The youngest D.C. lawmaker ever and the first to belong to Generation Z was sworn in to the D.C. Council on Monday before a packed council chamber of supporters.
But the milestone may be short-lived. The new at-large council member, 28-year-old Jamal Holtz, the president of D.C. Young Democrats, may only last a few weeks or days in the job, which he accepted after a political chess match over the seat.
After a week of political turmoil, Holtz was appointed by the D.C. Democratic Party to temporarily fill the at-large council seat vacated by Del.-elect Robert C. White Jr. (D). Holtz said he did not ask for the position. And the party made clear it only intended Holtz as a placeholder, announced in a rush last week to block another council member from claiming it.
Holtz said he has not applied for the job and doesn’t intend to.
That means a different person could be appointed by the Democratic Party as interim council member as soon as it completes a more formal interview process.
The saga will not end there. There will also be a special election for the seat on April 6, making it possible a new person, again, will claim the seat.
Even Holtz himself acknowledged the circumstances of his appointment were highly unusual, joking that they were reminiscent of “a sixth season of ‘House of Cards,’” the Netflix political thriller. But he said he would give to the role the “seriousness, the energy and the commitment” that residents deserved no matter how long he served.
“Because whether you serve for one day or for one decade, the responsibility of public service does not change,” he said.
In a speech before the packed council chamber, Holtz said he would bring his lived experiences as a fourth-generation Washingtonian into the job to advocate for the needs of D.C. residents. He knows what it’s like to lose a brother to gun violence, he said. To be homeless and spend days living out of a car, and to watch his mother and others in his life struggle to put food on the table.
“Now I have an opportunity to give back to the city that bought into me,” he said.
The chaotic process surrounding Holtz’s appointment kicked off after White’s resignation from the D.C. Council last week. Immediately afterward, council member Christina Henderson (I-At Large) attempted to switch her party affiliation to Democrat to slide into the seat, allowing her to rejoin the party ahead of a consequential presidential election and to eventually seek higher office within the city’s dominant political party.
But from the vantage point of party faithful, her move was an attempt to “usurp” the party’s nomination process as laid out in the D.C. Home Rule Act.
D.C.’s home rule charter caps the number of Democrats who can serve on the council, and Henderson’s party switch would have hit the limit. But Henderson stood down on Friday, switching back to independent and clearing the way for Holtz’s appointment.
D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D) told reporters ahead of the ceremony that he didn’t disagree that the process was “confusing and certainly unprecedented.” But he said he did not feel he could second-guess the Democratic Party’s process and that he had “no choice” but to move ahead with Holtz and, possibly, with a new person if the party goes that route.
At least one former council member, Jack Evans, the former finance committee chairman who spent three decades on the council until his resignation in 2020 amid an ethics probe, said he is applying through the Democratic Party’s process and planning to run in the special election.
Chioma Iwuoha, chair of the D.C. Democratic Party, told reporters the party would be meeting again this week to chart its next steps. She did not yet have an exact timeline for a final vote on a potential new appointee.
Asked if Holtz would be considered, she said he had committed to not seeking the role but added: “He has the right to change his mind.”
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