Kinney Zalesne
Non-Voting Delegate to Congress — Democratic Primary, June 16, 2026
Not in DC Fair Elections ProgramKinney Zalesne (age 59) came to DC in 1995 for what was supposed to be a short stint in the Clinton White House. She fell in love with the city and has raised four children here with her husband Scott, serving in leadership roles in DC's schools, pools, parks, and nonprofits for 30 years. Her career spans government, business, and the nonprofit sector. She served as Assistant District Attorney in Philadelphia before becoming a White House Fellow with Vice President Gore. She then served as Counsel to Attorney General Janet Reno at the Department of Justice — a tenure she credits with the largest drop in crime in recorded US history through prevention, community engagement, and rehabilitation alongside tough enforcement. She later joined Microsoft as GM of Corporate Strategy and GM of Responsible Growth, and co-authored the bestselling book "Microtrends." She also served as Deputy National Finance Chair of the DNC and National Co-Chair of Women for Harris. Of all those roles, she calls her work at College Summit (now Peer Forward) her favorite. She left DOJ to help Co-Founder J.B. Schramm scale the program — originally started in an Adams Morgan basement to help low-income students reach college — growing its budget 20-fold and expanding it from a local effort to a national operation. Under her leadership the organization also helped change federal law to require high schools be measured on college enrollment and persistence, not just graduation. She also served as Board Chair of a Ward 4 school that doubled in enrollment during her tenure. On statehood, she calls DC's lack of voting representation "a national disgrace and part of the legacy of racism," but argues that fixing it requires a strategic "grand bargain" on Capitol Hill rather than outrage — coalition-building across sectors and the aisle being her signature skill. She proposes creating a Capital Caucus in Congress to build economic power regionally with MD, VA, and neighboring jurisdictions. On public safety she draws on her Reno experience: robust funding for evidence-based practices, gun reform, prevention, and rehabilitation. On technology, she draws on her Microsoft and Harvard democracy-and-technology work to advocate for AI policy that supports innovation while ensuring technology works for people.
Endorsements (17)
Elected/Appointed Officials
- Eric Holder (Former US Attorney General)
- Carlos Del Toro (78th Secretary of the Navy)
- Richard Danzig (Former Secretary of the Navy)
- Jaime Harrison (Former DNC Chair)
- Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM)
- Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-VA)
- Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ)
- Tricia Duncan (Ward 3 ANC Commissioner)
- Jeff Denny (Former ANC Member, Ward 3)
- Chris Moore (Retired Police Chief, San Jose)
Advocacy & community organizations
- DC Women in Politics (preference poll winner)
Individuals & public figures
- J.B. Schramm (Co-Founder, Peer Forward)
- Naomi Reem (Former Head of School, Milton Gottesman Jewish Day School)
- Theresa Atta Ifogah (Former Director of Program, Peer Forward)
- A'shanti Gholar (President & CEO, Emerge)
- Riman Barakat (co-CEO, Feel Beit, Jerusalem)
- Karen Brunwasser (co-CEO, Feel Beit, Jerusalem)
Positions on the issues
All positions are sourced directly from the candidate's campaign materials, official questionnaire responses, or verified news coverage. Stances are rated on a scale from Strongly opposes (−2) to Strongly supports (+2). A stance of Unknown means no public position has been found.
Achieving DC statehood should be the top priority for the District's Congressional Delegate.
Calls DC's lack of voting representation 'a national disgrace and part of the legacy of racism,' but argues that fixing it requires a strategic 'grand bargain' on Capitol Hill — not outrage. Distinguishes herself from other candidates by emphasizing coalition-building across sectors and the aisle as the path to full representation. Proposes a Capital Caucus to build regional economic leverage with DC, MD, VA, and neighboring jurisdictions.
DC's Delegate should pursue statehood primarily by building bipartisan coalitions and legislative deals in Congress, rather than through confrontation and protest.
Explicitly the 'grand bargain' candidate: 'fixing this will take more than indignance and outrage. It will require a strategic approach to a grand bargain on Capitol Hill… Throughout my career I've built coalitions across sectors and across the aisle.' Frames bipartisan coalition-building as her signature path to statehood.
DC should use all available legal tools — including litigation and public advocacy — to protect federal workers from mass terminations and defend federal agencies from relocation out of the District.
Casts protecting the federal workforce as a founding reason for her campaign — 'Trump is crushing this city on purpose' — and points to her DOJ record beating back Republican efforts to kill crime-prevention and after-school programs. Frames rebuilding DC's economy to be 'less dependent on the federal government' as the complement to defending federal workers now under attack.
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
Defending DC's budget and legislative autonomy from congressional interference should be a top priority for the District's Delegate.
Calls Congress's roughly $1 billion budget freeze 'a huge failure' that happened because 'nobody was paying attention — not our delegate, not our DC Council,' and argues the seat 'cannot just be reactive.' Pledges proactive, strategic vigilance to ensure DC controls 'its own revenue and its own destiny,' citing the beaten-back Medicaid-match cut as the model.
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
The Delegate should work to transfer federal land in DC — such as National Park Service parcels and vacant or surplus federal buildings — to local District control.
Supports federal land transfers as 'a very important part of DC's economic growth' and wants DC to 'take advantage' of upcoming opportunities from vacated federal buildings — but qualifies that transfers are 'not the sum and substance' of an economic-growth plan, which she ties more to building a homegrown tech scene and recruiting major employers.
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
DC should impose a commuter tax on people who work in the District but live in Maryland or Virginia (if federal law allowed it).
The forum's strongest commuter-tax proponent: reframes the 'third rail' as a reciprocal 'shared asset fund' — non-residents who work in DC (and DC residents who work in MD/VA) pay in, with the revenue earmarked for shared regional needs like Metro, roads, healthcare, and the environment. Pairs it with her proposed regional 'Capital Caucus.'
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
DC should push Congress to repeal or loosen the federal Height Act so the District can build taller buildings.
'I want to amend the Height Act in Congress so that we have the ability to build taller in this city, and that will enable us to provide more affordable housing.' Pairs it with expanding and adding flexibility to the Section 8 voucher program (usable for first-time mortgages).
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
The federal government should make a permanent funding commitment to Metro (WMATA), and the Delegate should fight to secure it.
'Totally agree' that Metro needs permanent support: 'our regional and national partners need to help us protect it, grow it, and safeguard it because it's a jewel of our capital and the country.' A self-described 'serious public-transit family.'
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
Federal contracting should give preferences to local, minority-, and women-owned businesses (such as DC's Certified Business Enterprises), rather than awarding contracts solely on lowest cost and open competition.
Supports addressing contracting inequities now — 'you can't pretend everything's equal' when some firms didn't start 'at the same place' — while framing it aspirationally: 'I long for the day when everyone can compete on equal footing… when we've solved that problem.'
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
General sources
- Issues — Kinney Zalesne for DC Delegate — Kinney Zalesne Campaign. Accessed 2026-05-28.
- About Kinney — Kinney Zalesne for DC Delegate — Kinney Zalesne Campaign. Accessed 2026-05-29.
- Meet the candidates running to be D.C.'s delegate to Congress — The 51st — The 51st. Accessed 2026-05-27.