Markus Batchelor, Candidate for DC Council At-Large

Markus Batchelor is the Ward 8 Representative and Vice President of the State Board of Education. He is the youngest-ever elected member of the board, where he’s represented over 16,000 K-12 students across 44 school communities since he was elected in 2016 at age 23. Since taking office to represent one of DC’s most historically under-served communities, he has led on efforts focused on equity and closing the opportunity gap. He previously served a term as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, where he represented residents in District 8C04 in the Congress Heights and Washington Highlands communities.

Rep. Batchelor is an alumnus and former trainer at the Marion Barry Youth Leadership Institute (MBYLI), where he worked with DC teens on personal development, civic engagement, college readiness, and employ-ability skills. He has also served as a Ward 8 Liaison in the Mayor’s Office of Community Relations and Services and on the staff of the Far Southeast Family Strengthening Collaborative, a community-based non-profit dedicated to the prevention of child abuse and neglect in Ward 8. He currently works at People for the American Way’s Young Elected Officials Network, where he helps to support over 1300 young elected leaders from across the country at all levels of government.

Rep. Batchelor was born in Ward 8 and was raised and still lives in the Congress Heights neighborhood. A graduate of Martin Luther King Elementary School, Hardy Middle School, and Thurgood Marshall Academy PCHS, Rep. Batchelor got his start in community activism advocating for voting rights and statehood for the District of Columbia — the only national capital in the developed world where its residents cannot vote in the national legislature — including co-founding the DC Statehood Student Association while attending the George Washington University. He went on to serve as the president of the Ward 8 Democrats and sat on DC’s Democratic State Committee as National Committeeman for the DC Young Democrats.