Mary Cheh drops DC Council re-election bid, launches “free-for-all” for the Ward 3 seat

Mary Cheh, during her four terms on the DC Council, has made time for countless community events, large and small. In 2020, she agreed to serve as the moderator of Forest Hills Connection’s ANC 3F candidates forum.

In case you missed the news last Friday: Ward 3 Council member Mary Cheh told constituents that she was no longer running for a fifth term.

“Many people have reevaluated their lives during the pandemic, and that has been the case for me as well,” Cheh wrote.

We’ll have more to say about our Forest Hills neighbor in a future post, and naturally this isn’t the last we’ll hear from our long-serving Council representative, who has 10.5 months left in her fourth term.

Two candidates had previously announced plans to challenge Cheh in the Democratic primary: Monika Nemeth, a current ANC 3F commissioner and former chair, and Deirdre Brown, who served on ANC 3F from 2017 until mid-2018.

Within a few hours after Cheh’s announcement, Axios had an update on additional declared and potential candidates for the Ward 3 seat, and on Monday headlined the developing Council primary as a “free-for-all.” That would certainly describe the 2006 Democratic primary, which was Cheh’s first Council campaign, and first win. She defeated eight other candidates with 44 percent of the vote.