Patricia Stamper: Showing Up for DC

Emily Hi Patricia. Hello. Thank you for meeting up today. Could you briefly introduce yourself and why you chose to meet up at Denny's here?

Patricia My name is Patricia Stamper. I'm a Ward 7 resident. I live in DC. I'm a mom of two kids. I chose Denny's because I hang out here a lot. It's right near my home. It's walking distance. It's transit accessible. This has a home vibe. It's real chill. Plus, Miss Patricia is one of my favorite waiters. She's a day shift waiter, and everyone may love or hate her, but I love her because she's my name. She's my favorite waiter.

Emily It's a good name. So kind of going back to the very start of your journey and your life, it says on your campaign website that you grew up in foster care. Was that in DC?

Patricia No, actually I'm from the west coast. I'm from a town people may know as infamous with the LA riots in Los Angeles County. It's called Compton. I was raised in Compton. I came out here for school at Columbia College, which is now Washington Adventist University, in fall of 2004. I matriculated through school through undergrad. I graduated from Washington Adventist University in 2009. I went to Strayer University, graduated with my master's in 2020, and then I decided actually in 2013 that I wanted to get into campaigning.

I started going to Hyattsville City Council meetings. I ran into a gentleman named Joseph Solomon and became his campaign manager. Then I realized I had a kind of an itch to scratch, like I really like this. He told me something that really resonated with me. He was like, "Hey, you could be the candidate, too." And I've just kind of been kind of on my Bernie Sanders, a perennial candidate, low key, but not a perennial candidate because I actually run with a purpose and I actually win. I like DC, and I bought a home about — almost a year of being a homeowner, very close within a year. It's my home. I grew up here.

I was 18 when I got here. I'm 40 now. I've spent more than half my life here. I've taught thousands of kids in all eight wards, special ed, general ed, whatever they need me to do, other duties as assigned. Great old DC public schools. It's in everyone's contract as an educator, other duties as assigned.

So, I've been here for a while. And growing up in foster care from three days old to when I emancipated after high school, I have a different view of the world and how people are. So thank you DC.

Emily Can you talk a little bit more about that different view of the world that foster care gave you?

Patricia A lot of people can either tolerate you, or they want you in their space. People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime, and you just have to kind of segment people into what category they are. Maybe this is just somebody, just a passing season. Maybe this is a lifetime friend. Maybe this season right now you guys need a break. Or maybe there's a reason this person came into your life to teach you a lesson.

Growing up the way that I did in foster care, I primarily went to Seventh Day Adventist schools. I went to Los Angeles Adventist Academy, the Orangewood Adventist Academy. I graduated from Los Angeles Adventist Academy in kindergarten, 8th grade, and 12th. And I attended Orangewood Adventist Academy for the beginning part of my high school curriculum. I learned how to play volleyball from scratch. I was just a girl from Compton going to school in Orange County and I learned to play volleyball from scratch. I learned to play golf. I learned how to throw discus, shotput, javelin. I was just a sponge. I liked learning.

I remember my room mom. Every class had like a room mom. I was very apprehensive of white people, just to be fully transparent. And I met this awesome woman. Her name was Marilyn Krell. And Miss Krell, everybody called her Mama Krell. I'm like, why? But then I got to know her and like that was an extension of my family. I still can right now pick up my phone and call Miss Krell. Me and her daughter Becky became very good friends. She was just a kid from Yorba Linda. I was a kid from Compton. We were total polar opposites, but we became really good friends. At Orangewood, it was a very like United Nations diverse class, which was a total contrast to where I went to school in LA because it was mostly Black and Hispanic kids that I went to school with. But in Garden Grove, it was more diverse. It was white kids, Asian kids, Black kids. It was just a very United Nations diverse field. I really enjoyed it personally. It was more academically rigorous. It was a challenge. I realized that I had a huge deficit compared to my peers when I got to Orangewood, because my ninth grade year I spent in seventh grade and eighth grade math. That was like my Achilles heel.

