Advisory Neighborhood Commission Elections on November 8 Ballot
West End Seats Will Be Different in 2023 Due to 2020 Census Redistricting
Posted: September 6, 2022.
The November election in the District of Columbia will include the members of its 40 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, which form the lowest rung of the District government. The non-paid and non-partisan commissioners are elected to two-year terms. They represent districts of about 2,000 residents, as counted by the decennial United States Census.
There will big changes ahead in our local commission, which is known as ANC-2A. Perhaps only three of the current eight seats will be filled by incumbents, and a ninth seat is being added due to redistricting required by the 2020 census.
Beginning in 2023, and for the next ten years, our West End neighborhood will be comprised of two single-member districts, 2A02 and 2A06, which are shown on the map below. Francis Field is in 2A02. (A larger map can be found at this link.) The other seven seats are in Foggy Bottom, which includes the Watergate complex and the campus of George Washington University.
The new face on our census block is Jim Malec, who took out papers to run for the 2A02 seat and returned sufficient signatures on his nomination petitions to the Board of Elections to be included on the November ballot. No other candidate did so. He will be unopposed on the ballot, although write-ins are permitted.
Malec is a communications consultant, music journalist, and former baseball coach. He lives with his wife Nicole at 2301 N Street, which is currently in the Dupont Circle ANC-2B, but will become part of our ANC-2A in January.
This change in boundaries due to redistricting also brings into ANC-2A the elementary and middle school known now as the Francis Stevens Education Campus, along with the entire Francis Swimming Pool, four tennis courts, and the part of Rock Creek Park known as P Street Beach.
The centerline of N Street is the current border between the Foggy Bottom and West End ANC-2A and the Dupont Circle ANC-2B, but it will change in January when the newly-elected commissioners take office.
With the projected $3-million renovation of Francis Field ahead, the new 2A02 commissioner will have a lot to keep up with, as well as a great opportunity to improve the neighborhood's educational and recreational facilities.
The incumbent in the 2A02 seat is Joel Causey, the commission's current chair, who lives at 1200 23rd Street. He has been redistricted into single-member-district 2A06, which makes up the eastern half of the West End.
Causey has announced that he will run in his new district, 2A06, which has been represented by Jeri Epstein since 2019.
Epstein did not take out papers, and is retiring from the commission at the end of this term, so there will be no contest between them.
Causey failed to file nominating petitions on time, which he says was accidental. However, he writes in an email message that he is "running as a write-in candidate." Still serving his first term, Causey has been effective in addressing constituent concerns, and particularly in helping to secure District funding for Francis Field improvements. (See related story.)
The boundaries of the 2A06 district have also been altered by the census redistricting. Previously packed with hotels including the Ritz-Carlton and the Marriott, it will be adding the Park Hyatt and Westin on the east side of 24th Street. The 2A06 commissioner will be even more involved in the neighborhood's business development.
Note: See also larger, individual maps for single-member disticts 2A02 and 2A06 which are the two that will make up the West End neighborhood in 2023.