Janeese Lewis George, a city council member who has led in the polls, is a democratic socialist who’s campaigned on delivering universal childcare and ceasing the D.C. police department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Trump said last week he “wouldn’t like it” if she won.
“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” Trump said in response to a reporter’s question at the White House. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.”
The race between Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie, a longtime former council member considered part of the city’s political establishment, is about a lot of things: the high cost of housing, crime, the city’s recovery from a DOGE-induced economic shock. But as with almost every personnel decision in Washington these days, voters in the city will also be weighing who is better equipped to deal with Trump.
The president can’t just “take back Washington” — at least, not legally.
There’s no question he can meddle in the city’s affairs. Trump has direct control over D.C.’s National Guard, and the Home Rule Act gives him the power to use the D.C. police force for federal purposes if he decides there are “special conditions of an emergency nature.” He took advantage of those authorities last year, when he briefly took over the police department and deployed the National Guard in response to a supposed crime crisis. Groups of guardsmen, mostly from GOP-controlled states, still roam the city’s streets.
Trump does not, however, have the power to single-handedly take over D.C.’s government. When Congress passed the Home Rule Act in 1973, it created the Washington, D.C., government that exists today and gave it significant control over its day-to-day activities.
The only way Trump could take over the district’s government is if Congress passes a bill amending the Home Rule Act. Even in today’s Congress, controlled by Republicans, such an effort would require a number of Democrats to support it in the Senate, which is highly unlikely.
Asked about Trump’s comments, Lewis George, who’s been a city council member since January 2021, said the city’s residents want a more confrontational approach to the president, who is obsessed with meddling with their city.
“We are not going to get ICE off our streets by fearing this president,” she said in a statement to HuffPost on Monday. “We are not going to protect our rights or Home Rule by obeying in advance. Threatening Home Rule because you do not like how residents vote is an attack on democracy itself.
