The rise of Janeese Lewis George, who could be D.C.'s first democratic socialist mayor

Running with an unwavering focus on workers’ and tenants’ rights, Lewis George, 38, has built a campaign fueled by rock-solid union support and progressive grassroots energy in a bid to become the first democratic socialist mayor in the nation’s capital. Her election would mark a drastic shift in the status quo during a high-stakes period in which the city’s economy is in distress, revenue is stagnant, and President Donald Trump is inserting himself in local affairs.

The prospect has excited disaffected liberals looking for a change agent after the 11-year tenure of the outgoing centrist mayor, Muriel E. Bowser (D), but it has unsettled some moderates and those in the business class fearing a radical shake-up, who see Lewis George as more lenient on public safety and open to new taxes compared with Bowser.

Her candidacy has evoked inevitable comparisons to the campaign last year of New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, also a democratic socialist, by both fans and opponents. “This year is going to be D.C.’s turn,” the emcee said at a Democratic Socialists of America rally in March for Lewis George, who touted her promises of universal access to affordable child care and publicly owned social housing.

Her top opponent in the Democratic primary, fellow council member Kenyan R. McDuffie, widely seen as more moderate, has painted her ideas as unrealistic. “She wants to run D.C. using a New York City playbook,” he has said.




https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2026/06/01/rise-janeese-lewis-george-who-could-be-dc-first-democratic-socialist-mayor/90353779007/