Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) candidates appear to have the momentum in urban America, as Washington, DC City Councilman Janeese Lewis George is the latest member to emerge victorious in a Democratic mayoral primary.
Given DC’s deep-blue demographics, Lewis George’s primary victory virtually guarantees she will replace outgoing Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser. Her win also continues the trend of Democratic Socialist candidates becoming increasingly competitive in urban elections, starting with Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral victory in New York City.
Unsurprisingly, Lewis George was entirely onboard with the Defund the Police mass hysteria in 2019, minimizing crime as a “public health problem” and vowing to reject any endorsement from police-officer unions. She repeated the now-familiar leftist talking point that arrests would not solve crime, claiming, “I’m tired of throwing failed solutions at this problem. More policing doesn’t work, we can’t enforce our way to safer communities.”
Lewis George also has been a part of efforts to hamstring ICE enforcement, stating that she did not want to see DC resources “[…] terrorize communities.” Referring to the DC Metropolitan Police Department (MPD’s) cooperation with ICE agents, Lewis George has said, “I’m not complying in advance.”
It remains to be seen if Lewis George will moderate her viewpoints upon becoming mayor, though given her allegiance with the DSA and the leftward anti-Trump fervor in urban America, she may not feel the need to. President Donald J. Trump, for his part, floated the idea of running DC on a federal basis prior to Lewis George’s primary victory, talking up improvements in the area’s crime rate since National Guard troops were deployed.
Lewis George’s primary victory, as well as the recent Los Angeles mayoral primary, have highlighted the DSA’s growing mainstream acceptance in urban American politics. It’s too early to tell if the organization will prove to be a meaningful factor in the 2028 presidential race, or if its influence will remain limited to major Democratic-run cities. With time, hopefully these recent victories will come to be seen as a blip in blue America’s backlash against Trump, rather than metastasizing nationally.
