Former Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White is running for his seat again after councilmembers unanimously voted him out on Feb. 4 following bribery charges.

White announced his re-election campaign in a March 30 Instagram post. On Aug. 18, White was arrested on charges of accepting a bribe, according to a press release from the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. 

It’s not the first time Washington government officials and Ward 8 community members have grappled with criminal charges around their council seat, nor is it the first time a local Washington official has sought re-election after facing criminal charges. However, it is the first time a council member has attempted to reclaim their office after being expelled from it.

As White prepares to run for office once again, Washington officials and Ward 8 voters and community leaders have criticized his conduct, investigated details of the programs he allegedly accepted bribes to protect and noted how the past allegations of criminality in Washington’s local politics may fit into July 15’s special election. 

The FBI alleges in an affidavit that White agreed to accept about $156,000 in undisclosed kickbacks and cash payments in exchange for pressuring government employees to extend government contracts with third-party violence interrupter organizations.

According to the affidavit, White allegedly already accepted about $35,000 in bribes from an individual identified as “Confidential Human Source 1,” who provided information central to the FBI’s charges following a plea deal. 

The Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement works with local organizations for its violence interrupter program, according to the office’s page for the program. 

In a Jan. 28 livestreamed public council hearing on the charges, White’s attorney, Frederick Cooke Jr., said his client denies the allegations. 

White did not respond to requests for an interview or comment.

The expulsion

White remained in office as Washington-based law firm Latham & Watkins and a council investigation committee investigated the charges, according to official documents on the council’s website. Latham & Watkins released a 48-page report, dated Dec. 10, 2024, which said there was substantial evidence to suggest White violated the district Code of Conduct and the council’s rules. The report is independent of the ongoing legal proceedings in White’s federal criminal trial. The trial is slated to begin in January 2026, according to a November NBC4 article.

In the Jan. 28 public hearing, Cooke said the council didn’t have the power to enforce violations of the code. That power belongs with the district’s Board of Ethics and Government Accountability, he said.

At-large Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie, who chaired the ad-hoc committee which oversaw the investigation, said in the hearing that investigating White’s duties and potentially expelling him from the council was appropriate and an action the council could take under the home rule act.

“We, not only as individuals, but as a collective, must ensure that all who serve on this body uphold the public trust,” McDuffie said. “When that trust is broken, we cannot leave disciplinary action to some other body. We must act.”

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson echoed McDuffie’s point on trust at the hearing, saying councilmembers have a duty to investigate ethics.

“Those of us who are on the council, those of us who are elected to the legislative branch, have to be sensitive to what the public will accept or tolerate with regard to ethical behavior by the council,” Mendelson said.

White’s Feb. 4 expulsion was the first time the council had expelled a councilmember in its 50-year history, according to a summary of the expulsion vote’s proceedings on the council’s website. Though the expulsion was the first of its kind, only a criminal conviction would prevent White from being eligible to hold office again, according to the council’s code.

“Councilmember White will have his day in court to face the criminal charges, and the burden will be on the prosecutors to prove the allegations beyond a reasonable doubt in that case,” McDuffie said in the Jan. 28 hearing.

McDuffie and his office did not respond to requests for an interview or comment.

White’s time in office

White has a background in community organizing and engagement within Ward 8. According to his LinkedIn profile and the “About” page on his website, he has coached local youth football and founded youth organizations like ​​Helping Inner City Kids Succeed, Inc. in 2007 and Manpower DC in 2015. Additionally, White served as an elected member of the district State Board of Education from 2011 until 2014, according to his website. 

While in office, White supported initiatives geared toward housing rights and stability and developing public spaces. In 2020, he and Mayor Muriel Bowser announced plans to fund the development of mixed-use housing in Ward 8, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. Since his removal, he has posted information about local affairs on his Instagram page, including announcements of funerals and holiday celebrations.

Robbie Woodland, an 8C advisory neighborhood commissioner in the ward, said she’s disappointed her councilmember may have used his position to enrich himself rather than support the ward’s broader constituency. She said other people in the ward were disappointed when they heard the news, too.

“They were really disappointed because they felt that when they reached out to their councilman’s office trying to get some assistance, trying to find out what direction to go into or how to get some type of mentor to help them with what’s required of them to get their business up and going, they couldn’t get it,” Woodland said. “But then they hear about this. So, yeah, [there are] a lot of people over here that are hurt.”

Ward 8, where 81% of residents are Black, has a lower median household income than any other ward, according to AWOL’s analysis of 2019-2023 American Community Survey results published by Census Reporter. About 27% of its residents are under the poverty line, which is almost double the district’s overall poverty rate, according to the data. Three grocery stores operate in Ward 8, lagging behind other wards, according to Open Data DC’s grocery store locations dataset. Other wards, aside from Ward 5 and Ward 7, have grocery stores numbering in double digits, according to the dataset. In March, Ward 8 had the highest unemployment rate in the district at 8.8%, according to a labor dashboard on the district’s Department of Employment Services website. Ward 7 had an 8.5% unemployment rate and the other wards had an unemployment rate of less than 7%.  

Portia Rae Hemphill, an eight-year resident of the ward, said she sees the violence interrupter program allegations as part of a larger pattern of political neglect from White.

“I understand the Ward 8 community has mixed feelings on this whole matter, and I understand the inroads White has made with various parts of Ward 8,” Hemphill said. “But I also have seen him neglect parts of the ward when it wasn’t showtime.”

