The D.C. Council expels Trayon White over bribery charges
But he can still run to reclaim his seat in a special election that will take place in the next few months.
Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White may have wanted to be remembered for something, but probably not for being the first lawmaker ever expelled from the D.C. Council.
But that’s what happened on Tuesday afternoon when White’s colleagues unanimously voted to expel him following last year’s arrest and federal indictment on bribery charges. The vote was the result of an internal council investigation that said there was “substantial evidence” that the three-term councilmember did what federal prosecutors have accused him of: accepting $35,000 in bribes in exchange for helping a D.C. businessman keep and expand his contracts with the city.
White’s now-former colleagues were unpersuaded by his attorney’s arguments last week that the council’s investigation was unfair and potentially unlawful, nor did they give much credence to a last-minute lawsuit from some of White’s constituents arguing that his expulsion would unconstitutionally deny them representation on the council — especially since he was just re-elected last November. (A judge dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday.)
“Councilmember Trayon White has been my colleague, I would dare say my friend, for over a decade. He’s been to my home, met my wife and kids … so this vote is not easy. I know how hard he has worked to represent the people of Ward 8,” said At-Large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.
“While this process is personally difficult … today’s action is fairly straightforward. It is not a tough question. What is right is right, what is wrong is wrong. We must follow the evidence and the facts, and this council has a responsibility to the residents of the District and Ward 8 to uphold our ethical standards of integrity and conduct,” he added.
“Trust is precious, trust is critical for an elected government, and we must act,” opined D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
And thus, they gave him the harshest punishment the council can dole out to one of its own: immediate expulsion. It’s a relatively new power, only having been written into law just over a decade ago amidst other ethical lapses on the council. While White isn’t the first councilmember to face internal discipline — Marion Barry did in 2013 and Jack Evans in 2020 — he is the first to be expelled from office. (Evans was about to be expelled, but preemptively resigned from office.)
White himself did not speak or vote; he didn’t even sit in his usual seat on the council dais, opting to instead gather with a small group of supporters in the audience.
White’s expulsion could mark the end of his somewhat unexpected and uneven political career. A Ward 8 native, 40-year-old White first won an elected seat on the State Board of Education in 2011, resigning three years later after he took a job with the Department of Parks and Recreation. In 2015, White narrowly lost the special election to fill the Ward 8 council seat that had been occupied by Marion Barry until his death the year prior. But White’s fortunes reversed in 2016 when he won the election for the seat despite being outraised by an incumbent who was backed by Mayor Muriel Bowser.
Despite his active presence throughout Ward 8, White walked headfirst into political controversy in 2018 when he seemingly embraced an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory accusing a prominent Jewish family of controlling the weather and the federal government. He later drew criticism for attending a protest in Ward 8 that targeted Hispanic construction workers. Still, he cruised to re-election in 2020. Two years later, he mounted an unsuccessful run for mayor (one that he announced in a comment on an Instagram post, surprising even some of his political aides).
Proponents praised him for his attention to his constituents; he was often found at the scene of shootings and other violent crimes throughout Ward 8 or using his active Instagram account to publicly document poor housing conditions or other problems he said the city was failing to address. But critics said he often fell short of using the full power of his council seat to help his constituents, and he’s proven to be a poor manager (he has faced fines and outstanding debts in his various runs for office, for one).
If Tuesday’s vote was the council’s attempt to move past White and his alleged transgressions, its members may still have to accept that they can’t control his future. Despite having been expelled, White is still free to run in the special election to fill his seat, which could happen anytime between late April and the middle of July. (Evans unsuccessfully tried the same thing after resigning to avoid expulsion.) D.C. law only bars convicted felons from holding elected office, and White doesn’t go on trial until January 2026.
No one who knows D.C. politics would rule White out of winning his seat back. Barry, White’s political mentor, made his own political comeback after a brush with the law, after all. Ward 8 is also politically fractious, and a large number of candidates seeking to take his seat may only make it easier for him to reclaim it. And his expulsion may only strengthen the view of some Ward 8 voters that White was unfairly railroaded before even facing a jury of his peers.