But I really appreciate now, I can say at 40, I'm eating my own words that I'm glad I never went to public school. I am thankful that my foster mother paid out of her pocket and whoever else paid for my education. I never went to public school, except for when I went to Strayer. Strayer was considered public school. But I pretty much am trained, educated, and I learned from the Adventist Church. I'm a product of Adventist education through and through. And I firmly believe a quality education for kids here in DC is the platform to wherever they want to do next. For any kid from Deanwood, Marshall Heights all the way to Palisades, you need a quality education, be able to read, write, and quantify and critically think on grade level. And that is a huge issue right now um with our high school graduates. A lot of kids, even today, only 15 to 20% of kids in Ward 8 in high school are going to actually be in class. Where’s the other 80? Are they in bed? Are they at work? Are they alive? Where are they?

I want all kids to succeed. I want all kids here in DC to have attainable jobs, to have a way, a pathway to the next level, to not just be standing in front of a liquor store and asking for money or holding the door. I want kids to be greater than what they are.

Emily And I'm sure that led you to the education advocacy and the teaching that you've done since then, as well as to your career in the ANC [Advisory Neighborhood Council] and in politics. So how do you balance all of that? I know you're also raising two kids of your own. How do you balance your personal life, your work life, and your political life?

Patricia I remember last year around this time, ironically, me and my relationship with Jesus. I remember sitting at my desk September 1st, 2025, and I said, "Lord, let whatever is not supposed to be in my life, take it away. Whatever door I'm supposed to walk in, let me walk through it." And baby let me tell you, by November 7th, I had no job. But I had a new house. I just closed them all on September 30th. My kids, they haven't really missed meals. My kids haven't missed school. I literally was given the opportunity. I kept kind of complaining that I was missing out on the little things. I can count how many times up until this school year, how many times I actually took my kids to school, especially the little one. I was always paying people to pick up and drop off and mom for me.

So then I got fired and it was like, "You’re firing me?" Oh, I was offended, but then I kind of sat back. And I was like, "Well, maybe God is answering my prayer." I was like, "Oh shit." You always hear people say, “Tell God your plan and watch him laugh,” because it’s been hard balancing between me and my Google Calendar and my Apple Calendar and planning life around my children' s schedules. It's been big fun. I literally plan my life around my kids' schedule. And I make adjustments accordingly. I remember I had an anxiety attack one Sunday and I'm calling people. I'm panicking. Finally, my oldest said, "Mommy, just call 911. I rather you be alive and we figure out where we go later." Because I was so worried about who's going to watch them than actually getting medical assistance at the time. And he just was like, "We'll be okay. We'll ride the ambulance."

: Come to find out I wasn't having a heart attack. It was an anxiety attack that felt like a heart attack, and it physically hurt. And it kind of hurt at the same time, at Sunday say 5:15 or 5:30 in the afternoon, nobody answered the phone. People that I thought would answer the phone for me on a Sunday afternoon that I've showed up for and helped. They didn't answer the phone and I really needed help. So it made me kind of step back and say, you know what, people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. You can either get mad and be pissed that they didn't answer, or you could learn from it. It could be a data point, a tool to your toolbox. So it made me a little more this since last year that now I'm more resilient. I grew up a little bit more. I don't whine. My self-talk is less whiny.

I'm not complaining as much to myself, but it's been a time navigating government services and just getting assistance from the DOE to SNAP to TANF to DC Medicaid to switching insurance. My medical needs, both my kids' medical needs, finding their providers, getting providers in the house, not having a car, finding out how to get there. It's been a whirlwind and just kind of always saying, "Okay, what did I get done today? What went well? What could I do better?" And just keep it moving forward.

Emily There are a lot of moving pieces in your life.

Patricia Yeah. Another thing I do on the side, I always have side hustles. I officiate. I've been officiating basketball since 2016. I am a IAABO [International Association of Approved Basketball Officials] #134 official ref. I've reffed in the playoffs, Maryland State playoffs. I officiate girls' lacrosse as well. I've done field hockey. I've done boys lacrosse. I haven't done softball. I was going to do football this season, but I realized I don't have time and I kind of let it go. Maybe next season. Don’t know yet. But my first love is basketball, and I'm getting back in shape for that. I remember when COVID happened back in 2020, I got a trainer. I met this guy at the polls. He ended up becoming my son's wrestling coach, and he trained me. Being trained for like two years, every day, at least six days a week at 10:30, 10:00 for 30 minutes — it planted something in me. That hey, if I'm consistent, I can get somewhere.

