Washington, DC, could soon have a new mayor in Janeese Lewis George, whose “Homes for All” platform could set her on a collision course with President Donald Trump.
Lewis George pulled ahead of her main competition, fellow DC council member Kenyan McDuffie, following Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for the city’s next mayor.
She currently leads with 53% of the vote to McDuffie’s 37%, although the final tally could take days to complete. There was a difference of about 15,000 votes between them as of Wednesday, according to the DC Board of Elections. Lewis George’s campaign was celebratory as the votes came in.
“If there was ever any doubt, let it be laid to rest,” Lewis George said at a rally Tuesday night. “It is the people of DC who elect the mayor.”
Housing remains a top issue in DC. The district is ranked 41st out of 51 in the newest Realtor.com® state-by-state report card of homebuilding and affordability, with a D+. The median listing price there is $589,721, with the median household income at $106,049.
Lewis George’s ‘Homes for All’ platform
Lewis George, a self-identified Democratic Socialist who hails from the city’s northernmost Ward 4, says she has come around to the urgency of addressing housing costs. She wrote in an op-ed that she was initially a skeptic of pro-development agendas.
“Increasing supply, paired with policies to protect residents, really is critical to stopping further displacement and making housing more affordable for all,” she said.
Her platform includes tenant protections such as rent stabilization, a coordinated affordable housing development system, and more aggressive inspections and code enforcement. She also wants to expand down payment assistance and foreclosure programs.
The platform also includes revising the city’s zoning restrictions to build more homes and mixed-income developments, especially close to the city’s Metro lines. Lewis George said she wants to conduct a 100-day audit to determine the biggest barriers to home production in the city.
Lewis George drew the support of several pro-housing development groups in the region, including DC YIMBYs and Cleveland Park Smart Growth, as well as the Baltimore-DC Building Trades Council.
Both the DC Association of Realtors and the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors, plus the Metro Washington Associated Builders and Contractors, supported McDuffie.
Real estate capital
The race aims to succeed Mayor Muriel Bowser, whose third term has been defined largely by complications from within and without.
The district’s economy was stymied by the COVID-19 pandemic, from which it has not recovered. Many federal government agencies based in DC never returned to the office. Much of the office space in the city center, long a reliable stream of tax revenue, saw its values plummet.
Bowser, meantime, has clashed with federal leaders. The federal government provides part of DC’s budget, but it also brings complications. Significant swaths of land are controlled by different federal agencies, and large spaces ripe for housing development, like the decrepit FBI Headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue that is slated to close for good, have languished for years.
Trump’s purge of federal employees further stagnated the local housing market. It also sent more workers to private companies in the Virginia and Maryland suburbs. Government shutdowns only added more hassle.
McDuffie favored a streamlined housing approval process, as well as goals to construct 12,000 new housing units by 2030, and 1,500 new family-sized affordable units. He also wanted to preserve 20,000 affordable units by 2030 and double the number of homebuyers within five years.
Trump threatens federal takeover
Regardless of the outcome, Trump plays a factor in the race. He’s been a vocal critic of city leadership for perceived softness on crime, deploying the National Guard to popular tourist spots.
He’s also been on a continual campaign to remake the city, redirecting billions of Park Service dollars for improvements to DC streets. Trump also directed controversial projects to federal spaces, including a ballooning ballroom project at the White House.
Efforts to repaint the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, construct a 250-foot arch near Arlington Cemetery, and rename the Kennedy Center also landed him local criticism.
Asked what he thought of the possibility of Lewis George winning, Trump said, “I wouldn’t like it.”
“Maybe we’ll take back Washington, run it on a federal basis,” he said on June 11. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.”
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