Democratic socialist set to become D.C. mayor — and face Trump's pushback

retained text

Zohran Mamdani famously brought democratic socialism to the largest U.S. city when he became New York's mayor. Now another member of the Democratic Party's progressive flank is poised to lead Washington, D.C.
Janeese Lewis George, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and a city council member, is set to become the next mayor of the nation's capital, which has been led for more than a decade by Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser. Lewis George defeated moderate Democrat Kenyan McDuffie in the June Democratic primary and will face off against independent and Green Party candidates in November in an election that is all but decided in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
As she prepares to take office, looming questions remain about how much she will be able to accomplish in a city that's home to the federal government, which has significant authority over its governance, and whether her leadership will be primarily symbolic under the larger government's thumb.
Her supporters, however, hope she will stand up to President Donald Trump, as she pledged she would do during her campaign. Trump has previously federalized the city's police department and has deployed thousands of National Guard troops for the past 14 months across Washington, with plans to keep them in place until his term ends in 2029.
"Myself and basically every other D.C. resident I know, we don't take kindly to threats from the federal government on our ability to self-govern," said Kurtis Hagans, chair of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America chapter. "I'm going to be happy if she's showing a willingness to fight for us."
Lewis George is part of a larger swell of democratic socialists gaining power on local and federal levels. In Seattle, Katie Wilson became mayor last year in a close win over incumbent Democrat Bruce Harrell. In Los Angeles, Nithya Raman is leading in a tight runoff for mayor against incumbent Democrat Karen Bass.
There are also several democratic socialists running for Congress this election cycle. In Michigan, the far-left Abdul El-Sayed is challenging former Rep. Mike Rogers. El-Sayed has rejected the DSA label, though many of his positions align with the organization's goals.
Lewis George's campaign declined CNBC's requests for an interview.
Lewis George's agenda as Washington mayor
One goal of the DSA is universal childcare, which Lewis George has campaigned on, and Hagans said he hopes to see her deliver.
Lewis George also wants to focus on affordable housing and lowering utility costs, her website says.
Additionally, she supports a new business activity tax, or BAT, though she told The Washington Sun that she doesn't support tax hikes on working- or middle-class families.
Her BAT proposal would target unincorporated partnerships such as law offices, lobbying shops and other firms that are based in Washington but whose owners live outside the city and who, under federal tax law, can avoid paying the district's business franchise tax. It would exempt the first $200,000 of economic activity from taxation.
According to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, a 2% BAT policy could raise about $500 million in additional revenue for the city annually. Lewis George said during the Democratic mayoral primary debate that revenue from the BAT could help fund her policy goals.
The D.C. City Council in July ordered a feasibility report on implementing a BAT. This month, the council held a nine-hour hearing to debate tax proposals, including the BAT, as the council attempts to mitigate budget shortfalls for fiscal year 2028.
Proponents of the tax said at the hearing it would make taxation fairer across the city's business community, and Lewis George has previously said it closes a tax "loophole."
Malcom Fox, executive director of Opportunity DC, an independent expenditure group that has supported moderate candidates including McDuffie and says it supports reducing the cost of living and doing business in Washington, said the BAT would hurt the city by raising taxes on small businesses.
"It's a self-defeatist approach that is punishing the small businesses we need to bring our economy back," Fox said.
Congress, Trump ready to limit mayor's power
In light of the potential BAT and other tax proposals, Republicans in Congress are preparing to limit the city — and Lewis George's — authority.
This summer, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., introduced a bill that would effectively allow Congress to block tax increases the city approves. The D.C. Taxing Authority Review Act advanced out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which Comer chairs, on July 22.
"Radical DC Democrats want to solve their spending problem by reaching deeper into taxpayers' pockets and driving further on the path to socialism. Let's be clear: higher taxes will not fix the financial mess they created," Comer said in a press release.
Lewis George responded to the legislation on X by encouraging Congress to reject the bill.
"Let the people of D.C. govern D.C.," she said.
The next step would be for the proposal to go to a full House vote, though it is unclear if that will happen. Ankit Jain, a District of Columbia shadow senator, told CNBC he thinks the odds of the bill surviving both chambers of Congress are slim.
Lewis George will also have to fight Trump, who in August 2025 seized control of Washington's police department, a move Bowser's critics said she complied with too easily.
Trump said his federal takeover of city police, as well as the deployment of hundreds of National Guard soldiers, was meant to crack down on crime, despite violent crime having fallen in the city from earlier peaks. Trump used Section 740 of the 1973 Home Rule Act, which allows a president to take control of Washington's police for emergency situations for 30 days, unless Congress grants an extension.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to federalize the city again and called Lewis George a "communist" in June.
On a local level, D.C. Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Chinyere Hubbard said the group looks forward to working with Lewis George.
"Janeese Lewis George has said that as mayor, she really wants to create a thriving economy that works for everyone to ensure good-paying jobs, and we share that goal at the chamber," Hubbard said. "It doesn't matter how someone's labeled or anything, but whether they implement policies."
The bounds of authority as D.C. mayor
David Barker, a political science professor at American University, said he thinks Lewis George's mayorship will be more symbolic than anything else, noting the Washington mayor, like mayors in general, has limited power.
"What is the mayor going to do? They can't actually pass any kind of legislation that's going to massively increase some minimum wage or massively increase tax rates on residents and redistribute it or anything like that," Barker said. "They're gonna, you know, fix some potholes and stuff and put up lights."
However, Lewis George's willingness to say no to Trump, unlike Bowser, will have an impact on Washington residents, said Nick Cosgrove, co-chair of the Young Democratic Socialists for America chapter at the University of Maryland.
Cosgrove also noted that, being in Washington, she will have less executive power than other mayors.
"Even in a best case, I don't think she's going to be the Mamdani in D.C.," he said. Mamdani has become well-known for quickly advancing his policy goals, including rolling out initiatives such as a pied-à-terre tax and free childcare for low-income children.
"But I do think that she's going to be a vast improvement over Mayor Bowser," Cosgrove added, referring to Lewis George's pledge to say no to Trump.
Bowser's office declined to comment.
Nadia Brown, a professor of government at Georgetown University, said Bowser has had to learn when to work with Trump and when to fight him.
"I think Janeese Lewis George is going to have to thread that needle as well," Brown said.

document fetched 2026-10-24 11:23 · canonical https://cnbc.com/2026/10/23/janeese-lewis-george-democratic-socialist-washington-dc-mayor.html