WASHINGTON (AP) — Voters in the nation's capital are electing their first new mayor in 12 years, and a self-described democratic socialist is heavily favored to win.
Janeese Lewis George, a D.C. council member who easily won the Democratic primary in June, is facing DC Statehood Green Party candidate Robert Gross, independent Rhonda Hamilton, and 11 write-in candidates. Republicans in heavily Democratic Washington did not field a mayoral candidate.
Lewis George far outpaced six rivals, including former council member Kenyan McDuffie, to win her party's primary, capturing 54% of the vote.
Lewis George has pledged to aggressively stand up to federal intervention into Washington, D.C.’s affairs, setting up a potential showdown with Republican President Donald Trump over his administration's moves to challenge the city's limited autonomy.
Federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council. About three of every four voters in the city are registered Democrats, and the city has only elected Democratic mayors since residents got the right to elect local officials under Home Rule in 1973.
Trump further encroached on that autonomy last year when he briefly federalized the city's police force and also deployed the National Guard after announcing a crime emergency. He has ordered major construction projects that — if they survive court challenges — would change the district’s landscape.
Lewis George has already come under fire from Trump, who had threatened before the primary to place the city under federal control if she won it. Lewis George responded that threatening home rule “because you do not like how residents vote is an attack on democracy itself.” Trump has not mentioned her publicly in months.
The next mayor will succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is completing her third four-year term next Jan. 2 and decided not to run again. Bowser has said her achievements include improvements in public education and preserving the city's limited autonomy amid pressure from Trump and the Republican-controlled Congress.
