Is D.C. ready for ranked-choice voting?
Educating voters will be a big task ahead of the 2026 local elections.
Authors
Martin is a former reporter and editor for WAMU 88.5 and DCist.com. He's been in D.C. for 22 years, and tries to ride his bike everywhere he can.
View articles
Colleen is a 51st co-founder and a former DCist reporter. Her work has appeared in NPR, Street Sense Media, and The Washington Post. She currently lives in New York, where she's pursuing an MFA.
View articles
Christina is an editor at The 51st, who's written for more than two dozen publications. As a staff writer at DCist, she wrote more than 1,600 stories about life in The District.
View articles
India Kea is a D.C. native and essayist adventuring through the city with a focus on art and food. Her writing reflects her passion for all things quirky and flavorful. Catch her in action @diakea
View articles
Teresa is a co-founder of The 51st and an award-winning journalist and editor with over 20 years of experience helping newsrooms navigate the complexities of multiplatform publishing.
View articles
Abigail is a co-founder of The 51st and a reporter and editor in Washington D.C. covering inequality, gender, and labor. She's the First Vice President of The National Writers Union.
View articles
Maddie is a 51st cofounder. She was previously in charge of membership for DCist and is energized by worker-led projects. She lives in Petworth.
View articles
Mikka Kei Ito Macdonald is a writer and illustrator based in Washington, DC.
View articles
Natalie is a 51st co-founder and editor. She was formerly the managing editor of DCist and her work has appeared in the Washington Post, CityLab, NPR and elsewhere. She lives in Adams Morgan.
View articles
George Kevin Jordan is a freelance writer, editor, and author with more than 25 years of experience. He currently lives in Ward 7, and is still discovering new things about the District.
View articles
Eric is a co-founder of The 51st focused on community listening and collaboration. He has covered local D.C. for more than a decade, including creating the Homeless Crisis Reporting Project.
View articles
James Jarvis is a freelance journalist in D.C. and an adjunct professor at Georgetown. He’s a former assistant editor at ARLnow/FFXnow and has reported for InsideNoVa and Washington City Paper.
View articles
Sam Delgado is a freelance multimedia journalist living in D.C. She was previously a Future Perfect fellow at Vox.com and a production manager at More Perfect Union.
View articles
Eliza Tebo is a multimedia journalist reporting for regional and national outlets. She specializes in arts and culture features, with bylines in The Washington Post, NPR, Grammy.com, The 51st, WAMU/DCist, Washington City Paper and Arlington Magazine.
View articles
Jazmyn Gray is a program coordinator for the Pulitzer Center's Reporting Fellow program. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Boston Globe, The Berkshire Eagle, and NBC News.
View articles
Cornelia Poku is a food writer and content creator. She previously contributed to DCist and has been published in City Cast, Business Insider and Resy. Follow her on Instagram, @blackgirls.exploredc
View articles
Shedrick is a freelance photographer with The Washington Post and has been an active collaborator with artists and organizations including Story District, Dupont Underground, Exposed DC, Parklife DC.
View articles
Candace Y.A. Montague is an award-winning journalist based in Washington, D.C., with 15 years of experience covering health, gender equality, and social justice for local and national publications.
View articles
Franzi Wild (she/her) is a reporter at Street Sense Media. Her work has also appeared in Teen Vogue. She spends a lot of her time on WMATA and yearns for the return of the Circulator.
View articles
Sophia Barro is an early-career journalist based in Washington, D.C., with experience in politics, culture, and digital media.
View articles
Lori McCue is a Chicago-based freelance editor of fiction and journalism. She is a former editor for The Washington Post, DCist, WAMU 88.5, and the Washington Post Express.
View articles
Foram is an Indian-American journalist, content developer and children’s book author based in D.C., where she spends her time chasing her toddler, gardening and dreaming her next big story.
View articles
DC Native. Father. Poet. Playwright. Art Administrator. Karaoke Host. Crochet Kingpin.
View articlesAskia Afrika-Ber is a D.C. resident currently incarcerated at USP Hazelton in West Virginia. He is a staff writer for the More Than Our Crimes network.
View articles
Hannah is a freelance reporter with a focus on gender, families, and government.
View articles
Mathew Schumer is a freelance journalist and photographer, based in Washington, D.C. He covers crime and the justice system in D.C., as well as issues ranging from labor to immigration nationwide.
View articles
Tim Ebner is a food and travel writer. He has been featured in The Washington Post, Eater, Thrillist, Edible DC, and appeared on-air on the PBS television show “If You Lived Here.”
View articles
Alaena Hunt (she/her) is a senior at Georgetown University, where she is a writer and the assistant podcast editor for the Georgetown Voice. She is also an editorial intern for Street Sense Media.
View articles
Kris is a Brazilian-American journalist exploring restaurants and how food & beverage intersect with policy, travel, fashion, agriculture and immigrant culture. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, PUNCH, Eater, Wine Enthusiast and Glamour.
