Carol Schwartz

Carol Schwartz (born January 20, 1944) is an American politician from Washington, D.C., who served as a Republican at-large member on the Council of the District of Columbia from 1985 to 1989 and again from 1997 to 2009.

A five-time perennial candidate for mayor, she is the only Republican nominee since the restoration of home rule to garner more than 30 percent of the vote.

Carol Schwartz was born on January 20, 1944 in Greenville, Mississippi.

Schwartz lived with her family for brief periods in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, before settling down in Midland, Texas, where she spent nearly all of her childhood.

Growing up in Midland, Schwartz experienced anti-Semitism as a child, where she was one of very few Jewish people in the city.

Schwartz graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1965 with a degree in elementary and special education.

After graduation, she worked as a special education teacher in Austin, but she quit and moved to the District in 1966 after visiting the city.

Schwartz entered D.C. politics in 1974 as a member of the Board of Education representing Ward 3.

Although Schwartz lost to Barry, she did tally 42 percent of the vote—easily the strongest showing by a Republican mayoral candidate since the restoration of home rule in 1974.

Reelected four years later, she unsuccessfully ran for president of the Board of Education in 1980.

In 1984 she ran for the City Council as an at-large member.

She ran against Jerry A. Moore, Jr., who had held the seat for ten years and who was also a Republican.

After Schwartz defeated Moore in the Republican primary, Moore decided to run a write-in campaign in the general election, but Schwartz won the general election as well.

In 1986, Schwartz ran for mayor against two-term incumbent Marion Barry.

She campaigned primarily on providing better basic services, arguing that "there is no Republican or Democratic way to pick up the trash."

She lost, tallying 33 percent of the vote.

She decided not to run for reelection to the Council after the 1988 suicide of her husband, real estate lawyer David H. Schwartz, which occurred on her birthday.

In an interview in 1994, Schwartz said the results exceeded her expectations; she had only expected to receive 10 percent of the vote running against Barry.

Indeed, before Schwartz's bid, no Republican mayoral candidate had crossed the 30 percent mark.

Schwartz reentered politics in 1994, running again for mayor.

Marion Barry also reentered politics that year, defeating incumbent mayor Sharon Pratt Kelly in the Democratic primary election.

In 1996, Schwartz ran for an at-large seat in the Council.

The only Republican on the ballot, she won the race and rejoined the Council.

In 1998, Schwartz ran for mayor for the third time, campaigning for "safe streets, good schools, a clean environment."

She lost to Democrat Anthony A. Williams, tallying 30 percent of the vote.

She successfully ran for reelection to the Council in 2000.

Schwartz opposed term limits for elected officials.

In 2001, Schwartz voted for legislation that overturned the results of a popular referendum limiting members of the D.C. Council to two terms.

In 2002, Schwartz decided not to run officially in the Republican primary for mayor, but said she would consider running in general election if she won the write-in vote in the primary election.

Schwartz attacked Williams' record as mayor, saying that his "stewardship has been marred by ethical lapses, questionable judgment and a cold lack of compassion for our poorest and most helpless citizens."

With no individual's name on the ballot for mayor in the Republican primary, Republican voters could only write-in a candidate's name for mayor.

Williams was forced into a write-in campaign in the Democratic primary after many of his petitions to run on the Democratic ballot were found to be invalid.

Williams ended up winning not only the Democratic primary as a write-in candidate, but he also won the Republican primary as a write-in candidate, receiving 1,707 votes compared to Schwartz's 999.

The District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics declared Williams the winner of the Democratic primary, but it also declared that there was no winner in the Republican primary.

The Board allowed the Republican committee to choose a Republican nominee for mayor in the general election, and the committee chose Schwartz.

Schwartz accepted the Republican nomination, officially entering the election for mayor for the fourth time.

Schwartz received 34% of the vote in the general election while Williams received 61%.

In 2004, Schwartz successfully ran for reelection to the Council.

She announced her fifth campaign for mayor on June 9, 2014 finishing behind Muriel Bowser and David Catania.

In 2015, she was appointed to the D.C. Board of Ethics and Government Accountability by Mayor Muriel Bowser.