News & Politics

Trayon White Has Been Expelled From the DC Council

Following a unanimous vote, he's the first DC Councilmember to be ousted from his seat.

Trayon White. Photograph by Evy Mages .

Trayon White, who cinched sweeping re-election to a third term representing Ward 8 despite his ongoing tangle with a federal bribery charge, was removed from office Tuesday. The DC Council’s unanimous vote to oust White marks the first time the governing body has expelled a member in its 51-year history.

White’s ouster comes on the heels of a third-party report that found “substantial evidence” he had violated the DC government’s Code of Conduct during his term. That investigation was initiated following an indictment that came down in August, which alleged White had accepted more than $150,000 in cash bribes from a confidential FBI informant and agreed in exchange to pressure various city agencies into extending government contracts connected to the informant’s company. The Washington Post has previously reported that the informant was Allieu Kamara, former head of the nonprofit Life Deeds.

Still, this might not be the last the District sees of White, who has pleaded not guilty to the above charge and is not set to be tried until next January. There is no Council regulation to stop him from running to fill the seat left vacant by his expulsion. White maintained that position easily in November, earning about 84 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Nate Derenge—although as an incumbent Democrat running for DC office unopposed during a presidential election year, it’s safe to say he had some cushion.

There hasn’t been an open-seat election for the Ward 8 Councilmember post since 2014—when then representative and former Mayor Marion Barry died—so constituents are likely in for a crowded race. Should White run again, he might see some competition from, for example, his 2024 primary opponents: Salim Adofo, a representative on Advisory Neighborhood Commission 8C, and Rahman Branch, the former executive director of the mayor’s Office on African American Affairs.

 

 

 

Kate Corliss
Editorial Fellow