D.C.’s Mayor Seeks Reelection Bid to Improve City’s Fiscal, Social Woes

WASHINGTON —  Sharon Pratt Kelly, the first black woman elected mayor of a major city, announced her bid for reelection Saturday, saying she needs more time to fulfill her mandate of bringing the District of Columbia’s myriad social and fiscal problems under control.

“I am not a career politician, but I am asking you today for four more years,” Kelly told an audience of 1,200 supporters, political allies and government workers.

Her announcement at the historic Lincoln Theater was interrupted briefly by a small pocket of demonstrators who chided Kelly on what they said was her failure to stem the AIDS epidemic.

But they were shouted down by chants of “Four more years,” and hustled out of the theater.

“Don’t worry, I’m tough enough to deal with it,” Kelly said.

She said her priorities include further efforts to improve the city’s fiscal situation and ensure that more government and private resources reach the city’s ever-growing underclass.

Kelly also said she was not discouraged by polls commissioned by her two main rivals for the Democratic nomination--At-Large Councilman John Ray and former mayor Marion Barry, now a city councilman--that show her trailing them.

“There’s only one poll that matters, and that’s the one we will win on Sept. 13,” the day of the primary, she said to cheers.

Kelly reiterated that she would avoid personal attacks on her rivals, who in some cases have stridently questioned her ability to manage the city’s finances and further reduce the 42,000-worker bureaucracy.