Florence Pendleton

Florence Howard Pendleton (January 28, 1926 – September 10, 2020)^[1] was an American political activist who served as a shadow senator from the District of Columbia from 1991 to 2007.

Florence Pendleton
Pendleton in 1993
United States Shadow Senator from the District of Columbia
In office January 3, 1991 – January 3, 2007
Preceded by	Seat established
Succeeded by	Michael Brown
Personal details
Born	Florence Howard (1926-01-28)January 28, 1926 Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Died	September 10, 2020(2020-09-10) (aged 94) Columbus, Georgia, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Education	Howard University (BS, MS) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Pendleton's main goal as shadow senator was to promote the efforts of the District of Columbia to gain full voting rights. She was inaugurated as the first ever shadow senator from the District of Columbia on January 3, 1991.^[2] She was known as “The Education Senator”^{[citation needed]} because of her legacy as a life-long educator, administrator of DC Public Schools, and founder of the nonprofit “STAND”, The Society for Teaching Americans about New Columbia and DC Statehood.

Pendleton defended her seat in 2000, cruising to victory in the general election over Janet Helms, beating her 84%–14%.^[3] Her re-election bid in 2006 failed when Philip Pannell successfully challenged that she failed to have 2,000 valid signatures to get onto the ballot, having only 1,559. She ran as a write-in candidate, but only won 1,363 votes as Michael Donald Brown cruised to victory with 62,415 votes over her and Pannell's 21,552 votes to win the Democratic Primary. Her last day in office was on January 3, 2007.

Background

Pendleton graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science and she was a doctoral student at Virginia Tech.^[4]

Election history

1990

1990 Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C.^[5][6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jesse Jackson	85,454	57.03
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton	25,349	16.92
	Democratic	Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr.	22,401	14.95
	Democratic	James Forman	9,899	6.61
	Democratic	Marc Humphries	6,739	4.50
Total votes			149,842	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Jesse Jackson	105,633	46.80
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton	58,451	25.89
	independent (politician)	Harry T. Alexander	13,983	6.19
	Republican	Milton Francis	13,538	6.00
	Republican	Joan Gillison	12,845	5.69
	DC Statehood Green	Keith M. Wilkerson	4,545	2.01
	DC Statehood Green	Anthony W. Peacock	4,285	1.90
	independent (politician)	John West	3,621	1.60
	independent (politician)	David L. Whitehead	3,341	1.48
	Socialist Workers	Sam Manuel	2,765	1.23
	independent (politician)	Lee Black	2,728	1.21
Total votes			215,735	100.00
	Democratic win (new seat)

In the general election, the top two vote getters were elected as Shadow senators of each seat, with Pendleton taking Seat 1 and Jackson taking Seat 2.

1994

1994 U.S. Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C.^[7][8]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton (incumbent)	78,576	76.83
	Democratic	Stephen Sellows	20,512	20.06
	Write-in		3,180	3.11
Total votes			102,268	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton (incumbent)	117,517	74.04
	Republican	Julie Finley	24,107	15.19
	DC Statehood Green	Mel Edwards	15,586	9.82
	Write-in		1,511	0.95
Total votes			158,721	100.00
	Democratic hold

2000

2000 U.S. Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C.^[9][10]

Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton (incumbent)	28,500	96.48
	Write-in		1,041	3.52
Total votes			29,541	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Florence Pendleton (incumbent)	143,578	88.97
	Republican	Janet Helms (withdrew)	16,666	10.33
	Write-in		1,136	0.71
Total votes			161,380	100.00
	Democratic hold

2006

2006 U.S. Shadow Senator Washington, D.C. Democratic Party primary election^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Donald Brown	62,415	73.15
	Democratic	Philip Pannell	21,552	25.26
	Write-in		1,363	1.60
Total votes			85,330	100.00

Pendleton got kicked off the Democratic primary ballot for not getting enough valid signatures to qualify for the election. She ran as a write-in candidate with little success.^[12]

Political career

• November 6, 1990 — elected shadow senator when office was created^[13]
• November 8, 1994 — reelected shadow senator^[13]
• November 7, 2000 — reelected shadow senator^[13]
• 2006 — filed to run for reelection but was knocked off the primary ballot when her opponent Phil Pannell challenged the signatures on her petition^[14]

See also

• United States congressional delegations from the District of Columbia