DSA candidate for DC mayor wins primary, heads to general election

Washington, DC City Council member Janeese Lewis George, who is a self-declared democratic socialist, won her primary earlier this year in June. As the Democrat nominee, she is the presumptive mayor for the heavily Democrat capital city.

She was able to best Kenyan McDuffie, a former DC council member with 54 percent of the vote to McDuffie's 34 percent.

At the time, McDuffie conceded, saying that he "called Councilmember Janeese Lewis George to congratulate her on her victory and wish her success as she prepares for the general election."

Before her primary, Lewis George helped create the lenient juvenile justice system that has become a trademark of Washington, DC.

For years, the capital city has seen increasing youth arrests that have been a large portion of crime. According to the Washington Examiner, Lewis George was the assistant prosecutor in the district office's Juvenile Section from October 2016 to January 2019. At the same time, former DC Attorney General Karl Racie was shifting the policies from the office away from prosecution for juveniles.

Lewis George has characterized her work as “juvenile justice reform” based on “innovative, evidence-based practices.”

During her time at the office, the program that was launched in 2014 titled “Alternatives to the Court Experience," expanded. The program was designed to "divert youth from prosecution for truancy and low-level delinquency offenses."

By February 2017 the office diverted 900 youth to the program. Through the end of 2017 that grew to 1,800 and then over 2,000 through 2018.

Lewis George will be the likely favorite in the deep-blue city of Washington, DC and would be another win for the Democratic Socialists around the country who have been notching primary victories in places like New York, Colorado, and Michigan for the House of Representatives.

In 2016, Racine's office launched its "Restorative Justice Program" and it was fully implemented by 2017 when Lewis George was in the office.

Muriel Bowser, the current mayor, will not be seeking reelection after three terms in the role. She had a better relationship with President Donald Trump during his second term when the president called in the National Guard, and the city saw a marked decline in crime.

Trump, however, is not as crazy about the prospect of having Lewis George in office. He said earlier this month: "We won't put up with it" if she were to win the mayoral race.

Lewis George said in response at the time: “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.”

In a post to Truth Social from earlier in the primary, Trump said, "Janeese Lewis George, the Communist who is almost certainly going to be elected Mayor of Washington, D.C., has stated that she wants to empty the prisons, make D.C. a Sanctuary City, oppose ICE, welcome Criminal Illegal Aliens back into our beloved Capital, resist Anti-Crime Crackdowns, Defund the Police, continue and expand Cashless Bail, and so many other Capital destroying 'things.' In the end, it will never work out, nor will I let it even have a chance because I have worked too hard to make Washington, D.C., the Envy of the World, with almost No Crime, and a Beautification process that has been second to none."