With Early Voting officially underway in DC, we are proud to announce our full slate of DCVFA-endorsed candidates for the 2026 General Election. DC Voters for Animals asks candidates about their pro-animal values and endorses our top picks in election cycles to build political power for our non-voting animal friends. Join us by supporting these candidates, and learn the different ways you can cast your ballot below, too.
Elissa Silverman – DC Council – At-Large
Running as a returning candidate—having previously held office from 2015-2023 and holding the seat now after winning the June 2026 Special Election June—had her strongest answers to the DCVFA questionnaire around rats and food systems. Silverman raised concerns with the “downstream impacts” on natural predators and even young children, and called for better waste management as a central solution. This is closely aligned with DC Responsible Rat Management’s tagline “prevention, not poison”. She also emphasized her history of advocating for DC to use our “purchasing power” to build better food systems, extending the Good Food Purchasing Program to agencies beyond DC Public Schools, and making sure that people incarcerated in the DC Jail and Youth Rehabilitation have access to quality food. These strong positions and her years of leadership are why DC Voters for Animals is proud to endorse Elissa Silverman for DC Council At Large.
The other candidates we endorsed for DC Council: Oye Owolewa – At-Large, Aparna Raj – Ward 1, Matthew Frumin – Ward 3, Zachary Parker – Ward 5, Charles Allen – Ward 6
State Board of Education
The SBOE serves in an advisory role to the State Superintendent of Education, establishes academic and programmatic standards, and oversees student advisory committees. DC Voters for Animals weighed in on the SBOE race for the first time because of our deep connection to school food and to assess possibilities for improving alternatives to animal dissection in classrooms and promote child-friendly rat management practices that do not rely on poisons that can pose a danger to students.
Joshua Wiley – State Board of Education – Ward 6
As a DC Public Schools administrator, Mr. Wiley sets an example for better school food, having created a student panel to gather feedback on school meals and regularly eating school lunch himself. He supports managing unwanted animals through prevention, sanitation, proper food and waste management, and facility maintenance before relying on methods that may create additional risks for students, staff, pets, or wildlife. His own dog, Brisket, is an inspiration for examining how our choices affect animals, and his role as an educators informs Mr. Wiley’s views on how schools can help students develop empathy.
Lynn Jennings – State Board of Education – Ward 5
Having attended all-female schools herself, Ms. Jennings picked up on how animal dissection can deter students from pursuing science education, particularly given evidence the practice disproportionately dissuades female students from pursuing STEM fields. She expressed a commitment to protecting the environment that children grow up in, including the air, the water, and the physical spaces where they live and learn.
Ben Williams – State Board of Education – Ward 1
With 13 years of experience as a high school history teacher, Mr. Williams has made a point to regularly sit down with students to eat school lunch and has supported student-led initiatives focused on food justice and equity. He believes in efforts like these to strengthen students' connections to animals, nature, and their communities.
Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners
Although elected officials, ANCs serve in an unpaid capacity to represent the interests of their approximately 4,000 neighbors before the DC Council and District government. Commissioners make decisions over zoning, and have an increased platform to elevate priorities. For DC Voters for Animals, the ANC position serves as both a testing ground for up-and-coming candidates, a venue to find new allies for a variety of causes, and a field to test the popularity of potential campaign ideas.
In 2026, 79 candidates filled out the DC Voters for Animals ANC Quesetionnaire—we endorsed 69 of them.
We asked these questions to assess the candidates attitudes toward our priority issues. See the full questionnaire for context on how we framed each question.
Rat Prevention: Do you support a prevention-centered rat management approach to reduce reliance on practices such as glue traps and rodenticides that have consequences for ‘non-target’ victims—children, pets, and wildlife?
REMY Act: Do you support the Rodent Education & Management Yields (REMY) Results Act to 1) upgrade commercial trash containers to be rodent proof, 2) restrict the use of rodenticides to licensed professionals, and 3) enhance public education on rat prevention?
Climate Friendly Food: Do you support DC agencies fully implementing the Green Food Purchasing Amendment Act (a 2021 law to reduce the carbon footprint of the food the city buys)?
Products Made from Animal Fur: Do you support DC passing a law to protect animals by prohibiting fur sales?
Emotional Support Animals in Housing: Do you support DC establishing frameworks, such as what Colorado has done, that recognizes Emotional Support Animals in housing?
Animal Care After Separation: Would you support legislation, such as what Illinois has done, to give judges authority to assess the best interest of the pet’s care rather than exclusively referring to who paid for the animal?
These are the candidates we endorsed (find your ANC district here)
1A03 - Joseph Schmitt
1A09 - Daniella Kelley
1B02 - Ilsy Bu-Orellana
1B04 - Guneev Sharma
1C01 - Howard Bauleke
1C03 - Kendall Gibson
1C07 - Nancy Shia
1D01 - Maki Tazawa
1D06 - Sapna Pandya
1E02 - Dominique Satterwhite
1E03 - Rami Jackson
1E04 - Rashida Brown
1E06 - Josh Jacobson
2A03 - Trupti J. Patel
2B02 - Jeff Rueckgauer
2B05 - Alex Marshall
2B07 - Kendall Simonds
2B08 - Zach Adams
2C03 - Darren Sheets
2G01 - Howard Garrett
3C02 - Adam J. Prinzo
3C06 - Joshua Peacock
3C07 - Gawain Kripke
3C08 - Connor O'Brien
3F05 - Adrian Jesus Iglesias
4B05 - Joe Barrios
4B06 - Tiffani Nichole Johnson
4B07 - Julie Patton Lawson
4C02 - Josh Mahan
4C04 - Monica E. Arrington
4C05 - Brittany Kademian
4C06 - John Qua
4D01 - Matthew Staed
4D06 - Joey Baietti
4D07 - Brittany Vesce
5B01 - Amy Enchelmeyr
5B02 - Bree Ryback
5B03 - Elise Scott
5B04 - Ra Amin
5B05 - Rachel Williams
5B06 - Felicia Abney-Barber
5C02 - Danielle Henry
5D05 - Rashema Collins
5E01 - Ana Rodriguez
5E04 - Huma Imtiaz
5E05 - Ashton DeLano
5F03 - Shealia Tyson
5F04 - Melissa Coughlin
5F06 - Joe Bishop-Henchman
5F07 - Julia Hedlund
6A02 - Kimberly Butler
6A04 - Steve Geimann
6A06 - Ray Biggs II
6B03 - David Sobelsohn
6B04 - Dana White
6C07 - Grayson Lewis
6D03 - Katie Henke
6D04 - Manasi Raveendran
6E08 - Trevor Holl (as a write-in)
7b02 - Jamaal Maurice
7B03 - Travis R. Swanson
7B07 - Rickey Titus
7C03 - Carlos D Richardson
7D10 - Dev Myers
7E02 - Sehree M Mickel
7E04 - Patricia Stamper (as a write-in)
8A01 - Tom Donohue
8A06 - Ty’on Jones
8B01 - Malcom Williams
Ways to Vote
DC voters can cast ballots at early voting centers through Sunday at 7:00PM, deliver mail-in ballots to a drop-box, or locate your vote-center for election day.