太子探花

Voters across D.C. are heading to the polls Tuesday in a primary that could reshape several key positions in city government and, in many races, effectively decide the winners.

Polls are open at 75 locations across the District until 8 p.m.

There was a stream of voters at the Shepherd Park Community Center in Northwest early Tuesday morning and election officials told WTOP’s Luke Lukert they were pleased with the turnout so far. Another wave of voters is expected to hit the polls in the evening hours after the workday ends.

While it is a primary election, the vast majority of D.C. voters are Democrats, meaning many of the candidates who win their party鈥檚 nomination are likely to go on to win in November.

One of the most closely watched contests is the open race for D.C.’s delegate to Congress. Several candidates are competing to replace longtime Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is not seeking reelection.

Voters are also deciding the race for attorney general, where incumbent Brian Schwalb faces a primary challenger.

Multiple seats on the D.C. Council are also on the ballot, including competitive at-large races. There is also a special election to fill the at-large seat Kenyan McDuffie vacated to run for mayor.

Several ward races are also being decided, which could bring new members to the council.

The mayor鈥檚 race is also drawing attention, with seven candidates running to replace Muriel Bowser, who is not seeking another term.

• In their own words: Meet the DC candidates

What do DC residents think about ranked choice voting?

This election is the first in D.C. to use ranked choice voting. Under that system, voters rank candidates in order of preference. If no candidate receives a majority, the counting process continues in rounds. The candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated each round, and their votes redistributed to those remaining, until someone crosses the 50 + 1 percent threshold.

Winners are not expected to be finalized on election night: Initial returns will reflect early and first choice vote totals, while more complete results will come in the days after as additional ballots are counted. Final certified results are expected by mid-July.

Voters who spoke with WTOP’s Lukert at a polling center in Northwest D.C. had mixed feelings on the new system.

“It was quite confusing, frankly,” Alex Howard told WTOP. “The paper ballot that I received at home was very different from the electronic ballot that I used just now at the voting precinct.”

Howard said he needed to click between screens to check which candidates he’d already ranked.

“Other than that, it was pretty seamless, but it just took a little bit of time to go back and forth to make sure that I wasn’t voting for the same candidate in the next round,” he aid.

Karen Evans called the ranked choice voting experience “terrible.”

“It’s a lot of candidates on the ballot,” Evans said. “It makes it time consuming, and some of these candidates I’ve never even heard of.”

Other voters liked the new system. Harrison Kreisberg told WTOP the system was well-explained by sponsors of the initiative.

“I think it’s great for democracy, and I’m excited that we got it here in D.C.,” Kreisberg said.

Michael Rawlings said he liked that ranked choice voting expands the options available to voters.

“For some of them, I had a very clear one, and I just kind of left it that way, but for the ones where I did have a couple of candidates I really liked, it was nice to be able to kind of prioritize,” Rawlings said.

Among the voters who showed up at the polls Tuesday was the District’s current mayor, who said her experience with ranked choice voting was “fairly straightforward.”

It’s the first time in nearly 20 years that D.C. voters won’t see Bowser’s name on the ballot.

In speaking about issues on her mind when voting, Bowser said, “It’s just important everybody knows that we’re not out of the woods with crime and we’re not out of the woods with dealing with the federal government.

“So what’s most important is that we have a mayor with good judgment that’s going to make mature decisions, that’s best for the District of Columbia, and the same is true for the council,” she added.

Other top issues voters in D.C. mentioned to WTOP included affordability, education, housing accessibility and safety.

Once polls are closed, candidates will be watching returns from events across the city, including mayoral candidates Janeese Lewis George at the Howard Theatre and Kenyan McDuffie at The Park at 14th. Among the delegate candidates, Brooke Pinto will be at Wild Days on the Eaton hotel’s rooftop, Robert White at The Point on 2nd Street and Kinney Zalesne at Barcelona Wine Bar. Mayoral candidate Gary Goodweather is planning a watch party at Bar Angie.

WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.

Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

漏 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.