# Florence Pendleton

Florence Howard Pendleton (January 28, 1926 – September 10, 2020) was an American political activist who served as a shadow senator from the District of Columbia from 1991 to 2007.
Pendleton's main goal as shadow senator was to promote the efforts of the District of Columbia to gain full voting rights. She was inaugurated as the first ever shadow senator from the District of Columbia on January 3, 1991. She was known as “The Education Senator” because of her legacy as a life-long educator, administrator of DC Public Schools, and founder of the nonprofit “STAND”, The Society for Teaching Americans about New Columbia and DC Statehood.
Pendleton defended her seat in 2000, cruising to victory in the general election over Janet Helms, beating her 84%–14%. Her re-election bid in 2006 failed when Philip Pannell successfully challenged that she failed to have 2,000 valid signatures to get onto the ballot, having only 1,559. She ran as a write-in candidate, but only won 1,363 votes as Michael Donald Brown cruised to victory with 62,415 votes over her and Pannell's 21,552 votes to win the Democratic Primary. Her last day in office was on January 3, 2007.

## Background

Pendleton graduated from Howard University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master of Science and she was a doctoral student at Virginia Tech.

## Election history
### 1990

1990 Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C. :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Jesse Jackson | 85,454 | 57.03 |
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton | 25,349 | 16.92 |
| | Democratic | Harry "Tommy" Thomas, Jr. | 22,401 | 14.95 |
| | Democratic | James Forman | 9,899 | 6.61 |
| | Democratic | Marc Humphries | 6,739 | 4.50 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 149,842 | 100.00 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Jesse Jackson | 105,633 | 46.80 |
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton | 58,451 | 25.89 |
| | independent (politician) | Harry T. Alexander | 13,983 | 6.19 |
| | Republican | Milton Francis | 13,538 | 6.00 |
| | Republican | Joan Gillison | 12,845 | 5.69 |
| | DC Statehood Green | Keith M. Wilkerson | 4,545 | 2.01 |
| | DC Statehood Green | Anthony W. Peacock | 4,285 | 1.90 |
| | independent (politician) | John West | 3,621 | 1.60 |
| | independent (politician) | David L. Whitehead | 3,341 | 1.48 |
| | Socialist Workers | Sam Manuel | 2,765 | 1.23 |
| | independent (politician) | Lee Black | 2,728 | 1.21 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 215,735 | 100.00 |
| | Democratic win (new seat) | Democratic win (new seat) | Democratic win (new seat) | Democratic win (new seat) |
In the general election, the top two vote getters were elected as Shadow senators of each seat, with Pendleton taking Seat 1 and Jackson taking Seat 2.

### 1994

1994 U.S. Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C. :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton (incumbent) | 78,576 | 76.83 |
| | Democratic | Stephen Sellows | 20,512 | 20.06 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 3,180 | 3.11 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 102,268 | 100.00 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton (incumbent) | 117,517 | 74.04 |
| | Republican | Julie Finley | 24,107 | 15.19 |
| | DC Statehood Green | Mel Edwards | 15,586 | 9.82 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 1,511 | 0.95 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 158,721 | 100.00 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### 2000

2000 U.S. Shadow Senator election in Washington, D.C. :
| Primary election |||||
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton (incumbent) | 28,500 | 96.48 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 1,041 | 3.52 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 29,541 | 100.00 |
| General election |||||
| | Democratic | Florence Pendleton (incumbent) | 143,578 | 88.97 |
| | Republican | Janet Helms (withdrew) | 16,666 | 10.33 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 1,136 | 0.71 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 161,380 | 100.00 |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |

### 2006

2006 U.S. Shadow Senator Washington, D.C. Democratic Party primary election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Michael Donald Brown | 62,415 | 73.15 |
| | Democratic | Philip Pannell | 21,552 | 25.26 |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 1,363 | 1.60 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 85,330 | 100.00 |
Pendleton got kicked off the Democratic primary ballot for not getting enough valid signatures to qualify for the election. She ran as a write-in candidate with little success.

## Political career

* November 6, 1990 — elected shadow senator when office was created
* November 8, 1994 — reelected shadow senator
* November 7, 2000 — reelected shadow senator
* 2006 — filed to run for reelection but was knocked off the primary ballot when her opponent Phil Pannell challenged the signatures on her petition