Greater Greater Washington. The Washington, DC area is great. But it could be greater.

Politics


Orange win would make DC Council most colorful in history

Tomorrow is the DC Council special election. Many voters are still pondering whether to vote for the candidate with the best chance to beat Vincent Orange, or for whomever they like most.

Unfortunately, it's far from clear which candidate could best beat Orange, since we have no good polls. If everyone who wanted Weaver to win voted for him, would he win? Mara seems to be surging, but is he really, and is that enough?

Since I can't give any more useful insight into the race, here's a totally frivolous chart showing the number of people with colors for names over time.

Orange himself is the man who started the current rainbow trend when he succeeded Harry Thomas, Sr. as Ward 5 councilmember in 1999. Before that, there were no colors on the council or as mayor. Now, we have a Gray as mayor, a Brown as chair, and another Brown as at-large member.

An Orange victory tomorrow would mean four colors in office, constituting every one of them who's ever served.

Plus, we have ANC Commissioners Gale Black (4A08), Keith Silver (6C01), Sylvia Brown (7C04), Lisa White (7D01), and Dionne Brown (8D07).

This chart excludes foreign-language color names. Carol Schwartz's last name derives from the German word "schwarz," which means... black.

Thanks to Steve Offutt for the list of ANC commissioners and Eric Fidler for the German.

David Alpert is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Greater Greater Washington. He has had a lifelong interest in great cities and great communities. He worked as a Product Manager for Google for six years and has lived in the Boston, San Francisco, and New York metro areas in addition to Washington, DC. He loves the area which is, in many ways, greater than those others, and wants to see it become even greater. 

Comments

Add a comment »

I had no idea that the year that came after 2011 was "Maybe." Perhaps an ominous sign of things to come?

by James Hare on Apr 25, 2011 2:41 pm  (link)

FYI, Schwartz means black in German.

by Jacob on Apr 25, 2011 2:58 pm  (link)

Ooops. Just read the last line. Clearly you're on top of things, David.

by Jacob on Apr 25, 2011 2:59 pm  (link)

Where are the Greens?

by Eric H. on Apr 25, 2011 3:32 pm  (link)


I guess this is the CityPaper now.

by W Jordan on Apr 25, 2011 4:01 pm  (link)

It's like they're playing clue! Mayor Gray, in Ward 6, with the Streetcar Funding!

by Uriel on Apr 25, 2011 4:09 pm  (link)

So by extrapolation, all council members will have colorful names by ~2040?


by Michael Perkins on Apr 25, 2011 4:22 pm  (link)

I wonder how we rank in the stats of cities best poised to interchange their officials' names with those in Clue.

by Bossi on Apr 25, 2011 4:48 pm  (link)

Ahh Uriel- you beat me to it :)

by Bossi on Apr 25, 2011 4:49 pm  (link)

I understand the DAY of the election is the 26th. But on dcboee.org, I do not see one word about the *hours*. Ten till two, maybe?

by Turnip on Apr 25, 2011 6:13 pm  (link)

Polls close at 2000

http://www.dcboee.us/wherevote426.htm

by Bossi on Apr 25, 2011 8:23 pm  (link)

Best ggw post ever.

by Andrew on Apr 25, 2011 10:00 pm  (link)

Great article!
Alexander needs to watch out for Sylvia Brown and
Lisa White in Ward 7! Also Tom Brown!

They might take her in the upcoming elections!

One thing for sure.... Alexander needs to GO in Ward 7!
Alexander will be voted out in the next election!

by me4dc on Apr 26, 2011 12:39 am  (link)

One thing for sure.... Alexander needs to GO in Ward 7!

Maybe he still has time to get a new color named after him.

by David desJardins on Apr 26, 2011 2:26 pm  (link)

Add a Comment

Name: (will be displayed on the comments page)

Email: (must be your real address, but will be kept private)

URL: (optional, will be displayed)

Your comment:

By submitting a comment, you agree to abide by our comment policy.

Notify me of followup comments via email. (You can also subscribe without commenting.)

or see below to post

To post your comment, please enter the two words in the box below to prevent spam:

Save my name and email address on this computer so I don't have to enter it next time