Nereida Halloway

Nereida Halloway
Halloway in 2020
8th Mayor of the District of Columbia
Incumbent
Assumed office January 2, 2015
Preceded by	Grayson K. Vaughn
Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor
In office February 21, 2012 – October 4, 2013
President	Rashid Baharia
Preceded by	Hart Masters
Succeeded by	Richard Tomlinson
Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division at the United States Department of Labor
In office March 29, 2010 – February 21, 2012
President	Rashid Baharia
Preceded by	Thom McDottard
Succeeded by	Perry Fitzberger
Personal details
Born	Nereida Marie Halloway October 18, 1974 (age 46) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic Party
Spouse	Marina Lucinez (m. 2009)
Children	Orion Lucinez-Halloway (b. 2011)
Residence	Douglass House
Education	Georgetown University (BA) American University (MA) University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D)

Nereida Marie Halloway (Born October 18, 1974) is an American politician, academic, and sociologist currently serving as the eighth mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served within the Baharia Administration under the Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division, first as Deputy Administrator and then as Administrator. She is the second female mayor of the District of Columbia and the first woman to be reelected to that position. She is also the second African-American woman to be mayor.

Prior to serving in public office, Halloway became well known for her research into the effects of minimum wage increases on the American suicide rate.

Early Life and Education

Born in Philadelphia to a white father and black mother on October 18, 1974, Nereida Halloway grew up as part of an upper middle class family of 5, her father was a zoologist and her mother was a high school biology teacher. Halloway attended Philadelphia public schools and was involved in numerous extracurriculars including cheerleading, softball, and track and field. She would graduate as Salutatorian of her graduating class and acceptance to Georgetown University, majoring in economics with a minor in psychology.

At Georgetown, Halloway gained a reputation as being fiercely defensive of her views and hostile to those she deemed to be “regressive”, driving her to pursue student government and be elected president of her class in a "bizarrely negative" race. Halloway would use her position to put targeted pressure on the administration to take "progressive action" on several issues, most notably the university’s policy on reporting sexual assaults on campus.

After obtaining her undergraduate degree, Halloway pursued graduate school at American University, studying sociology. Working on subjects related to poverty and happiness, her master's thesis would concern the effects of short-term homelessness on childhood mental health outcomes. During this time, Halloway worked part-time in a coffee shop in order to afford the living expenses of DC. Halloway also engaged in community service projects as part of her research, including doing work with underprivileged children in the greater DC metropolitan area. Her success would put her on track for a doctoral program, which she would proceed to pursue at the University of Pennsylvania, temporarily pulling her back away from DC.

Academic Career

Halloway's doctoral research and dissertation would prove to be her breakout moment, with her research, involving data pulled from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, finding that minimum wage increases correlated with a significant decrease in the suicide rate in populations between the ages of 18 - 65 with a high school diploma or less. Those on the left rallied behind Halloway’s research while those on the right criticized it on the basis that it was conducted by biased observers with an interest in manipulating data. Thrown into the middle of a soon to be growing minimum wage debate, Halloway would staunchly defend her research, which also contributed significantly to yet another move to the left in the woman’s politics. Briefly, the center of attention in the fields of economics and sociology was on Nereida, and she utilized it to raise her profile and appear in numerous academic discussions and cable news interviews. Completing her program at 29, Nereida would walk away with a Ph.D in Sociology and return to her Undergraduate Alma Mater of Georgetown to accept a positions teaching courses related to both sociology and economics.

In addition to teaching at Georgetown, she would continue her research on wages and the social safety net, particularly in the Washington D.C. area, often appearing before the City Council on issues related to poverty prevention programs and other such matters. Halloway would appear so often, in fact, that the Washington Post would dub her the “14th Councilwoman” and speculate on her future plans in the city, though any such plans would come several years later.

Department of Labor

In 2010, Nereida would be surprised when she was approached by President Baharia to accept a position within the department of Labor as the Deputy Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division, responsible for the enforcement of federal labor laws. Seeing an opportunity, Nereida would accept the offer and serve in this capacity for two years before being promoted to Administrator following her superior’s retirement, where she would serve for a year and a half after being confirmed by the Senate mostly along party lines, with 3 Republicans voting for her and 4 absent, resulting in a final vote of 56 - 40. Her most impactful action as administrator came in the form of inflicting severe penalties against Walmart and extracting several million dollars from the corporation in the form of backwages paid due to the intentional misclassification of employees. Wonky work, Halloway would quite enjoy herself in this capacity, but would soon move on in favor of a more direct role in government.

