Janeese Lewis George secured victory in Tuesday’s Washington, D.C., Democratic mayoral primary. Her success positions Washington to install its first socialist mayor. The Ward 4 councilwoman trumped challenger Kenyan McDuffie by a significant margin. In a city where the Democratic primary effectively decides the office holder, Lewis George is nearly certain to become the next mayor of the nation’s capital.
Eight months after voters elevated Zohran Mamdani in New York City, Lewis George ran a parallel campaign built on housing, rent, and the cost of living. It would be imprudent to draw national conclusions about these two results, however. At least not yet. After all, these socialist surges have succeeded where the electorate was already committed to Democrats. Whether the same message travels to swing districts or a national ticket remains untested.
This victory also carries risks for Democrats. Each victory of its left wing risks branding the party as too far to the left in the eyes of the country. The primary wins certainly suggest the socialist left may be coming out on top, pulling the party toward a definitively and durably more radical stance. President Donald Trump seems to sense a political opportunity here.
Days before the vote, Trump threatened to invoke the Home Rule Act and “take back Washington” should the city elect a socialist. The administration already has National Guard forces and Immigration and Customs Enforcement deployed across the city. Lewis George says she will stand up to Trump and will not cooperate with the federal government, but considering the federal government underwrites roughly a quarter of the district’s budget, obstinacy will amount to a big challenge.
The economic ground also offers an unsteady foundation upon which she will enter office. The Trump administration’s cuts pulled tens of thousands of federal jobs from the district, where government supplies roughly a quarter of all work. Projections suggest the district will continue into a recession through 2026, with revenue running short for years to come. Against this backdrop, Lewis George proposes to expand social welfare in the district including universal childcare, tens of thousands of new housing units, free Metro rides, a counselor in every school. All of this will be financed by, according to her, closing business tax loopholes.
But spending is already soaring.
Over the past 10 years, the district’s budget has nearly doubled, from around $13 billion to about $22 billion. More than half of every local dollar goes to schools and social programs. Poor school results and welfare dependency do not support the claims that these programs have been successful. Yet Lewis George’s answer to growing welfare demands against the loss of revenue and jobs is to tax the top.
Indeed, her record in politics has thus far been defined by moves to relocate money from policing into social services and expand rent control. She also co-wrote the 2021 measure that raised income taxes on residents earning more than $250,000, which the Council passed over the current Mayor Muriel Bowser’s objection. A later attempt to tax wealth and investment income fell short. Unlike Bowser, who spent years fighting the council, Lewis George will most likely govern with a new progressive majority on her side.
Washington, D.C., already has one of the highest tax rates in the country. The irony is that the district already runs on the model Lewis George champions. The capital already supports one of the most heavily subsidized populations in America. Roughly $4.5 billion, more than a fifth of the district’s $22 billion budget, flows through human services. More than a third of the city’s population draws Medicaid. Some 138,000 collect food stamps, close to 1 in 5 residents. Tens of thousands more lean on cash assistance, rental subsidies, and the locally funded Healthcare Alliance. In 2023, the roughly 3% of high-earning tax filers covered more than a third of all individual income tax.
B-52 DESCENDED AT NEARLY A MILE A MINUTE BEFORE CRASH THAT KILLED EIGHT
Rising electricity bills, restaurant and business closures, and downtown towers sitting empty now form the backdrop against which the next mayor promises to spend more. Lewis George says the same approach will somehow yield a different outcome, yet it may ultimately result in more payers crossing the bridge into Virginia.
Many have already done so.