Pannell withdraws candidacy for Ward 8 Council seat
Two days after he said he would run as a write-in candidate to challenge Ward 8 D.C. Council member Trayon White (D), who was arrested earlier this month by the FBI on a bribery charge, longtime gay and Ward 8 community activist Phil Pannell withdrew his candidacy on Aug.
23 and announced his support for another candidate. According to the Washington Informer newspaper, Pannell said he is now backing Ward 8 political activist and former Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Markus Batchelor, who ran against White in the Democratic primary earlier this year before dropping out of that race.
When he first announced his write-in candidacy to challenge White, Pannell said he would withdraw from the race if another credible candidate entered the race.
On Aug. 23, after learning that Batchelor, 31, had announced his write-in candidacy, Pannell said he was stepping aside, the Washington Informer reports.
