Washington Post: D.C. Democratic women plan Bonds fundraiser

Washington Post: D.C. Democratic women plan Bonds fundraiser

By Tim Craig, Thursday, February 28

D.C. Council member Anita Bonds has won the support of more than 60 longtime Democratic female activists, who are co-sponsoring a “women bonding for Bonds” fundraiser for the incumbent March 10.

Bonds, head of the D.C. Democratic State Committee, is holding the $51-per-person fundraiser at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The event is co-hosted by a who’s who of longtime D.C. Democratic leaders, underscoring Bond’s apparent success in rallying a big chunk of the party establishment behind her campaign to retain her seat in the April 23 special election.

Co-hosts of the fundraiser include Virginia Williams, the mother of former mayor Anthony Williams (D) and Romaine Thomas, an influential Ward 5 Democratic leader and the mother of former council member Harry Thomas Jr (D-Ward 5). Other co-hosts include the Rev. E. Gail Anderson Holness, a Ward 1 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and former council candidate; MarilynTyler Brown, a former Democratic National Committeewoman; Lillian Perdomo, a Ward 1 Democratic leader active in the Hispanic community; and Estelle Lloyd, former chief of staff to council member Vincent B. Orange (D-At Large).

The event comes as Bonds, who the state committee appointed in December to temporarily fill the vacant at-large seat, has been stepping up her campaign activities. Bonds has hired Kouri Marshall, who served as President Obama’s D.C. state director, as her campaign manager.

Marshall has enlisted several other former local Obama campaign staffers to assist him in the effort, which he says will rely heavily on “organizing skills.”

“It’s about the field, and a woman, Anita Bonds, who has dedicated her life to other political leaders behind the scenes, and I frankly think now is her time,” said Marshall, 30.

Bonds is one of only two women in the seven-person race, the other being progressive activist Elissa Silverman. Bonds is also one of three African American candidates in the contest, and many observers believe she will be able to build a formidable coalition of support in majority-black neighborhoods.