“Promising programs”

ONSE started the violence interrupter program in 2018, according to the office’s page for the program. FBI officials allege in the affidavit that a person associated with two of the third-party organizations serving as violence interrupters gave White bribes. In return, White pressured office employees to extend public grants with the violence interrupters.

The office gives violence interrupters grants for gun violence prevention and intervention, according to the office’s site.

Kathy Patterson, the district’s auditor, said this model allows for less funding transparency and potentially makes it difficult to prevent and trace corruption, such as the alleged bribery of White.

Patterson said the individuals on the ground working with ONSE’s partners are not necessarily under direct management from the office. 

“That is a way to build in risk as far as we’re concerned, because the more hands you have on something, the greater risk, and frankly, less of the resources then get to the front line and the services that are in the community,” Patterson said. “So the way we have structured some of these programs, including the way the violence interrupter programs are structured right now, [have] built in that multi-layer effect that is not good for accountability.”  

Patterson’s office published an audit report of ONSE’s violence interruption programs in June 2022. Patterson said the structure of the violence interruption grants is the central problem, rather than their effectiveness. 

“I think what we identified in the violence interrupter programs in our audit was these are very promising programs, and they just need to be more carefully overseen by the executive branch agencies in order to be productive,” Patterson said.

Nate Derenge, a resident in Ward 8’s Fairlawn neighborhood, ran against and lost to White for the council seat in the November 2024 general election as a Republican, according to the district Board of Elections’ page for the race.

Derenge’s campaign included messaging regarding the allegations against White, employing the slogan “not a bribe-taker” and including a page called “Concerns About Trayon” on his website, alongside a rap video titled “BeTRAYal” in which Derenge raps about the allegations.

Derenge also campaigned on cutting Washington’s public spending budget and ending the violence interrupters’ contracts, according to his platform page. Derenge said he has concerns of the program’s integrity and has advocated for slashing the program completely.

Parallels from the past

White’s charges are not the first time the FBI has charged a prominent political figure in the district, nor has it been the first time a Ward 8 councilmember faced legal scrutiny. In a 1990 sting operation, the FBI arrested Marion Barry, who at the time was in his third consecutive term as Washington mayor, for using crack cocaine, according to FBI footage published by The Washington Post. The same year, Barry was convicted and sentenced to six months in prison, according to an opinion filed by appellate Judge James Buckley, one of three judges who presided over the case.

After his conviction, Barry continued his political career, beginning in Ward 8, serving as Ward 8 councilmember, then Washington mayor and then returning as Ward 8 councilmember, according to Ballotpedia’s page for him. He won the 1992 race for the Ward 8 councilmember seat with about 89% of the vote, according to the district Board of Elections’ records. He won the 1994 mayoral race with 56% of the vote, according to the Board’s records. After his fourth term as mayor, Barry represented Ward 8 in the council again from 2004 until his passing in 2014, winning nearly 95% of the vote in 2004, almost 92% of the vote in 2008 and nearly 88% of the vote in 2012, according to district Board of Elections’ records for the respective races. 

Omar Tyree, who co-wrote Barry’s autobiography, said Barry had a unique reputation as an involved community leader who provided material opportunities to Washington’s youth, including teen job programs. Tyree heard about those programs firsthand when he arrived to Washington as a Howard University student. 

“Then the kids in D.C., when I got here as a Howard student, they were all talking about how he gave them summer jobs,” Tyree said. “So they’re not just floating around. They got jobs making money.” 

Barry helping people motivated others to help Barry in return, Tyree said.

“So, when you have that type of rapport with everyone in the city, when anything happens to you, [it’s,] ‘Hey, man, you helped me out, I want to help you out,’” he said.

Woodland, the ANC 8C commissioner, said the parallels between Barry and White may explain the councilmember’s lasting political capital. 

“African Americans in our city have an affinity for [Barry],” Woodland said. “They don’t care about what it was that he did. All they focused on was what he did for the people, which he did an amazing job for the people. Now, when it comes to Trayon, it’s kind of the same affinity.”

Facing the future

On July 15, Ward 8 residents can vote between White and four other candidates, according to the district’s Board of Elections’ candidate list. Democrats Sheila Bunn, former chief of staff to former Mayor and Councilmember Vince Gray; Mike Austin, who has served as ANC 8C chairperson and as an attorney for United Medical Center; Salim Adofo, current ANC 8C chairperson; and Republican Doc Adams are running for the council seat in addition to White. Adofo ran and lost against White in the 2024 Democratic primary for councilmember, receiving just over 27% of the vote in comparison to White’s majority share of just over 51%, according to the district Board of Elections’ page for the race. 

As the election approaches, Woodland said she feels Ward 8 has inequities that are central to the ward’s larger political history. She said she believes Ward 8 residents trust White due to his reputation for community engagement surrounding those inequities. Rather than focusing on individual candidates or the allegations against White, Woodland said she is concerned about a longer-term shift away from Ward 8’s current situation.

“Our ward right now is just hopeless,” Woodland said. “They don’t know who to trust and they just feel like they have got the ‘Trust the devil you know mentality’ and that needs to be broken up. The monotony over here in this ward needs to be broken up, dismantled and tread underfoot.” 

Editing by Kalie Walker, Emma Pierce, Stella Camerlengo, Caleb Ogilvie and Alexia Partouche.