Having family ties to members of the Trump administration doesn’t guarantee political success—just ask Brad Bondi, the brother of Attorney General Pam Bondi, who suffered a crushing defeat Monday in the race to lead the D.C. Bar, signaling a major rejection of Trump-aligned candidates in the legal community.
Lawyers in Washington, D.C., overwhelmingly chose employment law attorney Diane Seltzer as the next bar president, with more than 90% of the 38,636 votes in her favor. Seltzer, principal of the Seltzer Law Firm, secured 34,982 votes to Bondi’s mere 3,490. She will take office on July 1.
The landslide victory is widely considered a rebuke of the Trump administration’s escalating conflict with lawyers, which has caused a rift among law firms across the country.
“Right now, we are in a time of governmental chaos, and our members don’t feel safe to practice law,” Seltzer said during a virtual debate with Bondi last month.
She also vowed to “make sure that we maintain and uphold the rule of law, and that people feel they can practice law safely without worrying about executive orders, or without being targeted in any possible way by the government.”
Seltzer expanded on those themes in an interview with NBC News on Monday.
“We’ve got to make sure that we hang on to the rule of law and that we can practice law safely, that we can represent who we want without worrying about retaliation, and that judges can issue fair and impartial rulings without worrying about being intimidated or retaliated against,” she said.
Conservative lawyer and anti-MAGA activist George Conway had also weighed in, urging D.C. Bar members to vote against Bondi.
“I’m not admitted in D.C., but I have a request of those of you who are… Vote against Brad Bondi,” he wrote on Instagram. “Ordinarily, I wouldn’t hold the views or conduct of someone’s relative against them… But these are not ordinary times. The Department of Justice under Pam Bondi has engaged in a full-scale assault on our Constitution and on the rule of law.”
D.C. Bar CEO Robert Spangnoletti told reporters that this year’s voter turnout was historic. The average number of ballots cast in the past 50 years hovered around 7,444. But this year’s election, he said, drew nearly 39,000 votes, representing 43.26% of all eligible members. Voting began on April 15 and ended on June 4.
The high engagement came amid President Donald Trump’s ongoing attacks on judges who have ruled against his policies, as well as law firms representing clients he dislikes. In March, he launched a retribution campaign targeting prominent firms by revoking their security clearances and canceling government contracts.
And the fallout has divided law firms, with some agreeing to pro bono work to stay in favor—often to their detriment—while others sued to challenge Trump’s executive orders.
Bondi lamented the tone of the race in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
“I had hoped this race would be a contest of ideas to enhance services for our widely varied members,” he wrote. “Instead, I am disgusted by how rabid partisans lurched this election into the political gutter, turning a professional campaign into baseless attacks, identity politics, and partisan recrimination.”
Echoing the Trump playbook, Bondi also accused Seltzer of “smearing” him for his ties to his sister and “peddling conspiracies” about his intentions.
Though the D.C. Bar doesn’t handle attorney discipline, Trump critics raised alarms in March, warning of a takeover attempt by Trump loyalists, including Bondi and Alicia Long, a prosecutor aligned with failed U.S. attorney nominee Ed Martin. Long was defeated in her bid for D.C. Bar treasurer, falling to Amanda Molina by a margin of 8,854 to 26,380 votes.
But Bondi’s loss fits a growing pattern of political setbacks for Trump-associated relatives. Vice President JD Vance’s brother was soundly defeated in a Cincinnati mayoral primary in May.
If these elections are any indication, Republicans banking on their names alone may be in for a rude awakening in 2026.