Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George opens up lead in Washington, D.C., mayoral primary

City councilmember Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist, leads the pack in the Democratic primary for mayor of Washington, D.C., as the city continues to tally later-arriving ballots.

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With approximately two-thirds of the expected vote counted, Lewis George has 53% of the first-place votes, with former city councilmember Kenyan McDuffie — who previously held a city-wide, at-large council seat — in second place at 37%. The remainder of the vote is scattered among five other Democratic hopefuls.

With more votes to count, it’s not clear if the race will be going to a ranked choice tabulation, which is necessary if no candidate gets a majority of first-place votes. In that scenario, support from lower-performing candidates is reallocated to those voters’ next choices until one candidate receives a majority of the vote.

In either case, Lewis George has built up a commanding position against her main rival, McDuffie, as she seeks to become the latest democratic socialist to take up a big-city mayorship in the U.S. — with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani the most prominent example.

In Washington, the candidates have sparred for months as they pitched the city on how they plan to lower crime and make life in the nation’s capital more affordable.

They also spent significant time discussing how they would handle the capital’s relationship with President Donald Trump’s administration and Republicans in Congress.

Retiring Mayor Muriel Bowser has had an at-times friendly and at-times tense relationship with Trump. During the first year of his second term, Trump deployed National Guard troops to Washington and other cities across the U.S. run by Democratic mayors in a bid to lower crime rates, a move Bowser opposed but accepted .

The outgoing mayor told Axios earlier this month that the new mayor will have to promote a “better business climate,” in the nation’s capital and added, “I support Kenyan McDuffie.”

Last week, Trump shook up the race after telling reporters at the White House that “we won’t put up with it” if Lewis George, a democratic socialist, wins the race. The president added that he would consider a federal takeover of Washington if Lewis George won.

In statements following Trump’s remarks, both Lewis George and McDuffie rebuked the president.

“Threatening Home Rule because you do not like how residents vote is an attack on democracy itself. The people of D.C. elect the mayor of D.C. And they want someone who will stand up to Donald Trump,” Lewis George said.

McDuffie said, “The stakes of this election couldn’t be higher, but D.C. decides who will be the next mayor, not Donald Trump.”

McDuffie and Lewis George are also on opposite sides of a debate about whether to expand youth curfews around the city, with McDuffie supporting the curfews as a “common sense” policy and Lewis George opposing expanding the curfews.

The candidate who wins the primary will be a heavy favorite in the general election in the deep-blue city.