(WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 30, 2026) – Leah Peterson is a senior at Howard University majoring in economics with a minor in Russian, and this November she’s asking voters in Single Member District 1E05 — an area covering much of the Howard campus, Georgia Avenue, and Sherman Avenue — to send her to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. If she wins, she’ll be the first Howard student to hold the seat in a decade.
Three Pillars
Peterson’s campaign rests on three priorities: small business development, youth empowerment, and public safety.
On small business, she wants to make sure new and existing business owners in the district have the resources and community support to actually stay in business — not just open their doors and struggle.
On youth, she’s focused on meeting young people where they are rather than building programs around what adults assume they need. She points to her volunteer work with the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Washington, where she’s worked on leadership, safety, and health initiatives, and to conversations she’s had with youth at a local juvenile detention center. Her take: DC already has youth programs, including several launched under the previous mayor, but many young people don’t show up because the programs don’t reflect their actual experiences. She also wants to partner with university students to advocate on issues specific to being a student in a large city, working with school administration to align resources with what students say they need.
On safety, she includes both neighborhood cleanliness — she cited the district’s rodent problem — and road safety. About a year ago, she worked with DC government to organize the “Sidewalk Palooza,” walking Howard-area streets with Howard students, the DC Department of Transportation, and members of the mayor’s office to identify disinvestment in road infrastructure. The effort was personal: a friend, Mohamed Samura, was killed after being hit by a car in an area with no clear signage or speed bumps. The driver was reportedly having a medical emergency, but Peterson argues the lack of infrastructure — signage, speed bumps, ADA-accessible sidewalks — made the area more dangerous than it needed to be. She contrasts the state of Howard’s surrounding streets with campuses like American University, which she says show more consistent investment in accessibility and safety infrastructure before something goes wrong, not after.
Roots in Mississippi
Peterson was raised in Texas but traces her family’s roots to the Mississippi Delta — Clarksdale and Greenwood — where she spent summers and holidays with her grandparents. Her great aunt, June Johnson, was a civil rights activist and close friend of Fannie Lou Hamer who later moved to DC. Peterson credits her aunt’s perseverance and willingness to do the unconventional thing as a lasting influence on her decision to pursue public service — and to run for office as a college student rather than waiting.
Her mother, Jennifer Abe, raised her as a single parent for most of her life and has remained her biggest supporter through the campaign, having faced her own doubters along the way.
Peterson has been involved in student leadership since high school, including serving as chairwoman of Howard’s student senate, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha — a sorority she says is rooted in service to all mankind. She notes fellow AKA members Kamala Harris, a Howard graduate, and Janeese Lewis George, who recently won the Democratic primary for DC mayor.
Why an ANC Seat Matters
ANC seats are nonpartisan and low-turnout — which is exactly why they matter more than most residents realize, according to one longtime DC political observer consulted for this piece. Advisory Neighborhood Commissions weigh in on liquor licenses, marijuana licensing (now combined with alcohol licensing), and business licenses — decisions that shape the character of a neighborhood block by block. Because the seats are nonpartisan, they’re also one of the few local offices federal employees are legally permitted to run for, though few take advantage of it, partly because there’s never been a serious public education push explaining what the position actually does.
Down-ballot apathy is real: many voters cast a ballot for mayor or council and skip the ANC line entirely, or pick a name they don’t recognize. Turnout data from the last three or four election cycles can sort voters into categories — “supervoters” who show up for every election, “likely voters” who show up for most — giving a campaign a clear base to target.
Peterson sees the seat as a chance to organize Howard’s student body — undergraduate and graduate, on campus and off — into a voting bloc that shows up consistently, not just in presidential years. She wants to push back against what she describes as a pattern of some elected officials focusing outreach on certain voters while assuming others won’t show up. And she frames the race against the backdrop of DC’s gentrification, which she and others describe as advanced but without the corresponding reinvestment that would allow longtime residents to stay.
Election Day is November 3.