So now I'm getting back into shape. At #134, we have a walking challenge right now on the app. So trying to get all my steps in so I can be the number one person or at least in the top three because whoever gets the top prize wins something. It's really competitive. I spent the last season just sitting at the table watching my peers. It kind of felt like punishment to watch my peers because I wanted to be on the floor blowing the whistle, but I wasn't quite ready. So this year, this season, I'm excited for the upcoming season. That's side hustle money and keeps me in shape. They say you have different streams of income: some play money, fun money, and the money. So this is my play money, fun money, and it keeps me in shape.

Emily It's play money, and you're doing it for fun.

: I really like officiating, to see the kids. When girls’ lacrosse came to Prince Williams County Public Schools, I was one of the first officials to start with those girls. Just to see them now, like seeing them at tournaments and seeing them around, it’s kind of cool to see their growth and their maturation as players and just as young ladies.

: Emily: It’s pretty cool the throughline in all of the work that you’ve talked about seems to be educating and empowering younger generations and kind of bringing your own experiences into that, too. So it's really cool that you have all of these different ways that you do that. So a little bit more on the political side of your life, you talked a little bit about why you decided to run for ANC and the people who inspired you. But when did you do that specifically and how has that experience been?

Patricia The first time I ran for ANC was the 2020 election cycle. I ran against Anthony Lorenzo Green for the 7C04 seat. I came in second. I didn't win, but it made me realize that I could be the incumbent, entrenched incumbent at that. Two years later, I ran again. But this time it was after redistricting. But colleagues being colleagues and certain people being certain people, I got challenged and got knocked off the ballot. So, I had to run as a write-in, but I won. So, I won in 2022. Then I turned around again in 2024 and ran again. Little did I know I would buy a house and have to move, but I ended up buying a house and moving. So, now, uh, again in 2026, I was challenged again for signatures. Once people realize — I wouldn't even say once people realize — I’m going to own it and say I should have gotten more signatures. I did not. Required is 25. I should have gotten 50 to withstand a challenge, but I got 30. That wasn't enough. So, the seven knocked me under ballot access. So then I went back and tried to cure the signatures, but I just couldn't find the people that rent the homes in my area. They don't live there. They register to vote in another part of DC and they didn't want to move the registration. All that to say, there's political games being played with ballot access, and some people from other wards. This guy named James Harnett has gone around challenging a lot of people's signatures and knocked one of my colleagues off the ballot and myself.

Mind you, this is a former Ward 2 commissioner who has consistently every election cycle challenged people's signatures and knocked them off the ballot or created more laborious administrative issues. More entrenched campaigns that have money can pay for certain things — less grassroots, have a machine behind them. It's harder to withstand a challenge when you're grassroots than when you're not. But lesson learned. I won't forget, come 2028 or 2030 or 2032 election cycle to get double the signatures now. If nothing else, that really annoyed me. But it's okay. Sometimes some hard lessons are learned in sweat, equity, and mosquito bites. That's usually summer petitioning.

Emily Summer, they chose a great season for petition season.

Patricia It’s just painful. These tiger mosquitoes are abusive. Then my kids are standing there, scratching. But hey, who else is going to? No one else ironically pulled petitions to run for this seat. So I was the only one. So to be challenged, then knocked off the ballot to where there's no one printed now. Anyone can write in. The other person that got knocked out too, she's a single mother as well. Why would a Ward 2 Democrat commissioner, James Harnett, why? If you can find out why, let me know. James, I'm still here. Still willing to walk the block with you and talk to you. Save your energy for other things.

Emily Hope you get that opportunity.

Patricia Yeah. I’m looking for James. James, if you ever want to meet me at Denny's, it's right here next to Bennington Road Metro. No, really. I'm looking for Mr. Harnett. I really am.

Emily So kind of going back to the general advocacy work that you've done in DC, since you've spent so much time with kids across the city and advocates across the city, what would a close to perfect DC look like to you?

