Sabel Harris, a newcomer to D.C. politics who won her first election less than a year ago, plans to announce her candidacy Thursday for a bigger job: the Ward 1 seat on the D.C. Council.

       Harris, 32, who works in marketing, said she became involved in local politics because of actual dumpster fires.

       Wp Get the full experience.Choose your plan ArrowRight

       A trash disposal bin near her home in the U Street corridor in Northwest Washington caught fire more than once, Harris said. She decided to run for D.C.’s hyperlocal elective office, advisory neighborhood commissioner, to clean up the neighborhood.

       She told The Washington Post that she plans next to run in the 2022 Democratic primary for the Ward 1 seat, which Brianne K. Nadeau has held for two terms. Nadeau has filed to seek reelection.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Harris said that, generally, she finds herself politically aligned with Nadeau, who has been a proponent of higher taxes on the rich, greater spending on housing for homeless and low-income residents, and greater density in her ward, which includes the neighborhoods of Adams Morgan, Columbia Heights and Mount Pleasant.

       Advertisement

       Harris shares Nadeau’s urbanist leanings: She said one of her proudest achievements in 11 months as an advisory neighborhood commissioner was making sure that a development over the U Street Metro station would be built without parking spaces.

       Where Nadeau falls short, Harris said, is in constituent services and in-person connection with residents. Opponents raised similar complaints about Nadeau in 2018, but she triumphed with nearly twice as many votes as the closest finisher.

       Story continues below advertisement

       “There are big problems that need to be solved with legislation, but that doesn’t mean that the small things are overlooked, like full trash cans,” Harris said. “I think we are very aligned on values and on the political spectrum. However, I do feel [Nadeau] has been more absent in times where we need her to be present.”

       Advertisement

       Harris said she was most disappointed in Nadeau after two shootings in her small ANC district. “It feels like I am screaming into the void. Please, someone, pay attention over here because people are dying,” she said, adding that she thinks the city should commit more resources to violence prevention in neighborhoods beyond those that are the main focus of the District’s violence interrupter programs.

       Nadeau has responded to similar criticism in the past by pointing to the varied ways she keeps in touch with constituents, including pre-pandemic “Brianne on Your Block” office hours at community hangout spots, telephone town halls, and mail and email bulletins.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Harris also said she wants to be the first Asian American elected to the D.C. Council.

       “My identity also gives me a perspective I think the council is lacking. I know what it was like for my family to come to the U.S. with 10 Vietnamese dollars,” Harris said. Her mother arrived as a refugee from Vietnam in 1975 and settled with help from a church group in Staunton, Va., Harris said.

       Advertisement

       “I know, when I hear about families who are just coming to D.C., the struggle of having to work your way up. I also understand that sometimes you cannot pull yourself up by the bootstraps,” she said. “There are these systems in place that continually hold you back.”

       Story continues below advertisement

       In a period when Asian Americans have been the target of violence and discrimination, Harris said she thinks it is time for an Asian perspective on the council. “People say, ‘Oh, the [Asian American] community isn’t that big in D.C. So it’s almost like it’s acceptable to say these problems aren’t that big,” she said. She would like, she said, to be in the room to say, “No, these problems are important.”