Former Mayor Barry Wins Council Seat

Former Mayor Marion Barry, who served prison time on a drug charge a decade ago, secured his comeback Tuesday, winning a City Council seat to represent the U.S. capital’s poorest area.

Barry, a four-time Democratic mayor and one of Washington’s most controversial and well-known politicians, easily won the election in Ward 8 with 95% of the vote.

“I’ve been knocked down. Some folks said I got pushed down, I pulled myself down. Whatever it is, I got up,” Barry said at his victory party at the Player’s Lounge restaurant and club.

He beat Republican candidate Cardell Shelton.

In September, he defeated incumbent Sandra C. Allen for the Democratic nomination, a victory that virtually assured him the council seat in a city where Democrats account for 75% of registered voters.

Barry’s September victory stunned the political and business communities, which had rallied behind Allen after Barry declared his candidacy.

But to blacks in this majority-black city, the return to office of a man called “Mayor for Life” was not as surprising.

Barry, a 1970s civil rights activist hailed as a hero of the city’s poor communities, was part of the first generation of black elected officials.

During his first two terms, he focused city resources toward poor neighborhoods, increased the number of government contracts that went to black businesses and promised summer jobs for teenagers.

Barry still benefits from that legacy, said political experts, officials and voters.

“It’s not surprising to a lot of us that he still maintains a sort of folk hero image among a lot of people that he helped,” said Ronald Walters, professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland.

Whites have called Barry an embarrassment because of the national notoriety he gained after a videotaped federal sting operation caught the mayor smoking crack cocaine in a downtown hotel with an ex-girlfriend.

Some African Americans still hold resentment about the 1990 incident, which some say was a setup.