Washington, D.C., voters will head to the polls to cast their ballots in what may be one of the most consequential elections in the district’s recent history.As National Guardsmen patrol the streets, violent crime sees a downward trend, and President Donald Trump continues to plan new construction efforts around the city, Washingtonians will pick their next mayor, who will replace retiring Mayor Muriel Bowser and chart a new path for the city. In the mayoral race between socialist Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George and more centrist Kenyan McDuffie, voters will determine whether D.C. has an appetite for a New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani-style leader or not.
Though the slate on the ranked choice mayoral ballot tops half a dozen candidates, Lewis George and McDuffie have emerged as the front-runners, taking each other on in several pre-primary debates. Whoever wins the June 16 Democratic primary is all but assured to win the November general election in the liberal district that went 92.5% for former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Lewis George, who launched her campaign with the goal of emulating Mamdani’s status-quo-bucking New York City mayoral bid, led McDuffie by 11 percentage points in an early June Washington Post–Schar School poll. If Lewis George wins the Democratic primary, her policies would likely mark a significant departure from Bowser’s relatively friendly relationship, for a blue-city mayor, with Trump throughout his second term.
