During her first council term, she was active on the issues of crime and violence, marijuana policy, assisted suicide, and improvements to Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
She criticized the city's emergency medical services department, opposed the creation of a public electrical utility, and applauded the construction of a sports arena in her ward.
May served as a project consultant for the nonprofit, which taught workplace skills to at-risk teens and young adults and engaged in low-income housing development.
[14] May was appointed to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia Housing Authority in April 2009 after being nominated by Council Member Marion Barry.
She then replaced existing search committee member Ken Grossinger (who represented the Metropolitan Washington AFL-CIO) with Valerie Santos, Fenty's deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
[21] In 2012, May co-founded the Community College Preparatory Academy, the first adult charter school in Ward 8, and served as the founding chairperson of its board of trustees.
[8][10] That same year, May joined the election campaign of Muriel Bowser, a Fenty protégé who was running for a seat on the District Council from Ward 4.
When Vision of Victory opened Roundtree Residences, a 91-unit affordable-housing community, May invited Bowser to attend to give the mayoral candidate more visibility in Ward 8.
The Washington Post asserted that May's fund-raising advantage was critical in raising her name awareness in Ward 8, where she was little known, and allowing her to stand out in the crowded election field.
Local political columnist Jonetta Rose Barras argued that this might actually prove a handicap to May's election, as she would have few places to turn for major donations later in the campaign.
[31][a] By late February, however, Barry had stumbled badly in the Ward 8 race, and May was seen by Mike DeBonis at The Washington Post as the front-runner in the election.
"[6] In summer 2014, Jones was accused of gross mismanagement of and diversion of funds at the city-owned low-income Park Southern Apartments, leading to a fraud investigation by the D.C.
As election day neared, canvassing increased, and May provided vans to drive voters in the city's most transit-dependent ward to early voting locations downtown.
[45] However, with 1,031 provisional and absentee ballots yet to be counted, the District of Columbia Board of Elections (BOE) said the outcome of the race was too close to call.
[53] According to the Washington City Paper, May pushed hard to reopen discussions on council budget compromises reached (but not enacted) before she was elected.
May then strongly supported Bowser's budget initiatives, helping to defeat a push by Council Chairman Phil Mendelson to phase in tax cuts in July 2015 instead of the planned February 2016 date.
"[56] To respond to the sharp increase in violence, May began holding "pop-up" events in different neighborhoods of her ward once a week during the D.C. Council recess.
[57] In June 2015, May strongly supported a proposal by Mayor Bowser which would allow the Metropolitan Police Department to temporarily close for 96 hours any business suspected of selling "synthetic drugs".
The District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs would also be given the authority revoke the license of any business caught selling the chemicals.
But Bowser's speech was interrupted by activists with the Black Lives Matter movement, who also criticized May for her lack of response to the 95 percent increase in homicides in Ward 8.
[61] May later voted in favor of compromise legislation whose centerpiece was a counseling, job training, and stipend program aimed at 200 of the city's most at-risk residents which would encourage them to avoid criminal enterprises.
The amendment was defeated after Judiciary Committee chair Kenyan McDuffie pointed out that such penalties due little to deter crime and have not been enforced in D.C.
But under federal law, landlords who received Section 8 money to provide subsidized or free housing to the poor could evict anyone who used marijuana in these homes.
Fearful of a backlash in Congress, Mayor Bowser convinced the district council to enact emergency legislation in March 2015 temporarily banning cannabis clubs for 90 days.
[66][67][68] Reporter Aaron C. Davis of The Washington Post implied that May dared not oppose the mayor on the issue for fear of losing Bowser's financial backing in her reelection campaign.
[69] Severe budgetary, administrative, personnel, and operations problems have plagued the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department for years, resulting in the unnecessary death of residents, accidents, and embarrassing equipment breakdowns.
[74] To help boost economic activity in the area, in mid-September 2015 Mayor Bowser announced a deal whereby the city would build a sports arena on the St. Elizabeths Hospital campus in Congress Heights.
Council member Mary Cheh proposed legislation which would fund a $250,000 study to see if the city should purchase Pepco and turn it into a public utility.
The PAC was supported by Democrats for Education Reform, a "staunchly pro-charter and anti-teachers union"[93] national political action committee which is largely funded by Wall Street.
[99] White was endorsed by Karl Racine, Attorney General of the District of Columbia,[97][99] and by former 2015 Democratic Primary opponents Marion Christopher Barry (son of the late mayor and former Ward 8 council member),[97][99] Jauhar Abraham, and Stuart Anderson (who became White's 2016 primary campaign manager)[99] Will Sommer, political reporter for the Washington City Paper, wrote on February 8 that no other candidates were expected to file in the race.