The 1993 Council of the District of Columbia special election was held on September 14, 1993, to elect the position of Chairperson of the Council of the District of Columbia. The election was called following the death of incumbent chairperson John A. Wilson.
Background Incumbent chairperson John A. Wilson had served on Council since 1975 as the councilmember for Ward 2 before winning election as chairperson in the 1990 election. He died by suicide on May 19, 1993 and was replaced by John L. Ray as acting chair, who did not run for the seat in the special election. Vincent Orange, who had yet to be elected to local government at this point, was disqualified from the ballot after the Board of Elections found that his petition fell about 160 signatures of the 3,000 required to make the ballot. This was the first election since the 1992 passage of Initiative 41, a ballot measure limiting individual contributions to political campaigns to $100.
Candidates Democratic Party David A. Clarke, former councilmember from Ward 1 and former chairperson Linda Cropp, incumbent At-large councilmember Marie Drissel, community activist Charlene Drew Jarvis, incumbent councilmember from Ward 4
Disqualified Vincent Orange
Endorsements
Socialist Workers Party Emily Fitzsimmons
General election
References