2014 Mayoral Race

Main Article: 2014 D.C. mayoral election

In late 2013, Halloway was confronted with an additional opportunity when the Mayor of DC announced he would be declining to pursue an additional term as Mayor and leaving no clear successor, spurring a deluge of 21 candidates to step into the arena. Halloway resigned from her government post and made it 22. Starting her campaign with a measly 5% of the vote, Halloway was considered to be a longshot in the democratic primary, her campaign centered around an ambitious set of proposals to raise the city’s minimum wage to 15$ an hour and abolish the tipped wage, expand public transit, expand tax credits for businesses owned by immigrants and minorities, implement a universal childcare program, and push for DC statehood. As the months went on, she began a steady climb, first to 7%, then to 9%, to 12% and to 15%, her gains coming alongside a thorough door-to-door campaign and a series of speeches with live entertainment in front of various Washington landmarks. Key endorsements would boost her candidacy as well, the College Democrats of GWU, American University, and Howard endorsing her candidacy, in addition to the endorsements of the NAACP and HRC, the latter of which would draw raised eyebrows due to her wife’s senior position within the organization. An additional windfall would come with the crucial endorsement of a former Mayor of D.C. and fellow professor at Georgetown, Karl Brown, who would boost Halloway’s growing campaign into co-frontrunner status with a moderately popular 5th Ward Councilman as her main opponent. Going into the final stretch of the primary with 6 candidates remaining, Halloway’s campaign was dealt a blow when the Washington Post endorsed her rival, deeming him “more experienced” and “a lifelong resident of the district”. She was granted a windfall however with the late endorsement from 2 female city council members following revelations of sexist comments from the aforementioned 5th ward councilman. Polling leading into election day showed Halloway’s opponent with a 2 point lead, and as results crept in it initially appeared as though the professor turned administrator would lose. As results were finalized though, Halloway would win with a slim plurality, 38.8% to her chief opponent’s 38.6%. Celebrating her victory with a rousing speech in front of the at the time incomplete museum of African American History, Halloway would double down on her promises as her vision for the city came into view.

The general election would prove to be a cakewalk compared to the primary. Facing the chair of the DC Republican party and an independent convicted felon, Halloway would secure 79% of the vote.

Inaugural Speech

Halloway’s inaugural speech would immediately establish her as one of the most progressive administrators in America, reiterating her campaign vision in vivid detail and doubling down on her most ambitious proposals, including working with then Governor of Virginia Jillian Dayton to largely expand the DC Rail line into a cross jurisdictional experiment and pushing an ambitious wage bill. Halloway also declared a “formal war” on “poverty and privilege” in Washington DC, specifically presenting plans for a completely overhauled training system for DC police including de-escalation training and mandatory racial bias and sensitivity programs. This plank of her administration also called for tackling the problem of rising crime with a further expansion of the district’s budget to be used for an expansion of social services and rehabilitation programs, with the Mayor saying it was time to “turn the page on an endless cycle of revictimization” of prisoners. Halloway’s speech was praised by progressives as visionary and slammed by conservatives as radical and dangerous. In the aftermath of her speech, in response to right-wing detractors she reportedly said “I don’t much care for the opinions of fascists.”

Mayor of the District of Columbia

Entering office, Halloway’s first priority was her crown jewel, her expansive minimum wage hike, and she began planning DC’s first legislative session around it. Halloway set about crafting a bill which would raise the minimum wage to 15$ an hour over a period of 4 years, abolish a separate standard for tipped workers, and create a new local tax credit for minority owned businesses and immigrants. This would be the first on the agenda of 4 major “promise bills” that would make it to the committee of the whole, the others being those related to, Policing, Childcare, and Transportation. Two other such bills, one relating to an undertaking to reopening DC General Hospital, and the other related to Teacher Salaries in the district, would get stuck in committee and die.

