WASHINGTON (HUNS) – The night started with high energy and good vibes as Rhonda Hamilton, an independent D.C. mayoral candidate, kicked off her watch party around 8 p.m.
Hamilton encouraged attendees to join her out front of the Thurgood Marshall Center in Shaw to see her campaign bus and hear it over the speakers “one last time.”
About two hours later, the energy shifted in the event space once it came over the projector that Hamilton’s Democratic opponent, Janeese Lewis George, was projected winner of the mayoral race.
Hamilton was heard repeatedly saying, “Are you kidding me?” She then quietly exited along with about half of the remaining attendees. She never returned to the main room and did not give a concession speech.
Instead, one of her lead campaign volunteers, Juanita Briscoe, addressed the audience while Lewis George’s acceptance speech silently played in the background.
“We all have won because we fought a fight that most would not fight,” Briscoe said. “Please don’t feel bad because we worked hard.”
“It’s only in God’s timing that things come about. This is the beginning of what is going to come,” she continued.
Following Briscoe, Hamilton’s cousin and another volunteer addressed the dwindling audience as decor and campaign signs were being taken down.
Earlier Tuesday, while Hamilton was voting, she said she was feeling optimistic about the race. She was in good spirits talking to voters and said she was looking forward to the end of campaigning.
“I’m not in control of this…[I feel] relieved that this is the last day and I no longer have to worry about what comes tomorrow,” Hamilton said Tuesday afternoon.
Rickey Bryant, a volunteer for Hamilton, said that although the campaign was not successful, it still had a real impact on the community and he is grateful for the experience.
Bryant added that the work they did was a grassroots effort, as no one on the team was paid. Everyone on the team came together because they believed in Hamilton.
“That’s what’s most powerful,” Bryant said. “It was done with the people, not the money.”
At the end of the night, outside of the building, Hamilton said all she wanted was to go to sleep.
“We did that,” Hamilton said. “They can’t take anything we did away.”
Myla S. Roundy is a senior reporter for HUNewsService.com covering Ward 5 and social issues. She is also the managing editor of The Hilltop at Howard University.