Patricia Everyone can read on grade level. Oh my gosh. I would say all eight wards are at least at an eighth grade level, bare minimum. Hell, I’d even take sixth at this point because our current president, I don't know what grade level he's on, but I'm close to say it's probably not eighth or ninth grade reading level. If we can get most of DC — a majority of all eight wards — on an eighth grade reading level, we'll be doing something serious.

Ninth grade, we'll really be taking them out because most jobs that are apprentice jobs, are jobs in certified trades, they're at the ninth grade competency level for math and literacy. I say all that to be facetious and funny, but it's real data. If we can get the populace reading level up across the board, adults, kids, graduating seniors, eighth grade level, that would change the trajectory of DC. Like totally change the game.

Emily Beautiful. So that kind of answers one of the questions I was also going to ask you, which is what would you change about living in DC? But on the flip side of that, what do you love about living in DC?

Patricia I love the authenticity, people. You can go from Ward 8 to 1 and have a totally different mindset, dialect, lexicon, use of language. Say right here, "slim like get out my way," and Ward 1 is maybe "excuse me ma'am could I get by? May I pass?" Being able to code switch and understand is a very unique asset to have here in the nation's capital. Also we're right at the door of the capital. We have a front row seat.

Another thing I would change, I would make this a state if I had the power, some kind of way. Executive order, this is a state. Here's a governor. Here's our state house. I would turn the office of the ANC to our legislative side, the House of Commons or whatever. Make somebody the Speaker of the House. It could be the guy that runs OANC [Office of the Advisory Neighborhood Commissions] right now. He would love being the Speaker of the House, by the way. Then we’d have a governor. We’ll have senators. I just feel like we would have more protections. Like our governor will be able to call our National Guard, like January 6th would not have happened because we would have been able to defend the capital more effectively, rather than our mayor sitting with her hands tied administratively because of the law.

Emily It's so interesting, the intersection between local systems in DC and the federal system and how they interact, but also how they're kind of operating on separate levels as well. So it’s cool how you lay that all out. This is a set of questions that I ask all interviewees. What's one moment that captures what you love about the advocacy work that you do that you remember?

Patricia When we finally found out in Deanwood that we got the money in the budget to build a new library. We advocated. We fought to try to keep our little Deanwood kiosk that someone hit with a car, knocked over. And then we got on the news and was like, "Oh, our kiosk." Then we ended up creating — I know TinVinh and Max and all these great people got together. We created Friends of Deanwood Library. We advocated like, "Hey, why does this library have to share this rec center and then we went to council and got boundary lines changed. We advocated. We worked together as a unit in Deanwood and got what we needed, which is now a new library coming. New development coming to Deanwood metro. I really believe we're stronger together as a ward and as a city if we actually work together. And I know right now the Democratic Party, I'm a committeewoman for the DC state committee. I represent Ward 7. I'm still in office until they swear in the new committee, and they haven't done that yet. So I'm still the committeewoman, and I really want the new set of members that have been elected to really listen to the concerns of the current members.

Chioma is a Ward 7 resident. She may end up being the chair of the DC Democrats. Chioma is good friends with Janeese. I respect our Democratic nominee for mayor, Janeese Lewis George. I respect Chioma. Our current councilmember, respect him. [Ward 7] Chair of the Democrats, Tyrell, respect him. But all that to say, we still got to set aside our differences, whatever that may be, and work together for a better DC. We have to not just be selfish in our ask of our constituents, but to actually advocate more for the needs of more people than just this small like section of the ward, so to speak. I'm saying that all to say, right now there's some conflict of interest maybe within the DC Dems. I didn't win my slate. More than 75% of my slate won. So I didn't win re-election. However, I could always come back as an add-on committeewoman if need be. I believe in rank choice voting. I was one of the few silly, maybe crazy or delusional Democrats that believed in rank choice voting because it was so many candidates. Like all of Jesus' disciples were trying to be the Ward 7 councilmember, and you can only pick one. So it was unfair to me, to the voter because then they had to educate themselves on all 11 to 12 people that were attempting to run than to make an educated decision.

