WASHINGTON — The D.C. Board of Elections has ruled that Ward 5 Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie is ineligible to run for attorney general in the District.
The ruling came Monday after fellow candidate Bruce Spiva challenged the legitimacy of McDuffie's candidacy, saying the councilman has not "actively engaged, for at least 5 of the 10 years as an attorney in the practice of law in the District of Columbia."
In court documents, Spiva points out the minimum requirements to run for attorney general in D.C. include a candidate having been "actively engaged, for at least 5 of the 10 years immediately preceding the assumption of the position of Attorney General, as an attorney in the practice of law in the District of Columbia."
In a statement released shortly after the ruling, McDuffie called the decision an attack on our democracy and on working people in D.C.
"Unelected bureaucrats, prompted by a frivolous challenge from a corporate lawyer, who is funding his campaign with the millions he made defending powerful interests like Facebook and Amazon, telling a lifelong District resident who has spent his career fighting for working families that he’s 'not qualified' is exactly what it looks like," McDuffie said.
He continued his statement by saying he is used to people trying to hold him back but those people just make him fight harder for communities like the one her grew up in. He says he plans on fighting the ruling.
"We’re taking this ruling to the courts where we expect to win on appeal," McDuffie said. "Just this morning, several of the original authors of the statute discredited this challenge as being well outside the intent of the language they helped write."
Spiva's office released a statement via Twitter Monday evening, saying the Board of election validated a face that they say has been clear from the state.
"The people of D.C. deserve an Attorney General who is ready on day one to take on the responsibilities of the office," said Alaina Haworth, campaign manager for Spiva. "That's why the council enacted and District voters approved, these specific, minimum qualifications that Councilmember McDuffie failed to meet."
In the meantime, McDuffie said he plans on remaining on the campaign trail. He has three days to appeal to the D.C. Court of Appeals.
The Democrat first elected to D.C.'s council in 2012 announced his candidacy in a press conference in late October, 2021.