DC is getting its own democratic socialist mayor
Trump said last week that he "won't put up with it" if Janeese Lewis George becomes mayor and threatened a federal takeover of the city.
Last week, a reporter asked Trump at the White House if he’d been paying attention to the local mayoral race. “Here in Washington D.C., there's a Democratic primary for mayor,” the reporter said. “One of the two leading candidates, Janeese Lewis George, is running a Zohran Mamdani campaign focusing on socialist policies. How would you feel if she emerges victorious?”
"Maybe we take back Washington and run it on a federal basis,” Trump replied. “We won't put up with it. We’re not gonna lose our businesses. By the way, Washington now is a safe, beautiful place.”
In fact, Trump’s fascist deployment of the National Guard has had no measurable effect on violent crime in D.C., his reflecting pool “repairs” have left it green with algae and floating chunks of paint, his gaudy proposed arch would block the view of Arlington National Cemetery from the Lincoln Memorial, and he demolished the historic East Wing of the White House to build a taxpayer-funded ballroom for himself. These are only a few of the reasons why D.C. voters have overwhelmingly chosen democratic socialist Lewis George to replace outgoing neoliberal mayor Muriel Bowser, who is best known for capitulating to Trump at every turn.
Lewis George, a D.C. public school graduate and attorney, defeated establishment, “pro-business” candidate Kenyan McDuffie pretty handily—by 16+ points with 73% of the ballots counted—in the primary by running on affordability and better support for public school teachers. She won every ward in D.C. except Ward 3, the whitest and most affluent part of Upper Northwest. (She still technically has to compete in the general, but a Republican can’t win in D.C.)
“The history being made tonight is not being made by me,” Lewis George said on election night. “It’s being made by all of us. Over the past year, we assembled the most diverse coalition in this city’s history, united by a simple notion that government must put people first.”
Socialist democrats appear to be having a moment. Nithya Raman just defeated Spencer Pratt for a runoff spot in the Los Angeles mayor’s race. DSA member Mathewos Samson of Atlanta just became the second democratic socialist member of Georgia’s state legislature. Even the Trump-friendly betting market Kalshi is trying to piggyback on the popularity of socialism in New York by associating their brand with Zohran Mamdani in fake street videos.
Mamdani deserves all of credit for this. In addition to being one of the most talented and charismatic politicians this country has ever seen, he’s objectively been effective as mayor of New York. Violent crime is at record lows. He balanced the city’s budget, shrinking the deficit from $12 billion to zero. He’s filling potholes at warp speed. His pied-à-terre tax on ultrawealthy people’s vacant second homes in NYC is genius. And he’s riding this wave of Knicks-induced dopamine to new heights of likability just by enjoying the team like a regular fan, cheering them on from local dive bars, and live-streaming the games all over the city for free.
His speech today during the Knicks parade, for instance, charmed the pants off of everyone:
Republicans (and die-hard Israel supporters of both sides) were in hysterics when NYC elected Mamdani, warning that he would institute Sharia law throughout the city (lol) and that New York would immediately go to shit in his care. The very opposite has happened, and now D.C. and Los Angeles and even Atlanta are trying to get a piece of the Mamdani bliss for themselves. The seal is broken; no one can be afraid of the word “socialism” anymore.
It will be interesting to see D.C., in particular, house both a democratic socialist (Black woman) mayor and a fascist president who hates her at the same time. Trump claims he’ll “take back Washington and run it on a federal basis” when she wins, but he can’t even keep his own name on the Kennedy Center. If Janeese Lewis George produces even half the results for D.C. that Mamdani has for New York and stands up to Trump in a meaningful way, I think DSA candidates are really going to start to pop up across the country and pry working class voters back from a Republican Party that pretends to care about them.