Janeese Lewis George wins DC mayoral primary

Janeese Lewis George is on track to become the next mayor of Washington, D.C., after winning the Democratic primary on Thursday.

Lewis George faces no major challenger in November’s general election, putting her on a glide path to take the reins from Mayor Muriel Bowser next year and giving Washington a change in executive leadership for the first time since Bowser took office in January 2015. Her victory will usher in a new era for the district and put her on a collision course with President Donald Trump for the final years of his term.

Earlier Thursday, her opponent Kenyan McDuffie conceded the race and said he had called Lewis George “to congratulate her on her victory."

In a primary stacked with anti-Trump Democrats, Lewis George presented herself as a candidate unafraid to oppose the president. She has pledged to rescind the order allowing the city’s police to coordinate alongside federal immigration agents and take a hard legal stance against any attempts by Trump to encroach on the District’s autonomy.

Lewis George told POLITICO in an interview last week that she would “actively tell our employees to resist” if Trump again attempted to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department.

Her position is likely to pit the democratic socialist directly against a president who has attempted to tighten his grip on the district, taking extraordinary measures to crack down on crime and cut through bureaucratic red tape to pursue a slate of ambitious beautification and construction projects around the city.

When Trump was asked in the Oval Office about the possibility of Lewis George winning the primary and becoming mayor, he told reporters: “I wouldn’t like it.” “Maybe we’ll take back Washington, run it on a federal basis,” Trump said. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not gonna lose our businesses.”

A third-generation Washingtonian, the 38-year-old Lewis George has represented the district’s 4th Ward on the D.C. Council since 2021. She ran a progressive campaign, promising change from Bowser’s tenure and casting herself as a champion of the working class who would stand up to Trump. Her platform — including universal child care, social housing and public safety reforms — galvanized a coalition of voters that skewed young, white, college-educated and newer to Washington, according to polling.

McDuffie, her main opponent in the race, pitched himself as a more pro-business pragmatist who gained Bowser’s tacit support.

The change in leadership for Washington comes at a time of tumult in the city.

D.C. is facing a $1.1 billion budget gap, which Bowser has argued should be covered by cuts to social services. The Trump administration’s government funding cuts and decimation of the federal workforce hit Washington especially hard — resulting in the of any metro region in the country in 2025. And Trump’s moves to wrest control of the city by temporarily taking over the MPD and indefinitely calling on the National Guard to patrol the District’s streets were among Washingtonians.