Kenyan McDuffie concedes to Janeese Lewis George in DC mayoral primary
Why this matters: political developments that affect policy direction and public trust.
Janeese Lewis George is on track to become the next mayor of Washington, D.C., after Kenyan Mc Duffie conceded the Democratic primary on Thursday. Lewis George’s apparent victory will usher in a new era for the district and put her on a collision course with President Donald Trump for the final years of his term. The Associated Press had not yet called the race at the time of Mc Duffie’s concession, but Lewis George has tracked ahead of Mc Duffie since vote-counting began on Tuesday in all but one of the city’s wards. In a statement, McDuffie said he had called Lewis George “to congratulate her on her victory and wish her success as she prepares for the general election.” Lewis George would face no major challenger in November’s general election, putting her on a glide path to take the reins from Mayor Muriel Bowser next year and giving Washington a change in executive leadership for the first time since Bowser took office in January 2015.In a primary stacked with anti-Trump Democrats, Lewis George presented herself as a candidate unafraid to oppose the president. She has pledged to rescind the order allowing the city’s police to coordinate alongside federal immigration agents and take a hard legal stance against any attempts by Trump to encroach on the District’s autonomy. Lewis George told POLITICO in an interview last week that she would “actively tell our employees to resist” if Trump again attempted to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department. Her position is likely to pit the democratic socialist directly against a president who has attempted to tighten his grip on the district, taking extraordinary measures to crack down on crime and cut through bureaucratic red tape to pursue a slate of ambitious beautification and construction projects around the city. When Trump was asked in the Oval Office about the possibility of Lewis George winning the primary and becoming mayor, he told reporters: “I wouldn’t like it.” “Maybe we’ll take back Washington, run it on a