Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Georgetown University’s Newspaper of Record since 1920

The Hoya

Bowser Faces November Challengers

After defeating incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray in the Democratic primary in April, D.C. Councilmember Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) has taken the lead in campaign fundraising as well.

Having collected over $1 million in campaign funds, she has a clear financial advantage over her other competitors, including former D.C. Councilmember Carol Schwartz and D.C. Councilmember David Catania (I-At Large) (SFS ’90, LAW ’94).

According to his campaign, Catania has managed to raise about $465,000 in funds, and aims to reach $1 million by this fall.

“For a non-establishment candidate, those are impressive numbers, and those are the numbers of a winning campaign,” Catania’s campaign manager Ben Young told The Washington Post. “The establishment candidate will always have more.”

With just over $50,000 in her campaign, Schwartz has relied heavily on the use of volunteers to collect over 6,500 signatures on her petitions.

She claimed that Catania and Bowser have taken contributions from both corporations and from LLCs, a practice Schwartz criticized, allowing them to take more than the $2,000 maximum donation from each corporation. This practice will be banned in a law that will take effect on Jan. 1. In order to show her support for the upcoming law, Schwartz said she will not take any contributions from LLCs.

“What I’m doing, is I like the law that’s going into effect on Jan. 1, 2015, so I’m putting it into effect during my election in 2014. And I’m saying that leaders have to lead, set the example,” she said in an interview with THE HOYA. “Leaders have to set the example, and I’m setting the example. And they could have done it too, and chose not to.”

Although Bowser has snagged every other organized labor endorsement in the city, Catania boasts an endorsement from the D.C. Police Union, thus strengthening his efforts to improve public safety in the District.

“I think he has the background and the understanding necessary to manage the complexities of District government,” D.C. Police Union chairman Delroy Burton told The Washington Post.

Catania, who left the Republican Party in 2004, stressed the importance of improving the quality of public education as a means to prevent crime, an issue Bowser and Schwartz have emphasized as well.

“The intersection between education and public safety is obvious,” he said in a public announcement Wednesday. “When so many of our young people are not properly educated, they often choose lives in the illegal economy, for lack of a better term. What we have to do is make sure our education system is up and functioning. I think that is a public safety platform.”

Bowser’s education policy promises to invest more resources in order to improve middle schools in the District, provide more technical education and vocational training to prepare young D.C. citizens to enter the workforce and to make sure that all D.C. residents, regardless of age, have access to training in the science, technology, engineering and math fields.

Carol Schwartz, a former D.C. councilmember and five-time mayoral candidate who left the Republican Party in 2013, said that education would be the key focus.

“I want to make education the number one priority,” she said.

Schwartz said that as a former member of the Board of Education, she would be well-qualified to make policies as mayor because of her 40-plus years of experience.

“I have had experience, hands-on experience, in every single level of our government, and in addition, my record on both the Board of Education and on the Council are exemplary,” Schwartz said.

The election will take place Nov. 4.

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