Major races in DC could change the city’s status quo
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Washington, D.C., is on the precipice of political change in 2026, with much of the old guard stepping down, while newer faces and ideas come to the forefront in the district.
With third-term Mayor Muriel Bowser and 18-term Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) each retiring at the end of 2026, District of Columbia voters will have a power vacuum to fill as they entrust new leaders to the helm of the city. In 2026, Washington voters will elect a mayor, a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, members to the Council, and an attorney general on Election Day.
The 2026 mayoral race has kicked up in recent months following Bowser’s announcement in late November that she would not seek reelection. The Democratic mayor has served her role at the helm of Washington, D.C., since 2015, marking an era of more moderate, pragmatic Democratic leadership.
There are currently over half a dozen candidates who have declared or filed paperwork to run to replace Bowser, though the two most prominent names campaigning to succeed her are former Washington, D.C., Councilman at-Large Kenyan McDuffie and Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George, a socialist. The two left-wing candidates offer vastly different directions for the district’s future.
McDuffie is a more moderate, Bowser-style leader, while Lewis George represents more of a Zohran Mamdani-style hopeful, looking to galvanize younger, progressive voters. Each candidate is focusing on affordability issues but in different ways, e.g., McDuffie is promising things such as “growth with guardrails,” while Lewis George is promising “homes for all.”
Bowser has ebbed and flowed between countering the Trump administration in its first term to working with President Donald Trump on public safety in his second term. Though she stood as a local, stalwart foil to Trump by creating the Black Lives Matter Plaza following the death of George Floyd, Bowser allowed the project to be dismantled in 2025 as she struck a more appeasing tone with Trump this past year.
BOWSER RECORDS HER MOST TRUMP-FRIENDLY YEAR ON HER WAY OUT OF MAYOR’S OFFICE
The new mayor will inherit Bowser’s tricky situation of representing a blue city while having to work within the guardrails of a capital city limited by Congress, as the executive and legislative branches are under GOP leadership. This situation could slightly shift, however, if Democrats flip the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
On the June 16 primary Election Day, district voters will choose …
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Washington, D.C., is on the precipice of political change in 2026, with much of the old guard stepping down, while newer faces and ideas come to the forefront in the district.
With third-term Mayor Muriel Bowser and 18-term Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) each retiring at the end of 2026, District of Columbia voters will have a power vacuum to fill as they entrust new leaders to the helm of the city. In 2026, Washington voters will elect a mayor, a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, members to the Council, and an attorney general on Election Day.
The 2026 mayoral race has kicked up in recent months following Bowser’s announcement in late November that she would not seek reelection. The Democratic mayor has served her role at the helm of Washington, D.C., since 2015, marking an era of more moderate, pragmatic Democratic leadership.
There are currently over half a dozen candidates who have declared or filed paperwork to run to replace Bowser, though the two most prominent names campaigning to succeed her are former Washington, D.C., Councilman at-Large Kenyan McDuffie and Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George, a socialist. The two left-wing candidates offer vastly different directions for the district’s future.
McDuffie is a more moderate, Bowser-style leader, while Lewis George represents more of a Zohran Mamdani-style hopeful, looking to galvanize younger, progressive voters. Each candidate is focusing on affordability issues but in different ways, e.g., McDuffie is promising things such as “growth with guardrails,” while Lewis George is promising “homes for all.”
Bowser has ebbed and flowed between countering the Trump administration in its first term to working with President Donald Trump on public safety in his second term. Though she stood as a local, stalwart foil to Trump by creating the Black Lives Matter Plaza following the death of George Floyd, Bowser allowed the project to be dismantled in 2025 as she struck a more appeasing tone with Trump this past year.
BOWSER RECORDS HER MOST TRUMP-FRIENDLY YEAR ON HER WAY OUT OF MAYOR’S OFFICE
The new mayor will inherit Bowser’s tricky situation of representing a blue city while having to work within the guardrails of a capital city limited by Congress, as the executive and legislative branches are under GOP leadership. This situation could slightly shift, however, if Democrats flip the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
On the June 16 primary Election Day, district voters will choose …
Major races in DC could change the city’s status quo
Are they actually going to vote on something real?
Washington, D.C., is on the precipice of political change in 2026, with much of the old guard stepping down, while newer faces and ideas come to the forefront in the district.
With third-term Mayor Muriel Bowser and 18-term Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) each retiring at the end of 2026, District of Columbia voters will have a power vacuum to fill as they entrust new leaders to the helm of the city. In 2026, Washington voters will elect a mayor, a delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, members to the Council, and an attorney general on Election Day.
The 2026 mayoral race has kicked up in recent months following Bowser’s announcement in late November that she would not seek reelection. The Democratic mayor has served her role at the helm of Washington, D.C., since 2015, marking an era of more moderate, pragmatic Democratic leadership.
There are currently over half a dozen candidates who have declared or filed paperwork to run to replace Bowser, though the two most prominent names campaigning to succeed her are former Washington, D.C., Councilman at-Large Kenyan McDuffie and Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George, a socialist. The two left-wing candidates offer vastly different directions for the district’s future.
McDuffie is a more moderate, Bowser-style leader, while Lewis George represents more of a Zohran Mamdani-style hopeful, looking to galvanize younger, progressive voters. Each candidate is focusing on affordability issues but in different ways, e.g., McDuffie is promising things such as “growth with guardrails,” while Lewis George is promising “homes for all.”
Bowser has ebbed and flowed between countering the Trump administration in its first term to working with President Donald Trump on public safety in his second term. Though she stood as a local, stalwart foil to Trump by creating the Black Lives Matter Plaza following the death of George Floyd, Bowser allowed the project to be dismantled in 2025 as she struck a more appeasing tone with Trump this past year.
BOWSER RECORDS HER MOST TRUMP-FRIENDLY YEAR ON HER WAY OUT OF MAYOR’S OFFICE
The new mayor will inherit Bowser’s tricky situation of representing a blue city while having to work within the guardrails of a capital city limited by Congress, as the executive and legislative branches are under GOP leadership. This situation could slightly shift, however, if Democrats flip the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
On the June 16 primary Election Day, district voters will choose …
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