Consensus Builder Wins Over the Capital

Consensus Builder Wins Over the Capital, As chairman of the City Council, Vincent C. Gray was a master of consensus and a patient conciliator who meticulously, if not ploddingly, moved legislation along, Consensus Builder Wins Over the Capital

But in soundly defeating the one-term incumbent, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty, for the Democratic nomination for mayor last week, Mr. Gray, 67, takes on a challenge of a different order. Because Washington is overwhelmingly Democratic, winning the primary is typically tantamount to election. And when Mr. Gray takes the reins in January, he will face a city deeply divided by race, class and geography that, by some estimates, has a budget shortfall of over $100 million.

And he will take over a job for which consensus is good but only when measured against results, and in which he will be confronted with the need to make hard and sometimes quick decisions.

“School reform, the police chief, the city administrator — these are all places where he is already presented with the need to make major decisions about whether he will continue moving on the path set by Fenty or chart a different one,” said Jack Evans, a city councilman, who added that he believed that Mr. Gray would adjust to the new pace. “It’s not going to be