Fenty wins D.C. primary

D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty last night won the Democratic nomination for mayor, effectively winning the office and becoming the District’s youngest chief executive.

With 130 of 142 precincts reporting, Mr. Fenty, 35, had 51,125 votes, or 57.22 percent. His nearest competitor, council Chairman Linda W. Cropp, had 27,829 votes, or 31.15 percent. She was followed by former Verizon executive Marie C. Johns, who had 7,054 votes, or 7.9 percent, and council member Vincent B. Orange Sr., with 2,530 votes, or 2.83 percent.

Mr. Fenty arrived at his victory party on Florida Avenue in Northwest at about 8:30 p.m. Flanked by his family and council member Jim Graham, Ward 1 Democrat, a jubilant Mr. Fenty greeted a throng of several hundred supporters with his victory speech about 10:15 p.m.

“To all of you here and to everyone watching at home, this victory belongs to you,” he said. “Today, together, you have earned the Democratic nomination for the District of Columbia.”

Mr. Fenty said that Mrs. Cropp called him and conceded shortly after 10 p.m.

He also said she pledged to support him as he prepares for November’s general election, in which he will face real-estate agent David Kranich, a Republican, and community activist Chris Otten, of the Statehood-Green Party.

The Fenty party was held in a tent on a lot across the street from his campaign headquarters. No food or drinks were served.

At the Capital Hilton at 16th and K streets Northwest, Mrs. Cropp arrived at 10:15 p.m. for her concession speech. She was greeted with loud applause, clapping and cheers of “Linda! Linda!”

She hugged and kissed supporters, flanked by Mayor Anthony A. Williams and family and friends.

“I want to congratulate Adrian Fenty. He ran a good campaign, and I will support the Democratic candidate in November,” she said.

Mrs. Cropp noted her 26 years of public service in the District.

“I’ve listened to the hopes of our people for their future and their struggles to get by. These people make me grateful for my career in public service, and they inspire me,” she said.

Mrs. Cropp, who has led the council since 1997, likely will be succeeded by Vincent C. Gray, the Ward 7 council member who won the Democratic nomination for council chairman.

With 130 of 142 precincts reporting, Mr. Gray had 49,929 votes, or 58.03 percent of the vote, and council member Kathy Patterson of Ward 3, had 35,886 votes, or 41.71 percent. Seventy-four percent of D.C. voters are registered Democrats, and the winner is assured of election.

The mayor’s race had pitted a longtime political veteran against a relative newcomer.

Mrs. Cropp has served on the D.C. Board of Education as both a member and the president. She was elected to the D.C. Council in 1990 as an at-large member and to the chairmanship in a special election in 1997.

She is best known for her role in moving legislation to create the Washington Nationals’ stadium in Southeast.

Mr. Fenty began his council career in 2000 after a Ward 4 campaign blitz that swept out longtime incumbent Charlene Drew Jarvis.

He has been particularly popular among Ward 4 residents for his swift response to constituent e-mails and concerns.

During his first term on the council, he called attention to poor conditions of the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitative Services’ (DYRS) Oak Hill Youth Center and spending at the University of the District of Columbia.

After his 2004 re-election, Mr. Fenty was appointed chairman of the Committee on Human Services, which oversees DYRS, the D.C. Child and Family Services Administration and the Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Administration.

In an interview last month at The Washington Times, Mrs. Cropp said that if she was elected mayor, she would seek to change the D.C. Charter to gain direct control of poorly performing schools.

“I really want us to develop standards that are very transparent and clear,” she said. “When those standards aren’t met, the underperforming schools that don’t meet them, I want those to come under the mayor. If the schools are working well, fine, but for those that aren’t working well, we need to do something about it.”

To gain control of the city’s poorly performing schools, Mrs. Cropp said she would work with the D.C. Board of Education and the school superintendent and change the home-rule charter. Currently, the school system operates independently of the mayor and the council.

She said that city schools “don’t need any more money” but do need to better manage their resources, noting that the school system has a $1 billion budget.

Her other plans for revitalizing city schools include focusing on early childhood education and vocational education and creating a “principals academy,” at which school chiefs would learn to manage their schools like businesses.

Last month, Mr. Fenty said that if he was elected mayor, he would create a Department of Emergency Medical Services and end the city’s 15-year-old troubled effort to combine EMS operations with those of the fire department.

“In this city, having a fire department and having EMS under it just has left EMS out of the priority line,” Mr. Fenty told editors and reporters at The Washington Times.

Separating EMS from the fire department would allow the city to create “two really well-run agencies, and neither agency would have to suffer,” he said without providing details about how he would make such a change.

He also said he would not seek to add officers to the Metropolitan Police Department but would re-examine how they are deployed.

His crime-fighting plan includes putting more officers on foot patrols, requiring police officials to create written plans for “eradicating problems” in their areas and holding the officials accountable for the success of those plans.