There is still one race in the District election that is too close to call. But on Nov. 8, one candidate received what appeared to be an official call — a congratulatory message from the Mayor’s Office.
Elissa De Souza, a candidate in a three-way contest to represent Single Member District (SMD) 6/8F02, declared victory on Twitter after she received a congradulatory email and several calls from the Mayor’s office at around 1 p.m. on Nov. 8.
The other candidates are Markita Bryant and Antonio Rossi. As of Nov. 8, the DC Board of Election’s (DCBOE) website showed Bryant ahead with a two vote lead. Antonio Rossi trailed by more than a hundred votes.
DC BOE is continuing to count mail-in ballots postmarked by Nov. 5 and received by Nov. 15.
I received a call from the Executive Office of the Mayors Office in Washington DC to congratulate me on winning the election for ANC 8F02. I was informed the Mayor’s office is excited to work with me on key issues impacting 8F02 and in return I look forward to representing you…
— Elissa De Souza (@ElissaDeSouza) November 8, 2024
“I kind of feel like when you get that call –it’s almost a clear victory when you get the call from the Mayor’s Office,” De Souza said. She wondered if the Mayor’s Office was getting information faster than the DC BOE could update the website.
De Souza was nonetheless confused by the call. She could see that the DCBOE website had not updated to indicate a win. However, the Mayor’s Office carried a certain amount of authority.
Ahead of The Count
It appears several commissioners were ed with congratulations last week by the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services (MOCRS), the Mayor’s constituent services arm. New candidate in 6B06 Anna Krebs, who leads her race by more than 300 votes, said MOCRS reached out to her. ANC 8F Chair Edward Daniels, who ran unopposed for re-election was also ed by a representative of the Mayor.
“However, they shouldn’t have reached out to any of these candidates in close races that haven’t been called,” Daniels said. “Unfortunately, they did.”
By Saturday evening, the last point the count was updated, Bryant, who ran on a slate of five women, including ANC 8A Chair Jamila White, ANC 8A06 incumbent Robin McKinney, and first-time ANC candidates Renée Moore and Fria Moore. By Saturday, she led by 19 votes.
The Mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment over the weekend. But asked about it at a press conference on Nov. 12, Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) acknowledged the call had been placed erroneously and preemptively by someone in the Executive Office of the Mayor (EOM).
“A junior staffer got ahead of himself or herself; it’s really that simple,” Bowser said, she said, deliberately avoiding gendered pronouns to protect the employee from any retribution.
EOM always congratulates elected officials, Bowser said, adding that they typically wait until after the results are certified, tentatively scheduled this year for the Dec. 2 meeting of DCBOE. Questioned on how the office would prevent this from happening in a future election, Bowser replied, “I don’t even think it’s worth my time talking about that.”
Troubling
De Souza disagrees. After she tweeted news of the call, responses ranged from doubt to accusations that she was lying.
“It’s just been troubling to be put in the position where I’m left to explain myself where I feel like I’ve done nothing wrong,” De Souza said. [ANCs] are all volunteers and it’s just been upsetting to be made to look like a liar, someone that has misrepresented facts, when I actually have gotten this call.”
To be clear, the Mayor’s office did in fact make a mistake. However, there was no impact the electoral process. There is no evidence of electoral interference. DC elections are istered by DCBOE independent of the DC Government.
But the mistaken call added fuel to a fire, bringing discussions around national election interference into the Navy Yard neighborhood. De Souza has been painted by some as a conservative candidate based on images she has posted of herself in the past, showing her attending Heritage Foundation events. Some have associated her politics with President-elect Donald Trump.
De Souza says this is a bipartisan election and that people are jumping to conclusions. “I think just them stereotyping me to one political affiliation has brought a lot of negativity to what I was trying to do,” De Souza said, “which is troubling.”
Strong Feelings
De Souza has inspired strong unusually strong feelings for an ANC electon. However, she welcomes negative and positive . “I’ve asked people, well, why do you hate me?” De Souza said. People have screamed at her on the street and bombarded her with hate messages on social media, she said.
She’s gained an online following on X, particularly for her anti-crime stance. “They’ll just say that I’m a fearmonger,” De Souza said, “what I don’t understand about that comment is how my posting something that directly comes from a police radio or MPD —it is no different than them or any law enforcement agency posting,” she said. “So I don’t understand why I’m known as the fearmonger or scaring people.”
On social media Friday, incumbent commissioner Rick Murphree reminded De Souza that the process was not complete, opining it was an simple error on the part of EOM. “No conspiracy here,” he said.
Replying, De Souza said transparency was needed. “If this truly is a mistake,” she tweeted, “It raises serious questions about fairness and transparency. Mistakes can happen but ability and clarity are needed to restore trust in the election.”
Murphree and Bryant declined to comment for this story.
On the afternoon Nov. 12, De Souza says EOM called to apologize for the mix-up. Later that afternoon she heard that DCBOE had escalated her concerns about the call.
However, residents are making their views heard on social media. On X, some blamed the mayor’s office for not knowing the basics of the election.
One X replied to one of De Souza’s posts, “Elissa they’re trying to steal it from you with ballot harvesting. We’re ready to charge the barricades as soon as you give the word.”
Elissa they’re trying to steal it from you with ballot harvesting. We’re ready to charge the barricades as soon as you give the word
— stop it (@Tim_Pnin) November 8, 2024
It’s uncomfortable language, to put it mildly. To be clear, there is absolutely no proof of any electoral interference in DC. These kinds of errors from DC government and its agencies, if this is what they are, seems have opened cracks to those kinds of discussion locally.
“Wow. I don’t know what to say to that. I never welcome any violence,” De Souza said when the last tweet was read to her. “I think it’s a little bit interesting that they related that again, to an entire presidential situation and election.”
De Souza said that people need to trust the system and ensure fairness and transparency.
This election has not yet been called and still won’t be official until results are certified, which is tentatively scheduled for the next DC Board of Elections Meeting on December 2, 2024.
You can see the updating results at www.dcboe.org
