The race between Brooke Pinto and Robert White for DC’s congressional delegate seat looks like it will be close. Maybe that’s why it’s starting to get personal.
On Monday, reporter Tom Sherwood discovered that Pinto’s campaign had posted a 67-page opposition research report on White to her website.
The report included aspects of White’s voting record that it said showed he was “soft on crime,” brought up his opposition to the RFK Stadium deal as evidence he was “weak on the economy,” says he slightly mischaracterized his job title in delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office, and pointed to donations to his campaign from major developers and former Trump donors.
But initially, the document also included a picture of White’s house and his address, as well as some questionably relevant information about his family. It mentions White’s older brother Michael’s 2007 sentence for drunk driving and hitting a pedestrian.
More strangely, the report also mentions that a Pinterest account apparently owned by White’s father, Bobby, includes pins with images of scantily-clad women.
In response, White’s campaign released a statement on Monday night calling for Pinto to “immediately withdraw” from the race, writing: “There are lines in politics that decent people should never cross, and this is one of them.”
In a video posted to social media, White said the document was “essentially a doxxing of me and my family.”
“Everybody knows politics is dirty, but even dirty has a line,” he said.
On Tuesday, Pinto’s campaign took down the version of the report that included White’s home address and the information about his family, replacing it with a shorter version that focuses on the candidate himself.
In a statement to Washingtonian, Pinto wrote: “Campaigns should be run between candidates who put themselves out there to share their ideas, vision, and past record. While all information is available through any public search, we have removed all mention of my opponent’s family from our site. Voters can see all information about Robert’s voting record on my website and decide for themselves who they want representing our city in Congress.”
The initial version of the opposition report, compiled by Chris Haxo and dated February 26, had gone live in the media tab of her site, right under the link for “Blossom,” the Pinto campaign’s AI assistant.
Not all of the information in the dossier is wholly favorable to Pinto. Under the heading “soft on crime,” the report says White supported decriminalizing drug possession, opposed charging kids under 18 as adults, and co-sponsored a bill streamlining teacher background checks. But it also points out that both White and Pinto voted for a July 2020 bill cutting DC’s police budget by $15 million.
A section on White’s “overlaps with Donald Trump” lists three donors to White’s campaign who have also given to the president, including developer Douglas Jemal. But reporting in Washington City Paper shows many of Pinto’s donors have also given to Trump and other Republicans.
While campaigns and political groups sometimes publish opposition reports on their opponents, Pinto’s move came as a shock to those accustomed to Democratic-dominated DC politics. However, it’s not the first clash between the two candidates, who sit next to each other on the DC Council dais.
In late February, Pinto and White introduced a competing bills requiring police to release body camera footage after officer-involved deaths or serious force incidents. White criticized Pinto’s bill as a political stunt, while Pinto responded that his version was impractical. Both bills ultimately passed unanimously.
Pinto moved to DC from a wealthy Connecticut suburb in 2020. Chairing the council’s public safety committee, she’s positioned herself as tough on crime and has alienated progressives. White, a fifth-generation Washingtonian, is more chameleon-like, but generally left of the council’s center.
In his video statement, White alluded to Pinto’s background: “I understand that someone with that level of privilege that most of us will never know may not fully understand the consequences of what you did, but you have to understand that you seriously crossed a line.”
Kinney Zalesne, the former DNC official who is the third best-known candidate in the race, jumped at the chance to term “OppoGate” a troubling distraction.
“My opponents’ infighting in the DC Delegate race is exactly what people hate about political campaigns and career politicians,” her campaign wrote in a statement. “While council members White and Pinto angrily accuse each other of malice, incompetence, hypocrisy and corruption, I’m the only candidate focused on DC’s real fight, which is against Donald Trump.”
Ike Allen covers politics, food, culture, and transportation in DC and writes the monthly Hidden Eats column for the magazine. He grew up in DC.
