Edward Daniels Announces Run for DC Council At-Large

Washington, DC — Edward Daniels isn’t new to public service and he isn’t impressed by excuses.

For the past eight years, Daniels has intentionally taken on one of the most demanding roles in District government: unpaid, unglamorous, and relentlessly hands-on. As one of Washington, DC’s most experienced Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, Daniels has
built a reputation for doing what too many in city government avoid—showing up, asking hard questions, and forcing results.
Daniels has logged thousands of hours negotiating development agreements, securing real affordable housing, delivering enforceable community benefits, confronting slumlords, and holding District agencies accountable when those charged with oversight chose silence
instead.

“I didn’t take this job for a title or a paycheck…obviously,” Daniels said. “I took it because residents deserve someone who will fight for them—and stay in the fight until their concern is mitigated or solved.”

Daniels has served as Chairperson of ANC 6D and ANC 6/8F, representing some of the District’s most densely populated and fastest-growing neighborhoods, including Navy Yard, Buzzard Point, Southwest, and The Wharf. Navy Yard—his home—was named one of the 12
coolest neighborhoods in the world by Forbes Magazine, even as residents grapple with skyrocketing rents and transportation infrastructure failures.

As one of the city’s few hybrid ANCs, Daniels has worked across two Wards, alongside two Councilmembers, within two Business Improvement Districts, and in the shadow of two major sports stadiums—Nationals Park and Audi Field—navigating some of the most complex development and quality-of-life issues in the District.

He has repeatedly called out agencies—most notably the District Department of Transportation—for projects that ignore community input, fail basic safety standards, and hide behind buzzwords instead of results.

“Vision Zero isn’t a hashtag,” Daniels said. “If your project makes streets less safe, you don’t get a ribbon-cutting—you get questions and accountability.”

An entrepreneur by trade, Daniels brings private-sector urgency to public service. “In my world, if you don’t deliver, you don’t get paid,” Daniels said. “In government, too many people collect a taxpayer-funded paycheck whether they solve a single problem or
not. That’s unacceptable.”

Daniels is clear-eyed about the difference between necessary safeguards and bureaucratic stagnation.  “Checks and balances are essential,” he said. “But they should never be used to excuse inaction, incompetence, or failure. Process is not performance. Outcomes matter.”

Daniels’ citywide priorities include:

Housing: Ending the normalization of $6,000 one-bedroom apartments and the fiction that converting commercial spaces into luxury development will alleviate any part of the affordable housing crisis.

Public Safety: Ensuring all crime is prosecuted to the full extent of the law, with no carveouts for juveniles or elected officials.

Transportation: Demanding real accountability for agencies that implement dangerous, poorly planned projects without community buy-in.

Home Rule: Standing with District leaders to secure full Home Rule and protect local control over DC’s tax dollars.

Civil Rights & Accountability: Introducing legislation to bar current and former ICE agents from employment in District law enforcement or operating businesses in DC, citing systemic abuses and violations of constitutional rights. “Given all that’s happening in our city, in Minneapolis, in Los Angeles…I’m not interested in performative progress,” Daniels said. “I’m interested in results and protections that people can actually feel.”

A 2002 graduate of the University of Virginia, Daniels has served on the Frederick Douglass Bridge Advisory Committee and the Greater Washington DC–Baltimore Actors’ Equity Association Liaison Committee. He was named one of DC’s Finest by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Daniels is a Helen Hayes Award–winning actor, event producer, and entrepreneur, with appearances on House of Cards and VEEP and numerous stages across the region. He has lived in Washington, DC for 23 years and currently resides in Navy Yard. 

“I’ve done this work block by block, meeting by meeting, for eight years,” Daniels said. “Now it’s time to take that fight citywide.”

Learn more, online at www.EdwardDanielsAtLarge.com