Watch a video to learn more about Councilmember Jim Graham and Ward One. Councilmember Graham's biography is below.

Biography

Jim Graham was first elected in 1998, and re-elected in 2002. In 2006, he was re-elected to a third term with 86.32% in the Democratic primary and 97.24% in the general election.

In his first term on the Council, Mr. Graham chaired hearings and an investigation that uncovered major fraud and theft at the Office of Property Management. This work led to felony criminal indictments and restitution to the DC Government of millions of dollars. In his second term, as chair of the Committee on Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Mr. Graham was a strong advocate for tenant rights and consumer protection, extending and tightening the District’s rent control laws, creating a “bill of rights” for tenants, and ending abusive, illegal evictions of tenants.

Mr. Graham is now chairperson of the Committee on Public Works and the Environment. That assignment includes oversight of alcohol regulation. He is also a member of the Committee on Finance and Revenue, the Committee on Housing and Urban Affairs, and the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs. Mr. Graham is continuing as a voting member of the Metro/WMATA board of directors, a position he has held since 1999.

Mr. Graham served as the Executive Director of Whitman-Walker Clinic from 1984 until the start of his service as a Councilmember. Prior to Whitman-Walker, his professional endeavors included a clerkship with Mr. Chief Justice Earl Warren (Rtd), a staff attorney position with the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs Committee (chaired by Senator Abe Ribicoff (D-Conn)), and experience in private, agency and public interest law.

Mr. Graham has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and George Washington University, and supervising instructor at the University of Wisconsin Law School. He has been a member of the District of Columbia Bar in good standing for 33 years. Mr. Graham is licensed to practice law in the District of Columbia and before the U.S. Supreme Court.

A graduate of Michigan State University, Jim Graham received a J.D. degree from the University of Michigan Law School and an L.L.M. from Georgetown University Law Center.

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