Washington, D.C.‘s restaurant industry trade group has waded into the district’s mayoral race, backing moderate councilman Kenyan McDuffie over socialist Janeese Lewis George.
The Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington, or RAMW, has been a staunch supporter of current Mayor Muriel Bowser throughout her tenure. Their backing of McDuffie, an ally of Bowser’s, continues the business group’s support for more centrist-leaning candidates, bucking Lewis George’s more leftist campaign, often compared to that of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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“Kenyan McDuffie emphasizes a results-oriented approach to governance, improving public safety, focusing on supporting small businesses, modernizing city government, and strengthening neighborhood commercial corridors,” RAMW said in a statement on the endorsement.
The group represents more than 1,500 restaurants in D.C., Northern Virginia, and the Maryland suburbs of the district. In Washington, D.C.’s vibrant food scene, the restaurant industry means a lot for local businesses and the local economy. RAMW has a Foodservice Political Action Committee and is active in local immigration policy advocacy.
The restaurant group said they were backing McDuffie due to his proposed policies of streamlining permitting and licensing processes into a single digital portal, creating an AI tool system to help local businesses open more quickly and creating a fund for small business rent support for those at risk of eviction. The statement did not mention Lewis George.
The endorsement of McDuffie also comes at a time when New York City businesses and restaurants have been wary of the business policies coming from Mamdani, a politician Lewis George has tried to emulate. Several high-profile New York City restaurateurs suspended their expansion plans in the Big Apple after Mamdani’s election, the New York Post reported.
D.C.’s business establishment community has largely backed McDuffie, with RAMW being the latest to support him.
When reached for comment on what a possible Lewis George administration would mean for D.C., Lewis George’s campaign pointed to her platform of “reduce red tape and rent for all small businesses.”
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Lewis George, who has pulled in massive fundraising numbers so far in the race, also argues for a streamlined, “one-stop shop” licensing and permitting process, while advocating an increase in property taxes on long-term vacant commercial spaces and expanding the small business property tax credit.
RAWM did not respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment on why they supported McDuffie over Lewis George.