Phil Mendelson is running for reelection after six years of serving as the Chairman of the Council in the District of Columbia. A sixty-five year old Democrat from Cleveland, Ohio, and an American University graduate, Mendelson has made astounding improvements to the DC area in a multitude of ways.

Primarily, Mendelson reduced property taxes for low income workers and homeowners. This made DC the only jurisdiction in the country where the lowest 20 percent of residents pay less than the top one percent. Additionally, Mendelson has played a large part in supporting Ballou High School during its recent graduation scandal. With a daughter in the DCPS system, this personal connection led him to be a leader and advocate against truancy in DCPS.

Mendelson has explicitly stated his support for the controversial idea for DC to become the 51st state, saying, “There is absolutely no reason why the 700,000+ residents of the District should have any different Congressional voting rights than any other American does. Our lack of voting representation in Congress is an embarrassingly outdated vestige of an earlier time.”

On the issue of gun control, Mendelson has proven that he will not back down. “No one has fought harder to maintain and strengthen the District’s gun laws than I have. The incidents of deaths due to gun violence is astounding. I will continue to fight to guarantee that the District has the strongest gun laws in the nation.”