Politics

Orange win would make DC Council most colorful in history

by David Alpert   •   April 25, 2011 2:35 pm

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.

Data from the DC Board of Elections and Ethics.

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.