fenty formally announced his decision to campaign for mayor of the district of columbia on june 1, 2005. in the fall of 2005, then-mayor anthony a. williams made the widely anticipated announcement that he would not seek re-election, and then-council chair linda cropp announced she would be a candidate for mayor. other candidates included businesswoman marie johns, then-council member vincent orange, and lobbyist michael a. brown. brown dropped out of the race in september 2006.