2015

Living Wages for DC Act

The minimum wage bill, titled the Living Wages for DC Act, would initially stall in the committee of the whole, meeting resistance from certain business interests who threatened to pull contracts for new locations if the council went through with the measure. Halloway however refused to budge, whipping up a frenzy of public opinion against the corporations with publicization of these threats and herself privately threatening to lean in on individual city councilors if they did not comply. In an effort to prevent early dysfunction and in a tight vote of 7 - 6, the council would reluctantly approve Halloway’s bill, serving as an early and hard fought win for the progressive movement. This would bring Halloway national attention and would serve as fuel for the Fight For 15 movement in major cities across the country. While select businesses would cut hours, the legislation would achieve its primary goals by decreasing poverty, increasing worker productivity, and leading to a noted uptick in worker happiness in sectors previously burdened by the tipped wage.

District Childcare Assurance Act

Conversely, however, Halloway’s universal child care proposal, the District Childcare Assurance Act would be shot down in a 5 - 8 vote after significant debate, the proposal ultimately being deemed too ambitious and expensive with critics proclaiming that the it would bankrupt the district once more and criticizing Halloway’s head expert on the project, Dr. Leana Sanders, who upon scrutiny was found to have plagiarized parts of her book on the subject and made several anti-semitic remarks. Remiss to go down without a fight, Halloway would initially stand by Sanders, but would retract her support and issue an apology after the bill was officially dead.

Accountability in Equitable Policing Act

Bill #3, the Accountability in Equitable Policing Act, mandated body cameras and an overhaul of the district’s training and policing practices, with officers being made to undergo racial and cultural sensitivity training, specialized training related to the homeless and those suffering from mental health issues, and use of force training stressing the use of lethal force as an absolute last resort only excusable in the most dire of circumstances. The bill also implemented more rigid community policing measures and included a clause recognizing the role of the police in the systemic oppression of minority communities throughout the nation and the district’s history. The bill gained national attention and the aforementioned “recognition clause” became fodder for right-wing media, with many taking issue with the idea of “apologizing for law and order” and “bending to the mob”. The bill would also be opposed by Police Unions and 2 former DC police chiefs, who referred to it as “inflammatory” and “overkill” in the Washington Post, while police reform advocates and one of the city’s former mayors would support the measure. The bill would pass 7-6 and lead to additional controversy when the incumbent police chief threatened to refuse to implement the measure, prompting Mayor Halloway to fire him. Asked about the heavy-handed decision, Mayor Halloway replied “The job of the chief and all officers is to enforce the law equally and righteously. If they don’t want to do that, they don’t deserve to be there.” The chief’s replacement, a 13 year veteran of the force, was widely considered to be selected due to her ideological agreeance with the mayor, as opposed to general qualifications for the role. The DC crime rate would increase dramatically following Halloway’s first year, leading many to blame her bill, though it would begin to decline in the years following and drop below the 2015 level in 2019. Two incidents of police brutality were caught on bodycams and handled swiftly by the administration, in 2016 and 2018, and the Mayor has publicly lauded her reforms as a success.

Transportation Expansion Act

The fourth bill, a package designed to build on DC’s transportation infrastructure, would be the least controversial of the 4, and would be painstakingly put together with the cooperation of Virginia governor Jillian Dayton and Maryland’s republican governor. The bill would approve a number of new projects projected to streamline DC’s public transportation and open it up to quicker travel from surrounding areas, including linking DC’s rail systems with those approved by Dayton in Northern Virginia. Also included would be extensive contingency plans in the event of natural disasters, including blizzards and floods, as well as more unlikely possibilities such as large fires and tornadoes. The bill would pass 10-3 and some of the projects would receive federal funding. Notably, some of this funding would be lost under the Wolf Administration on the grounds of cutting costs across the board.

2016 Election and The Baginski Presidential Campaign

Though only 3/6 of her Big 6 “Promise Bills” passed, Nereida would declare victory, claiming that the three successes were thanks to the hard work and dedication of those who had been fighting for those changes on the ground. She would receive extensive attention and several profiles due to the high-interest nature of two of these successes and the contentious nature of the fights surrounding them, drawing the attention of Presidential Candidate Sam Baginski. Baginski would approach Halloway and develop an interest in her, the two speaking extensively before the latter endorsed the former in the 2016 Democratic Primaries and joined his campaign as a National Co-Chair, spending much of early 2016 acting in this capacity, though she would spend the latter half of the year making a national case for DC statehood in conjunction with the ballot measure on the subject. Halloway would criticize the DNC’s predisposition towards Diana Clifford in the aftermath of Baginski’s loss, but would nonetheless endorse her in the general election, calling Arnold Wolf a “sociopath” and a “fascist despot in waiting” and expressing considerable dismay upon his ascension to the Presidency. Halloway would join protestors in DC on the day of Wolf’s inauguration and boost calls to eliminate the electoral college. She would also participate in the Women's March in DC and speak alongside several controversial figures.

