Ward 4 D.C. City Council member Adrian Fenty won the Democratic nomination for mayor in Tuesday's primary election.
Fenty won 57 percent of the vote against Council Chair Linda Cropp and five other challengers with nearly all precincts reporting, according to an unofficial summary posted on the D.C. Board of Elections Web site.
Cropp won 31 percent of the vote, while former president of Verizon Marie Johns won 8 percent and Ward 5 Council member Vincent Orange won 3 percent. Michael Brown, Nestor Djonkam and Artee Milligan each won less than 1 percent.
Fenty had been leading Cropp in recent polls, albeit by a smaller margin than the projected election results. A Survey USA poll conducted from Aug. 26-28 pegged Fenty's support at 45 percent, while Cropp was supported by 35 percent of those surveyed.
Democratic voters also selected nominees in several other contested District offices. Ward 7 Council member Vincent Gray beat Ward 3 Council member Kathy Patterson in the race to replace Cropp as Council Chair. George Washington University professor Mary Cheh won the Democratic nomination for Ward 3 Council member against eight other candidates. Both AU's main and Tenley campuses are located in Ward 3.
After receiving a concession call from Cropp on Tuesday evening, Fenty addressed supporters gathered in a tent outside his campaign headquarters in Northwest Washington.
"In the next four years, the mayor of the District of Columbia is going to be everybody's mayor, no matter where you live, no matter how much money you make," Fenty said. "We're going to run our city like a business by making sure that everyone gets someone who is customer-friendly."
Under his administration, Fenty said the District would become a place "where everybody has an opportunity, whether you're homeless, whether you're in the child welfare system, whether you're in the juvenile justice system. No matter who you are, in the District of Columbia you will have an opportunity."
After her concession, Cropp addressed her own supporters, who had gathered at the Capital Hilton, according to The Washington Post.
"I want to congratulate Adrian Fenty," she said. "He ran a very good campaign, and I will be supporting the Democratic candidate in November. No matter what, we will move forward together."
Fenty will face Republican nominee David Kranich and D.C. Statehood Green nominee Chris Otten, both unopposed in their respective primaries, in the Nov. 7 general election.
