168. Leo Alexander received four votes. Eleven voters indicated they were undecided. 27 ballots were disqualified.

Additionally, the Ward Three Democratic Committee voted formally this evening to officially endorse Councilmember Kwame Brown for DC Council Chairman. In order to win an official Committee endorsement, a candidate had to win at least 75 percent of the total vote. The Committee also voted to endorse Councilmember Mary Cheh for reelection as Ward 3 Councilmember and Shadow Representative Mike Panetta for reelection as the U.S. (Shadow) Representative.

ANC Commissioner Doug Sloan surprised many by falling just short of winning the Committee’s endorsement over incumbent Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. Sloan won 65 percent of the vote. Norton won only 30 percent of the vote.

The Committee did not endorse any candidate in the Mayoral race, but Gray won just over 60 percent of the vote. Councilmember Phil Mendelson led his challengers in the vote for Councilmember-at-large with 60 percent of the vote, but also fell short of the threshold required to win an official endorsement. U.S. Senate (Shadow) Senator Michael Brown proved the spoiler winning 22 percent of the vote. Clark Ray won 15 percent of the vote.