WASHINGTON (HUNS) – Early Tuesday afternoon, Rhonda Hamilton, an independent candidate running for mayor of Washington, D.C., voted at the Emery Heights Community Center in Ward 4.
Hamilton is one of three on the mayoral ballot and is running on a platform with the idea that she is “not red or blue, just about D.C.,” she said. At the community center, Hamilton and her campaign volunteers passed out flyers and talked to voters, encouraging them to rank her as number one.
Hamilton did not shy away from conversations with those who already voted or opted out of voting for her. She said, secondary to winning the race, her priority was to increase voter engagement as during the June primary election, just over 32% of voters cast ballots.
“I know the only way we can fix that is to wake the people up,” Hamilton said. “It’s not about what they’re saying; it’s about what they’re doing.”
Kennedy Carter, who lives around a 10-minute walk from the polling location, said she was not interested in voting for a mayoral candidate in this election. Having had poor experiences with other candidates, she said, she found her conversation with Hamilton to be productive, although she did not guarantee she would vote for her.
After hearing from Hamilton for the first time, Carter said she is somebody others “need to be talking to.”
“I didn’t come here with the intention of voting for a mayor…but I will give her a second thought,” she said.
Looking ahead at results at the end of the day, Hamilton said she is in good spirits — even with the curveballs she experienced in trying to vote.
Hamilton and some of her volunteers were originally supposed to vote at J.O. Wilson Elementary School in Ward 6 in the morning, but did not realize that it was not an Election Day Vote Center until some volunteers had already arrived and Hamilton was en route.
She said she has voted at the elementary school multiple times in the past but is thankful that D.C. voters can vote at any polling location, allowing her to pivot.
“That’s my mistake, doing too much,” said Hamilton, who is running a completely volunteer-based campaign. “I should have been able to pick that up before.”
Along with volunteers riding in the campaign bus, Hamilton’s aunt, Cynthia Robinson, also joined her for the election day activities. She lives in Maryland but, since waking up at 4 a.m., said she is along for the ride and overwhelmed with pride.
“She has stepped out and taken on this task that she has been called to,” Robinson said. “She stepped out there to see what she could do for the citizens of D.C. … so that the people could get a better quality of life.”
Hamilton faces Democratic candidate Janeese Lewis George and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate Robert Gross, along with several write-in candidates.
She said she is looking forward to campaigning being over and is hosting a watch party at the Thurgood Marshall Center in the Shaw neighborhood. With strong competition from Lewis George, Hamilton does not know what she will say if she is not successful, but is instead staying positive.
“I don’t know what the words [will be for a] concession speech because I’m not there yet. In my mind and my heart, we have won,” Hamilton said.
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.
