In the battle to replace Marion Barry as the Ward 8 council member, Trayon White scored a victory Saturday by trouncing his main rival, LaRuby May, in a straw poll of nearly 200 voters.

White, a well-known city activist, grabbed 135 votes, automatically winning the endorsement of the Ward 8 Democrats ahead of the June 14 primary, while May got 50. The two have been dueling over the Ward 8 seat since Marion Barry’s death in November 2014. When a special election was held to succeed Barry last year, May won, but only by 79 votes, even though she significantly outspent White.

Now that May’s time filling the remainder of Barry’s term ends later this year, White has again emerged as her closest competitor for the seat. But at Saturday’s straw poll, which also featured a question-and-answer session among four candidates, May didn’t show up. Instead, organizers left open an empty chair for her at the end of the speakers’ table, along with her name card.

As White and three other candidates took turns discussing potential gentrification in Ward 8, the displacement of longtime or low-income families, crime reduction and police tactics, it was May’s absence that riled the audience the most.

When candidates were asked about May’s advocacy of a proposal to create a park for people to drive all-terrain vehicles, long-shot candidate Aaron Holmes sounded off:

A man places a campaign sign for incumbent City Council member LaRuby May Saturday while her challengers take questions from attendees at the Ward 8 Democrats' straw poll forum at Anacostia High School. May did not attend the forum. (J. Lawler Duggan/For The Washington Post)

“She’s not here today because she spoke at a graduation that started five hours ago,” said Holmes, who came in a distant third place in the straw poll with eight votes. “I am not necessarily sure that graduation is still going on. I think it says a great deal about what she thinks about you, and I think it says a great deal about what she thinks about this job. You cannot just buy this seat. You have to work for it.”

White said he couldn’t support a bill he hadn’t seen but that he actually favored creating a haven for bike users somewhere in the city.

A phone message left for May’s campaign was not immediately returned Saturday.

Wanda Lockridge, an official with the Ward 8 Democrats, said that May’s campaign had told organizers two months ago that she couldn’t attend Saturday’s event. Lockridge said she didn’t know why a chair and May’s name card were displayed at the panelist table.

“For her not to come is disrespectful,” Lockridge said.

When the candidates were asked about how they would reduce unemployment in Ward 8, White stressed that he wanted to ensure that commercial developers hired local residents to fill new jobs.

“Let’s keep it real. As a council member, my job is to create an entire workforce to focus around technology . . . policing, hospitality,” White said to loud applause. “We have to empower and incentivize developers to hire people in Ward 8.”

Holmes spoke less about what the city should do for investors and more about what they should do for Ward 8 residents.

“Ward 8 is currently sort of on the cusp of a renaissance. And that renaissance is something that we deserve. We deserve good housing. We deserve good jobs. We deserve more than one grocery store. But we also need partners that are going to invest in this community,” he said. “When you come into this community, you have to bring jobs that we are ready for, and if we’re not ready for them, you need to be in concert with the government to make sure that we’re training our residents to obtain those jobs. And, if you’re not, then we don’t want you.”

Later, Albert and Carmelita Coleman said they had voted for White.

“To me, he knew the issues more,” Carmelita said.

“Because he’s a product of Ward 8,” Albert said.

White is a District native who graduated from Ballou Senior High School in Southeast; May grew up in Florida.

Others happily voted for May even though she was a no-show.

Norma Toussaint-Green, 32, a program developer for a nonprofit organization, said she doesn’t mind where May was born.

“She does care about jobs for Ward 8,” Toussaint-Green said.

Candidates Maurice Dickens and Bonita Goode also spoke at the forum. Dickens won two votes, while Goode won none.