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Washington primary: Muriel Bowser wins mayoral nomination | Washington primary: Muriel Bowser wins mayoral nomination |
(5 months later) | |
A corruption investigation into the Washington mayor, Vincent Gray, torpedoed his hopes of winning a second term on Wednesday as voters in the key Democratic primary election overwhelming favoured alternative candidate Muriel Bowser. | |
Though Bowser must still face former Republican David Catania, who is running as an independent in November's general election, her landslide primary win over Gray all but ensures she will take control of the Democrat-dominated city. | |
Gray denies the allegations by federal prosecutors that he accepted a $425,000 campaign donation in 2010 in return for commercial favours to a billionaire contractor, Jeffrey Thompson, whom he codenamed Uncle Earl. | |
But the mayor's electoral fate was sealed by Thompson's decision just two weeks before the election to plead guilty to conspiracy charges in exchange for a reduced sentence and a series of written allegations against Gray. | |
The subsequent cloud hanging over the mayor, who may now face his own indictment before November's election, played heavily in favour of Bowser, a relatively inexperienced city council member who pulled ahead in polling when it became clear she was most likely to defeat Gray. | |
After an unusually long election night count, Gray conceded defeat shortly after midnight when results from most of Washington's eight wards showed him trailing 11 percentage points behind Bowser with just a third of the vote. | |
Bowser's 44% support was nearly three times higher than the nearest white candidate, Tommy Wells, and puts her in a strong position to become Washington's second African American woman mayor in November. | |
The investigation into Gray's 2010 campaign has already seen several members of his staff plead guilty and follows the separate prosecution of three DC council members. | |
It also caps a series of recent corruption scandals in major US cities including Charlotte, Queens, New Jersey and San Francisco. | |
Bowser pulled no punches in her acceptance speech. “We believe that corruption at city hall is unacceptable and our mayor must break new ground and command the moral authority to lead,” she said. | |
“The outcome of this election is an affirmation that the status quo is not good enough, we know we can do better and we need a fresh start.” | |
Gray criticised the decision to hold the primary election so early in the year but pledged to continue despite the mounting blot on his administration. | |
“If I am going to work for another nine months I am going to work extremely hard,” he told supporters. “This is not going to be situation where I will drift into the end of this administration.” | |
A low turnout among Gray supporters in poorer African American districts across the Anacostia River contributed to the victory by Bowser, who proved popular in both racially mixed and segregated parts of Washington. | |
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