Washington, DC, Council member Janeese Lewis George, a Democratic Socialist, launched her marketing campaign for mayor of the nation’s capital on Monday – and he or she’s reportedly in search of to emulate Zohran Mamdani’s New York Metropolis mayoral bid.
Lewis George, 37, is in search of to exchange DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, who introduced final week that she would not search re-election to a fourth time period.
“Hire’s rising in properties folks can’t afford. People are working arduous and nonetheless feeling the squeeze, whereas the few in energy rake in income,” Lewis George mentioned in a video asserting her run for mayor, echoing the rhetoric that propelled Mamdani to victory within the Large Apple.
“And now our neighbors, our households, are below assault as a result of we’re failing to face as much as defend them,” the council member continued, as photos of federal brokers arresting folks on the road performed within the background.
“That’s not the D.C., I do know. That’s why I’m working for mayor,” Lewis George declared. “As a result of it’s time we had leaders who battle for the individuals who stand as much as corruption and greed and stand with the individuals who make D.C. work.”
Axios reported final month that Lewis George was aiming to construct a 5,000-members sturdy volunteer military to knock on doorways and cellphone financial institution.
Her marketing campaign was additionally hoping to convey on one of many Mamdani marketing campaign’s prime prime digital advisers and goal younger voters on-line and on TikTok.
Lewis George has served on the DC Council since 2021.
She was endorsed by the DC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), who congratulated “our chapter member” after her 2020 victory within the Ward 4 election.
“Janeese’s grassroots, people-powered victories, each within the main and within the basic election, present that Ward 4 residents are uninterested in the large enterprise and developer-friendly politics … Metro D.C. DSA is assured that George might be an elected chief who stands with the working class,” the group mentioned in 2020.
Like Mamdani, Lewis George has confronted criticism for her previous help for defunding the police.
“I’ll completely divest from [DC’s Metropolitan Police Department] and put that cash into violence interruption applications. Full cease,” she wrote on X in October 2019.
Lewis George walked again her help for defunding the police throughout her 2020 marketing campaign.
The council member instructed the Washington Submit that as mayor, she would deal with “evidence-based methods to stop crime,” suggesting swift punishment however quick sentences for criminals work greatest.
“We’ve centered rather a lot within the metropolis on sentencing,” Lewis George instructed the outlet, “however what I’ve discovered in regulation faculty and as a prosecutor is what deters crime is a person figuring out — am I going to get caught, and what are the probabilities of me being held accountable?”
President Trump surged federal regulation enforcement into the nation’s capital earlier this yr and federalized the district’s police division as a part of a sweeping crime crackdown — strikes staunchly opposed by Lewis George.
Bowser was crucial of Trump’s DC takeover however later acknowledged that it was serving to cut back crime in DC.
