D.C. Council Candidate Running Over Crime Has Car Stolen While Hanging Up Campaign Posters

D.C. Council candidate Paul Johnson said his motivations for run for office were reinforced after his car was stolen while he was hanging up campaign posters.

Johnson recalled in an ABC 7 interview after the fact that he was hanging up campaign posters in the early morning hours on Tuesday when multiple masked assailants drove up to him and told him not to move.

“They looked menacing. They told me what to do. I don’t see their hands, and I’m not taking anything for granted,” Johnson said.

One of the platforms Johnson is running on is crime in D.C. He’s running in Ward 4, which is currently represented by D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, a Democrat. Fellow Democrat Lisa Gore is also running and the Democratic primary will be held on June 4.

On his campaign website, Johnson says his wife and daughter had to duck from a stray bullet while at a soccer game and the city is facing “addiction, graffiti tags on our buildings, blighted properties and in some cases abhorrent building conditions.”

Crime in D.C. has been moving downward in 2024, but many areas hit a major spike in 2023, including carjackings, according to police. An MPD dashboard shows there have been over 170 carjackings this year and nearly 70% of those incidents involve guns.

Johnson’s car was still running when one of the two carjackers got behind the wheel. Police are investigating the car theft.

“It’s the last thing that was on my mind, that at 5 o’clock in the morning while I’m hanging up posters that this would happen. I’m grateful that I’m safe,” he said.

Johnson said the incident is an example of a “crime wave” in D.C.

“I thought about my family. I thought about other residents and other neighbors suffering under this crime scourge and crime wave,” he said. “I think it just reinforced the reasons why I’m running.”