Northeastern alum and ‘shadow’ Rep. seeking at-large seat on Council of the District of Columbia
Northeastern University alum Adeoye “Oye” Owolewa has been described as an “unapologetic cheerleader” for Washington, D.C. statehood.
Northeastern University alum Adeoye “Oye” Owolewa (oh-WOAH-lay-wah) has been described as an “unapologetic cheerleader” for Washington, D.C. statehood. He’s spent the past several years serving as an unofficial representative of the district in Congress, while also serving on a panel that oversees issues in his neighborhood.
The experience has provided the 36-year-old Bouve College of Health Sciences graduate a front-row seat to the tempers of and challenges facing a community that is struggling to achieve full representation in Congress.
A licensed pharmacist, Owolewa is also making a bid for an at-large D.C. Council seat that longtime lawmaker Anita Bonds is stepping down from.
“As a child of African immigrants and someone with a doctorate in the medical profession, there have been very few candidates like me,” Owolewa told Northeastern Global News.
Owolewa comes from a long line of Huskies. His parents attended Northeastern in the ‘70s, having met and fallen in love on the Boston campus. They’d each fled their native Nigeria during a period of profound upheaval and political instability, seeking a better life abroad, he said.
“Northeastern is the reason why I’m alive,” Owolewa said. “I’m a proud Husky alum.”
Some 40 years later, Owolwa would also earn his stripes on Northeastern’s Boston campus, graduating in 2014 with a doctorate in pharmacy and beginning a career in the field. He then moved to Washington, D.C., he said, “almost on a whim.”
Really, he wanted to start out fresh in a city whose Black population makes up about 45% of residents, according to U.S. Census data (In contrast, Boston’s Black population is hovering a little under 21%).
Owolewa’s hadn’t envisioned a life in politics. After moving to D.C., he’d attended a local meeting of the Advisory Neighborhood Commission, a government body that deals with a range of issues impacting D.C.’s neighborhoods, and found himself locking horns with some of the commissioners over issues he was passionate about. During the meeting, one of them turned around and said, ‘If you think you can do better, why don’t you run?’ Owolewa recalled.
“So that’s what I did,” he said, even though, “I was brand new to my neighborhood.”
Owolewa said he tapped into a breadth of experience acquired from his Northeastern days, from serving as a student leader to working as a pharmacist, and decided that he had something to offer. He won a seat on the neighborhood panel in 2018, narrowly defeating a sitting commissioner by a single vote. That fact humbled Owolewa and helped him appreciate the impact of “getting out into the community” to knock on doors “many, many times over,” he said.
He embraced the back-and-forth with constituents and immersed himself in the everyday work of public service, from securing traffic safety equipment to organizing community health fairs. When the global pandemic hit, the challenge of helping to vaccinate residents with a deep-seated mistrust of the medical system only strengthened Owolewa’s sense of purpose.
In 2020, after running unopposed in the Democratic primary, he defeated Green Party candidate Joyce Robinson-Paul and independent Sohaer Rizvi Syed in the general election to become one of D.C.’s shadow representatives. Residents of the nation’s capital choose three shadow members of Congress — two senators and one representative — who advocate for D.C. statehood.
So much of D.C.’s local politics is shaped by the fight for statehood and full congressional representation. Debates over schools, housing and public safety often intersect with the broader push to secure voting rights and autonomy from Congress, which retains ultimate authority over the district’s laws and budget.
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“If I couldn’t bring my neighbors to Congress, I thought I could bring my Congress to my neighbors,” Owolewa said.
The role is largely symbolic, as these shadow members cannot cast votes in committee or on the House or Senate floor. Washington, D.C. also sends a separate delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, who may participate in committee votes but is barred from voting on final legislation before the full House. A lot of the job involves direct lobbying of members of Congress and the federal government, while working to garner nationwide support for the cause through coalition-building and public advocacy.
“Oye has dedicated himself to serving the people of D.C. first as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and in our congressional delegation,” said Brianne Nadeau, a Democratic councilmember representing Ward 1, a diverse section of the city that runs from Dupont Circle to Mount Pleasant.
“I’m thrilled that he now wishes to bring his hard work and progressive values to the DC Council,” said Nadeau, who has endorsed Owolewa’s bid for the council seat. “As an outgoing councilmember, I’d be reassured to know he’s there every day working for our residents.”
Owolewa said Trump’s return to office has created setbacks to D.C. statehood efforts. He said there has been increased federal scrutiny and interference that has made it harder for D.C. leaders to pass laws or control spending independently. Cuts to Medicaid and tenant protections have increased hardship on D.C. residents, who already face some of the highest housing costs and health care challenges in the nation.
As a D.C. council member, Owolewa said he would prioritize making the University of the District of Columbia, D.C.’s only public, historically Black university, tuition-free to address the student debt crisis; reinvesting in the city’s healthcare system; and focus on creating jobs by bringing federal and other careers back to the district amid significant reductions in force.
“Being a pharmacist, being somebody who lives in a marginalized community and still has relationships outside of the district, gave me the confidence to run for this seat,” he said.
The D.C. Council primary takes place on June 16th.