View articles
Next City is a nonprofit newsroom covering the problems that oppress people in cities. By spreading real stories and workable ideas from one city to the next, we connect people, places and solutions that move our society toward justice and equity.
View articles
Julian Schnittker is a visual and written journalist based in Washington, D.C. and Kansas City. Currently, he is pursuing a B.F.A. in Photojournalism at the Corcoran School of Arts and Design at George Washington University.
View articles
Daniel Egitto is a freelance reporter in D.C. and the managing editor of ARLnow in Arlington. He has previously worked as a local reporter in Florida and in California.
View articles
LGBTQ+ reporter for The 19th. From policy explainers to features about daily life, my priority is to inform readers about how U.S. politics are shaping the future for LGBTQ+ Americans, and how LGBTQ+ people are shaping the future for all of us.
View articles
Annemarie (she/her) is editor-in-chief of Street Sense Media, where she leads the team's reporting on homelessness and poverty in D.C. She joined Street Sense in 2022 as a reporter after graduating from Georgetown University.
View articlesAaron is a Ward 3 resident and proud parent of two D.C. natives. He's worked in health policy for two decades and cares deeply about D.C.'s public schools.
View articles
Zachary Parker represents Ward 5 on the Council of the District of Columbia. He is a former educator, and previously served as President and Ward 5 Representative on the DC State Board of Education. Learn more at zacharyparkerward5.com.
View articles
Taylor is a data journalist and investigative reporter originally from Washington state. She moved to D.C. for grad school and just finished her master's at UMD. Now she's covering housing for Street Sense Media and The Maine Monitor.
View articles
Samuel Littauer is a Washington, DC resident and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner of 3C01, serving Woodley Park. He is passionate about social capital, urbanism, and public transportation, and can be found most weekends reading in Malcolm X Park.
View articles
Eboni-Rose Thompson is a fifth-generation Washingtonian. She lives in the Fort Dupont neighborhood with her dog, Kimba. A seasoned social impact and education leader, Eboni-Rose serves as the Ward 7 Representative on the DC State Board of Education.
View articlesDylan DelliSanti is a Policy Associate with The Institute for Justice and a long-time D.C. resident.
View articles
Emma Akpan is an arts and culture writer in Washington, DC. She writes about the intersections of religion, reproductive justice, race, and art. Her writing has appeared in Rewire News, Reckon Magazine, New City Art amongst other publications.
View articles
Michelle is a writer and editor based in Washington, D.C. She writes about science, nature, culture, and art. Her work has appeared in Atlas Obscura, National Geographic, and other publications.
View articles
Tauheed Rahim II is a DC-based Grammy-nominated hip hop artist, dramatist, and writer rooted in a Memphis–Mississippi blues legacy. His nonfiction appears in the Oxford American, and his essay “Dear Queen” was a 2025 Best American Essays notable.
View articles
Nina is a writer based in D.C. and Iowa who focuses on issues related to water, agriculture, and the environment.
View articles
Elizabeth Falcon is the Executive Director of DC Jobs With Justice which fights for the rights and power of working people in Washington, DC.
View articles
Dana is a Washington, D.C. native and a two-time Pulitzer-prize-winning investigative journalist. She is passionate about empowering District residents to tell their own stories.
View articles
Eden is a native Washingtonian with experience covering local news from a national political angle. She also loves covering all things Africa. She has bylines in Semafor, Al Jazeera, Essence and more.
View articles
Daniella Ignacio is a Filipina American writer, theatre artist and musician from northern NJ and now based in DC, whose writing has also appeared in Washingtonian, American Theatre Magazine, and more.
View articles
Jay Deitcher (he/him) is a journalist, former social worker, and dad to three kiddos. He's written for Washington Post, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and everywhere cool. His kids are cute. So is he.
View articles
Eduardo R. Ferrer serves as an Associate Professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and as the Policy Director of the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Clinic & Initiative. Opinions are my own.
View articles
Rebecca is a freelance writer in Washington. She's previously worked for POLITICO, Bloomberg, The Washington Post and U.S. News & World Report. She loves exploring new restaurants and cultures in D.C.
View articles
Bill Mefford is the Executive Director of The Festival Center and has served in faith-based settings working for long and lasting change in Waco, TX, Lexington, KY, Cleveland, and Chicago.
View articles
Eliza Brooke writes about entertainment, design, and culture for publications like the New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. She also publishes a weekly culture newsletter, The Scumbler.
View articlesJoshua Miller, PhD is Open City Advocates' Research & Advocacy Director.
View articlesPenelope Spain, Esq. is Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Open City Advocates
View articlesLisa D.T. Rice is the Chief Executive Officer of Grow Democracy DC. She is a native Washingtonian, former ANC Commissioner, Ward 7 resident, independent voter, volunteer with Veterans for All Voters, and the proposer of Initiative 83.
View articles
Herb Meisner is a DC-based writer & full-time staffer at an international labor union advocating for workers’ rights. With a passion for community storytelling, he covers topics ranging from local politics and culture to labor & grassroots movements.
View articles