| Mike Johnson | Hoodline |
Two rivals in the crowded Ward 1 D.C. Council Democratic primary have decided it is better to join forces than to swing at each other. On Thursday, five-term ANC commissioner Rashida Brown and ANC chair Miguel Trindade Deramo said they will formally cross-endorse, urging their supporters to rank the other as a second choice under the city’s new ranked-choice voting system. The move is an early test of how RCV might scramble campaign tactics in a ward that stretches from Mount Pleasant to U Street.
I would love for you to rank me one and Miguel two
Brown has been direct with her supporters: “I would love for you to rank me one and Miguel two.” Trindade Deramo is giving the same kind of ask in reverse, telling voters to put him first and Brown second. As reported by WUSA9, both candidates are framing the pact as a way to pool support rather than undercut each other, stressing that their platforms overlap heavily on tenant protections and immigrant services. In a five-way primary where early elimination is a real threat, they argue that a mutual second-choice strategy is simply a practical insurance policy.
Campaigns across the city see RCV as a nudge toward coalition building instead of all-out negative campaigning, and Brown and Trindade Deramo are leaning into that. City Cast DC reported that the pair plans a joint video rollout to walk voters through exactly how to rank them on the ballot, and Brown has described the arrangement as a “synergy” between their campaigns. The playbook mirrors tactics from other RCV races, where allied candidates try to stack up second-choice votes so they can survive the early cut rounds instead of knocking each other out.