Janeese Lewis George, a democratic socialist and D. C. councilwoman, has won the Democratic primary for mayor in Washington, D. C. , The Associated Press said Thursday, defeating a former city councilman who ran as a tough-on-crime centrist. Ms.
Lewis George had around 53 percent of the vote, enough to give her an outright victory without tabulating the ranked choices in the election. In an overwhelmingly Democratic city, the 38-year-old councilwoman will almost certainly win the general election in November.
“While the final certification process will continue, it is clear that the voters have chosen a different path,” Kenyan McDuffie, Ms. Lewis George’s main opponent, said in a statement Thursday morning before the official call. Ms.
Lewis George’s victory continues a remarkable winning streak for left-wing voters, who have elected democratic socialists to lead New York City, Seattle and almost certainly the nation’s capital.
America’s second-largest city, Los Angeles, will be the next showdown, when the incumbent Democrat, Karen Bass, faces another democratic socialist, Nithya Raman, in November. The first open seat mayoral primary in Washington in two decades featured seven candidates. But the two front-runners, Ms.
Lewis George and Mr. McDuffie, dominated it and echoed ideological and stylistic themes that also shaped the mayoral races in New York and Seattle and are beginning to define divisions in the Democratic Party between center-left and farther-left candidates.
The difference is Washington’s status as the nation’s capital, where the federal government retains some control over the National Guard and budget. The Trump administration’s Guard deployment and heavy hand loomed over the race. During a recent White House interview, Mr.
Trump threatened to tighten his grip on the city if Ms. Lewis George wins. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
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