Editing Walter Washington (section)

===1975-1979: Elected Mayor===
Congress enacted the District of Columbia Self-Rule and Governmental Reorganization Act on December 24, 1973, providing for an elected mayor and [[Council of the District of Columbia|city council]].  In early 1974, Washington began a vigorous campaign to win the Democratic nomination for the mayoral election. As Washington was heavily Democratic and (at the time) majority black, it was taken for granted that whoever won the Democratic primary would become the city's first popularly-elected mayor since 1871. 

Washington faced six challengers in the Democratic primary. However, the primary eventually became a two-way contest between Washington and [[Clifford Alexander]], future [[U.S. Secretary of the Army|Army Secretary]]. Washington won the tight race by 4,000 votes. As expected, he won the November general election with a large majority. Home rule took effect when Washington and the newly elected council–the city's first popularly-elected government in over a century–were sworn into office January 2, 1975. Washington was sworn in by [[Associate Justice of the Supreme Court|Supreme Court Justice]] [[Thurgood Marshall]].

Although personally beloved by residents, some who nicknamed him "Uncle Walter," Washington slowly found himself overcome by the problems of managing what was the equivalent of a combination state and city government. The ''Washington Post'' opined that he lacked "command presence."  Council chair [[Sterling Tucker]], who wanted to be Mayor, suggested that the problems in the city were because of Washington's inability to manage city services. Council Member [[Marion Barry]], another rival, accused him of "bumbling and bungling in an inefficiently run city government."<ref name=WaMo /> Washington was also constrained by the fact that then as now, the Constitution vested Congress with ultimate authority over the District. Congress thus retained veto power over acts passed by the council, and many matters were subject to council approval.

The ''[[Washington Monthly]]'' noted that Washington's "gentle ways did not move the city's bureaucracy. Neither did it satisfy the black voters' yearning to see the city run by blacks for blacks. Walter Washington was black, but many blacks were suspicious that he was still too tied to the mostly white power structure that had run the city when he was a commissioner."<ref name=WaMo>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1316/is_v18/ai_4330756/pg_3/ Chuck Stone. "A dream deferred; a black mayor betrays the faith," ''Washington Monthly'', July–August 1986.</ref> During his administration he started many new initiatives, for example, the [[Office of Latino Affairs of the District of Columbia]].

In the 1978 Democratic mayoral primary, Washington finished third behind Barry and Tucker. He left office on January 2, 1979. Upon his departure from office, he announced that the city had posted a $41 million budget surplus, based on the [[United States federal government|Federal government's]] cash accounting system. When Barry took office, he shifted city finances to the more common accrual system, and he announced that under this system, the city actually had a $284 million deficit.<ref name=barras>{{cite book |title=The Last of the Black Emperors: The Hollow Comeback of Marion Barry in a New Age of Black Leaders |last=Barras |first=Jonetta Rose |year=1998 |publisher=Bancroft Press |isbn=0-9631246-6-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lastofblackemper00barr }}</ref>