Votes are still being counted in the Democratic primary for Washington D.C.’s next mayor, and whoever wins will still have to get through the general election. But let’s not stand on ceremony: it’s going to be Janeese Lewis George.
According to NBC News, with 64 percent of the vote counted, Lewis George, a D.C. councilwoman, stands at 53 percent, while her nearest competitor, former councilman Kenyan McDuffie, holds just 37 percent, with the remainder of the vote going to minor candidates. Whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be almost certain to win the general election in dark-blue D.C., where Democratic nominee Kamala Harris received over 90 percent of the vote in the 2024 presidential election.
McDuffie is considered, by the standards of D.C., anyway, to be a relative moderate and a political continuation of incumbent mayor Muriel Bowser, who endorsed him. Despite high-profile clashes with President Donald Trump, Bowser has been more accommodating toward him than might have been expected. Although she opposed his remarkably successful plan to use the National Guard to police the city and reduce crime, Bowser accepted the additional help. She’s also instituted youth curfews to combat repeated “teen takeovers” that have frequently descended into violence and disorder.
You know who opposed Bowser on both counts? Lewis George. And that’s not the only time: in another instance, she joined other D.C. councilmembers in reducing the criminal penalties for carjacking. When Bowser vetoed the proposal, the city council overrode her. It was only when Congress passed a bill to vacate the bill, and then-President Joe Biden indicated that he would sign it, did the D.C. council reverse course and move to crack down on carjackings.
That is, except for Lewis George, who was the sole vote on the council against tougher carjacking penalties.
Lewis George, in other words, represents the left wing fringe in what was already one of America’s most liberal cities. Like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, to whom she is often compared, she identifies as a “democratic socialist” and received the backing of the far-left Democratic Socialists of America.
Also like Mamdani, Lewis George has also faced criticism for her support for defunding the police. Additionally, she told WTOP she would seek more confrontation with the Trump administration and end cooperation between the city’s law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
What differentiates Lewis George from Mamdani is not ideology but positioning. While Mamdani is an ideologue, he’s also been forced to play ball with moderating forces to achieve the things he wants. These forces include the city council and the New York state government, both of which are dominated by the Democratic establishment. New York City is also the financial capital of the world, with a multitude of massive corporations that can’t easily leave.
Contrast this to D.C., where any such interest groups can easily move across the river to Arlington or Alexandria, or even the Maryland suburbs. Many of them had already done so. In other words, there’s going to be nobody on the local level to tell Lewis George “no.”
There’s no love lost between Bowser and Republicans, but she may well have been D.C. Democrats’ last adult in the room. The only remaining check might just be Congress. Trump himself has floated this, saying that if Lewis George wins, his administration “maybe would take back Washington, run it on the federal basis.”
But with Democrats seeming likely to flip the House with a sleuth of far-left candidates, the nation’s capital might just be about to get what it’s voting for, good and hard.
