CR Nation

Did the District of Columbia College Republicans endorse a Republican in a primary? That’s the charge. An incumbant Republican D.C. Councilwoman is blaming the D.C. CRs for her primary loss a couple of weeks ago:

D.C. Councilwoman Carol Schwartz, R-At Large, chastised her opponent last week for his use of College Republicans in his Sept. 9 primary victory.

The four-term Republican incumbent, who will now run as a write-in candidate, said 33-year-old Patrick Mara used local CRs who had “no real interest in the District of Columbia” to force her off the ballot.

Mara said Schwartz’s comments were inappropriate and factually untrue. He said his campaign registered 10 to 15 college students at most, not the hundreds that the Schwartz campaign claims.

“She pulled this out of thin air,” Mara said in an interview with The Hatchet. “It’s not true, and even if it were true it shouldn’t be seen as a negative.” Schwartz did not respond to several attempts for comment.

Senior Brand Kroeger, chairman of both the GW and D.C. Federation of College Republicans, emphasized that neither group he represents worked collectively for any candidate in the primaries.

“The D.C. Federation and GW College Republicans did not endorse Pat Mara. We don’t endorse candidates in primaries,” Kroeger said. “Now that Patrick Mara has won the primary, the Federation is happy to endorse him.”

Kroeger said he knows that GW students did volunteer for Mara’s primary campaign.