Wall Street Journal-Would DC Mayor Fenty Switch Parties In November?

Outgoing Washington DC Mayor Adrian Fenty: Associated Press

(Story reported by Louise Radnofsky for the Wall Street Journal)

Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty, who lost the Democratic nomination in Tuesday’s primary, won the Republican nomination as a write-in candidate, the District board of elections said.

Vincent Gray, the city council chairman, won the Democratic nomination, beating Fenty by 12,102 votes.

The city is heavily Democratic – 11 of the 13 city council members are Democrats and two are independent — and no Republicans had sought the GOP nomination to run against the winner of the Democratic primary.

But 822 Republicans voting on Tuesday wrote in the name of their preferred nominee: Adrian M. Fenty.

The Washington Post had reported before the primary that some GOP members were planning to try to nominate Fenty as their candidate. Asked whether he would accept a GOP nomination, Fenty had said “I’m a Democrat, that is why I wouldn’t run as a Republican.”

A spokeswoman for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

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