In August of 2024, Trayon White, who was then serving as the DC Council’s Ward 8 representative, was arrested by the FBI. White was accused of accepting $156,000-worth of bribes in exchange for using his position on the council to influence government contracts. The ensuing corruption investigation led to White being unanimously expelled from his seat on the Council, a post he had held since 2017 and was already reelected to.
The expulsion triggered a special election, which will be held on July 15, that will decide his successor. White, disgraced but not deterred, announced shortly after being booted from office that he would be running to reclaim his seat. He is able to do this due to not having yet been convicted of any charges.
At the moment, White’s campaign appears to be lacking steam. In a straw poll conducted during a candidate forum hosted by the Ward 8 Democrats and Capital Stonewall Democrats, White finished third out of the four Democratic candidates. Attorney and former ANC commissioner Mike Austin finished first in the straw poll, claiming 47 of the 130 available votes.
White, a noted community leader who has built a reputation over the years for always putting DC first, finds himself in an unusual position amid the controversy. He hasn’t had to fight to build public trust since he was initially elected to the Council.
The irony of one of the biggest champions for District residents being mired in a corruption scandal needs no explanation. The absurdity and unexpectedness of it all has led several Ward 8 residents to believe White’s suggestion that he was unjustly targeted by the FBI, and as such is completely innocent. Before his expulsion, White appeared at a hearing before the Council wearing a shirt that read “The FBI killed Fred Hampton,” pointing to the organization’s history of targeting Black leaders. During the hearing, outside the John A. Wilson Building sat a truck plastered on all sides with an image of White. Underneath the image read “FBI SET ME UP” in bold green letters.
Whether or not there was foul play involved in White’s charges, Ward 8 has an established record of practicing forgiveness. This was the ward that reelected “Mayor for Life” Marion Barry to its Council seat after being charged and convicted by the FBI in an extremely public drug scandal.
In fact, White was forgiven by Ward 8 before. He infamously alleged in 2018 that the Rothschild family controlled the weather, a move that brought him widespread condemnation and accusations of antisemitism. To make matters worse, White left a reparational tour of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum earlier than expected with little explanation. He was also criticized by multiple fellow councilmembers for donating to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, another leader regularly accused of antisemitism. Despite these controversies, White was reelected to the Ward 8 Council seat in 2020 and 2024.
Whether the ward’s forgiveness has run out is yet to be seen. All that’s clear for now is that the future of White’s political career likely depends on it.
Featured image courtesy of Reddit.