2017 - 2018

Gay and Trans Panic Defense

Halloway was rendered largely impotent from 2017 to January 2019, with most of her ambitions being checked by the Republican Congress and President, who threatened to halt any disapproved of measures, as is provided by law. During this time, her accomplishments included eliminating the gay and trans panic defenses in DC after the U.S. Senate declined to join the House's Act of Disapproval.

HIV/AIDS Prevention

Passed through a resolution outlining the council’s plan to tackle HIV infection rates in the district.

Administrators for Public Progress PAC

During this time, Halloway would set up a political action committee through which to raise and funnel money to progressive candidates in city and state government named Administrators for Public Progress. This PAC would back 8 gubernatorial candidates in 2018, 4 of whom would win their primaries and 3 of whom would win their general elections, though two of them were incumbents to begin with. The PAC would be significantly more successful in municipalities, with a 70% success rate in targeted local races.

2018 Reelection

Halloway’s 2018 reelection challenge came in the form of her chief 2014 challenger, the former city councilman who had only narrowly lost to her prior. The campaign was largely a referendum on Halloway’s promises and if she had sufficiently followed through, and particularly given her success in delivering her keystone wage increase, the answer from residents was yes, with Halloway beating off the challenge with 66% of the vote to his 33%. The general election was uncompetitive, with Halloway also receiving the backing of the DC Green Party and facing only an Independent businessman in the general, garnering 84% of the vote. During this election, several council members who had resisted her agenda from 2015 - 2016 were replaced by candidates backed by her PAC, buying her some breathing room for the next few years in terms of policy.

2019

Housing Reform Plan

In 2019, Halloway would hone in on housing, unveiling an extensive package designed to revitalize underserved areas of the city with increased funding and relax zoning laws to allow for denser, cheaper housing options, compliant with a folded in green initiative designed to reduce the city’s carbon emissions. This would meet stiff resistance from Washington NIMBYS and lead to smaller protests outside the Mayor’s residence, which the mayor notably directly addressed by walking outside and engaging with the protestors. Not swayed by arguments against her plan, Halloway, joined by housing experts, environmentalists, and other progressive figures, personally pitched her plan to the district and worked local media to convince business interests to support her proposals. Achieving moderate success and tepid support from some skeptics, Halloway would pass her package in a 9-4 vote and attempt to rebrand DC away from being a place hostile to those wishing to live there. Development in the ensuing year would proceed quickly, with numerous contractors eager to take advantage of the new rules and dense multi-family housing being built across the district, including near the national mall. This extensive initiative would occupy most of Halloway’s agenda in 2019, and as such she would largely shy away from involvement in the early stages of the 2019 Presidential Primaries, expressing disappointment that Sam Baginski declined to pursue a second campaign.

2020

Ballot Measures

As of 2020, Halloway’s focus had so far been on ensuring that particular ballot measures, including full commercial legalization of marijuana and a commitment to further raising the minimum wage to 20$ an hour by 2023, indeed make the district’s ballot, and she has succeeded in doing so.

DC Statehood

Now, she seeks to further push her progressive agenda as the head of her PAC, having backed several left-wing candidates in their respective primaries, and push her goal of DC statehood.

Electoral History

Results

2014 Mayor of the District of Columbia, Democratic Party primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nereida Halloway	44,788	38.8%
	Democratic	Marcell Brewster	44,544	38.6%
	Democratic	Hera Lieu	16,964	14.7%
	Democratic	Wendy Banks	5,885	5.1%
	Democratic	Morton Cravitz	2,538	2.2%
	Democratic	Amal Al-Sayid	692	0.6%
Total Votes			115,438

Personal Life

Married to Marina Lucinez, current President of the Human Rights Campaign, since December 2009. 9 year old daughter named Orion. Has a boston terrier named Barkley. Decent command of Spanish, though she is not fluent. Pizza aficionado.