And now is that fair to the voter? No. Is that fair to the people trying to get ballot access? Maybe, maybe not. But that's the position we were put in. And we didn't as a party, as Ward 7 Democrats, kind of weed out people that are perennial and just keep running to run. Now we have Fair Elections money. It’s like coupon clipping. You raise $20, we'll give you $5. If you raise $100, we'll give you $20 now. Fair Elections made it more even, more accessible to more people. But it's hard to raise money from January to February because nobody has any money. Everybody’s broke. It's right after Christmas. Everybody ain't filed their taxes. But in order to qualify for Fair Elections, you need to raise a certain amount of money to then get the office of campaign finance to match. And it's the whole system now that we have in DC. Some people have found loopholes and they just run every election cycle. Win or lose or draw, they just run and it's a business. It's a hustle. But I'm going to say the thing out loud. It's a hustle. So why hustle people's vote if they're not going to do the work? Food for thought.

Emily It's very true. I love how you break down kind of what it's like to run for office in DC because the system itself is so complex. And there's so many layers that I think even people in DC sometimes get confused. Then once politicians are in power in DC, there are so many layers of approval up to Congress and it just gets very confusing and very messy very easily.

Patricia Very messy. I love how you said messy. I would say very complacent.

Emily I like that. Complacent. Messy. But I'm glad that there are people like you who are still working on it and trying to make the system better and stronger. A couple last questions here. What advice would you give to other advocates here in DC, whether they're working on issues that you've previously worked on or whatever they care about?

Patricia We can't give up. We have to unapologetically keep asking for what we need. If you want to be a state, make it happen. We have to make it happen. I would say there's a misnomer in how to bring a state into the union. The last two states to join the union were Alaska and Hawaii. They were admitted to the union together. Now DC has the opportunity. It's been brought to the floor three times in Congress and not votable. I want to say in 2021, 2025 and again some other times like three times in the last 10 years. It's come before our bleed-blue Democrats when we had control of the House and the presidency. We did not make DC a state, which I believe is a travesty because this is one of the biggest but smallest diverse Black, Hispanic populations in the United States. Yet, we don't have power and autonomy over our money. We don't have autonomy over our vote. We have a delegate in Congress that has to ask for time to speak on the floor. So, the soon-to-be gentleman from the District of Columbia, Robert White, will have to ask someone to give him time even to speak. He doesn't have a vote. He has a voice, but no vote.

That's why it's taxation without representation. DC is taxed more than most states in the 50 states in the United States of America. So why not be the 51st state, have a governor, senators, a legislative, congressman, and congresswoman, and keep it moving? We go to war. We pay taxes, federal, state. We contribute as district residents to the world, and yet we are still relegated to being a second-class citizen.

We’ve got to fix that. That's something I would want to change in my lifetime. I want my grandkids to be able to say, "Huh, mommy helped DC become a state or grand mommy rather." I don't want to say that. Makes me feel old.

Emily That is such a cool goal to be working towards, and I know so many of our listeners also share that goal. I hope you end up succeeding in that.

Patricia Yes, DC statehood now. Now, like today, right now, or at least in the next four years.

Emily As soon as possible. Lastly, how can people support the work that you do whether it's political, non-political, future looking?

I would say how you can support me is to support your ANC. If you are a DC resident and you live in Ward 7 and you don't know who your ANC commissioner is, I need you to find out who your ANC commissioner is. Ward 7, please. We have some empty seats throughout Ward 7 that are not filled. If you see trash on your block, pick it up. If you don't know who your civic association is, find out. There's the Deanwood Citizens Association, Marshall Heights Civic Association. There's Friends of Kingman Park. There's so many. There's ANC7 C, B, D, E, and F. There's all these different spaces to be involved civically. There's PTA associations and PTOs. Become involved.

Don't just complain. Come with solutions. Come with, "Hey, here's what I can do. Here's how I can help." Don't just sit back and complain and say, "Oh, my councilmember didn't do this or my state board rep didn't do that or my ANC." What did you do? How did you help? Did you do something to make a positive contribution? If not, sit back, listen in the meetings, and help us out. Please help us out because it’s a lot of trash. Wendell [Ward 7 Councilmember] needs help. Eboni-Rose [Chair of the Ward 7 Education Council] needs help. All these ANCs, they’re going to need help. These civic association presidents are going to need help. If we work together, we can get more done in Ward 7. And that's not even just in Ward 7. That's every ward in DC. But I live in seven, so I'm talking Ward 7 right now.