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1978 Washington, D.C., mayoral election

None

Field	Value
country	District of Columbia
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	1974 Washington, D.C., mayoral election
previous_year	1974
next_election	1982 Washington, D.C., mayoral election
next_year	1982
election_date	November 7, 1978
image1	File:Marion Barry, 1996 in Washington, D.C (cropped).jpg
image_size	150x150px
nominee1	Marion Barry
party1	District of Columbia Democratic State Committee
popular_vote1	68,354
percentage1	70.2%
image2	File:Arthur-Fletcher - Department of Labor (1).jpg
nominee2	Arthur Fletcher
party2	District of Columbia Republican Party
popular_vote2	27,366
percentage2	28.1%
title	Mayor
before_election	Walter Washington
before_party	District of Columbia Democratic State Committee
after_election	Marion Barry
after_party	District of Columbia Democratic State Committee

On November 7, 1978, Washington, D.C., held the second election for its mayor as a result of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The primary election of the Democratic Party (the most important contest in the race, as 90% of the District's voters were registered Democrats) took place on Tuesday, September 12, with At-Large Councilman Marion Barry defeating incumbent mayor Walter E. Washington and Council Chair Sterling Tucker to become the Democratic nominee for Mayor. Barry defeated Republican nominee Arthur Fletcher and two marginal candidates in the general election on November 7, 1978.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Walter Washington, incumbent mayor. Washington had been the last appointed head of the city, serving as Mayor-Commissioner under President Lyndon Johnson, before being elected DC's first home rule mayor.
Marion Barry, at-large member of the D.C. Council. Berry had oved to the District in 1965 while the head of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and had evolved into radical civil rights activism on the local DC level by the end of the 1960s, founding the activist group Pride, Inc. to provide employment for the city's poor black community. However, he had gained the support of the city's wealthy white liberal establishment and had begun to move through the city's public ranks when elected president of the school board in 1972, then to the Council two years later.
Sterling Tucker, chair of the D.C. Council. Tucker was the early favorite in the race. Like Washington, Tucker had been in Johnson's appointed DC government, the president's choice for council chair in 1967; previously he had been head of the DC chapter of the Urban League and was seen as a moderate crusader for civil rights. Tucker had the support of the city's black ministers, one of the most influential political blocs, and the business community.

Campaign

By 1978, though he still had the support of the city's unions, Washington was largely seen as a caretaker mayor whose mayoralty had served a purpose of transition the city from federal oversight to local independence.

Tucker was the early favorite in the race.

Barry, who had enjoyed support from white liberal Washingtonians as a city councilor retained their support for his mayoral campaign. Barry's mayoral campaign also enjoyed support from the city's gay community, as well as the backing of the DC Board of Trade and the support of many veteran civil rights movement activists.

Results

The primary was held on September 12. It saw a very narrow three-way finish. Barry beat Tucker by an extremely small margin of 1,400 votes, close enough that Tucker did not concede until after a recount had taken place. Incumbent mayor Washington finished third, with just under 3,000 votes less than Barry.

General election

Campaign

In the November general election, Barry faced Arthur Fletcher, an African-American Republican who had served as an Assistant Secretary in Richard Nixon's Department of Labor. Fletcher approached the race by accusing Barry of being the white man's candidate, a tactic which The Washington Post criticized as "unforgivably shabby."

Results

References

(1994). "Dream City: Race, Power, and the Decline of Washington". [[Simon & Schuster]].
Stone, Chuck. (July–August 1986). "A dream deferred; a black mayor betrays the faith". Washington Monthly.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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