The District's Mayoral Race and Implications for Public Safety and Disorder

A look at three troubling Council votes by Councilmember Janeese Lewis George

I’ve had the pleasure of serving on the Advisory Neighborhood Commission and representing my Hill East neighborhood over the past four years. During this time, I’ve seen Councilmember Lewis George place the priorities of the rule-following majority of Washingtonians beneath the interests of the rule-breaking few.

Three Council votes in particular deeply concern me as I consider the prospects of her becoming our next mayor. The final counts on these votes were 12-1, 12-1, and 10-3, showing her to be to the far left of an already progressive Council.

In the spring 2024, in the midst of a generational spike in gun violence in the District, a home in my community was sprayed with drive-by gunfire, leaving more than a dozen marks where rounds ricocheted off the brick facade. Following engagement with neighbors, law enforcement, and the District government, we learned the home had been taken over by squatters who changed the locks after the rightful tenant had passed away. Despite the ongoing risk to the community, it took nine months of court proceedings to remove the person from the home.

This experience showed me that however well-intentioned, District laws and governance can put the interests of the community second to the interests of the small number of individuals contributing to disorder and violence. Rather than protect the vulnerable, misguided policies can leave the entire community less safe.

Protecting Tenants from Dangerous People

In April 2021, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic eviction moratorium, the Council took up a measure allowing landlords to evict tenants adjudicated by a judge to pose a “current and substantial threat” to their neighbors—including threatening violence or illegally possessing a firearm. The Washington Post had previously reported on the increasing difficulty of keeping buildings safe for all residents, focusing on a property manager who was assaulted while trying to keep order in the building.

Arms flew at [Keith] Carr. The force sent him down the stairs toward the basement. Then the young man was on top of him, the landlord said, swinging and kicking. Carr broke free and sprinted through the back entrance to his car. According to video footage from the building’s camera, his alleged attacker came out the front door, returned with friends, smashed the front glass door and chased after Carr. “It seems like they were running back to finish me off,” he said.

The measure to allow evictions of violent peopled passed 12 to 1. Councilmember Lewis George cast the lone vote in opposition.

Voters of the District should consider what this vote reveals about Councilmember Lewis George’s mindset as she seeks to become their next mayor. All members of the council except Lewis George—ranging from the moderate establishment in Councilmember Anita Bonds to the progressive newcomers in Councilmember Brianne Nadeau— understood that the safety of the community, particularly tenants living next to a violent neighbor, had to come first. This vote deeply troubles me as I think about our community’s experience and the time it took to remove an illegal tenant at the root of gun violence.

Lewis George argued that innocent family members could lose housing—but that concern doesn’t justify exposing an entire building or block to a dangerous neighbor. Her colleagues understood that protecting the many from the violent few is a core function of government. She did not.

Combatting Violence

In the summer of 2023, as we experienced the same surge of violence I witnessed firsthand in Hill East, the Council considered emergency legislation to create a new felony for firing a gun in public, expand incentives for residents and businesses to purchase security cameras, and allow adults charged with violent offenses to be held before trial, among other policies. The bill passed 12 to 1—Lewis George was again the sole vote against—in a year with 274 murders, the most in decades. Councilmember Robert White (D-At Large), one of the Council’s most progressive members, described the urgency lawmakers felt to address the violence:

“There’s no question we had to do something. We saw a man come from another country who was an interpreter for special forces, jumped through incredible hoops to get to the United States, move somewhere, didn’t feel like it was safe enough for his family, came to our area and was killed in cold blood. Last week at church, the priest in his eighties who was supposed to fill in for my pastor couldn’t make it because he was beat over the head in a robbery in the city. These are the types of things people are unfortunately seeing every day, and it’s getting worse and not better. So there’s an expectation from the city that we act today, but we’re going to have to do more in the fall.”

I believe Councilmember Lewis George knows these votes on safety are out of touch with District voters because her mailers tout her experience in law enforcement. But no reasonable prosecutor would allow a neighborhood to be subjected to gun violence to shield an illegal tenant from removal from the community.

Preserving Affordable Housing and Attracting Business

This pattern extends beyond public safety. Lewis George also voted against the RENTAL Act, legislation to address the acute financial crisis in the District’s affordable housing ecosystem by addressing a wave of tenants who stopped paying rent and faced no consequences, making it harder for housing providers to maintain buildings, stay solvent, and build more affordable units. The legislation, led by Councilmebmer Robert White passed 10-3, with only Councilmembers Trayon White, Nadeau, and Lewis George in opposition.

Another experience in an ANC meeting illustrated the collateral damage caused by this laissez faire approach to development and rent collection. In late 2024, a longtime Ward 7 developer described how investment in the District had plummeted, and one of their own buildings had only around 80% of tenants paying rent in a 95% leased building.

At the same time, longstanding efforts between the developer and community to secure a grocer had fallen through despite being near the finish line because the grocer could not make the store pencil at $0 in rent due to updated sales projections and retail theft. This state of affairs hurts all the tenants paying their rent and following the rules and taxpayers who bear the costs. Just this month, Councilmember Zachary Parker introduced legislation to exempt an affordable building from $330,000 in taxes to cover the cost of repairs property managers have not been able to make due to nonpayment.

The Democratic Party is at its best when it stands up for people who work hard, follow the rules, and strive to make ends meet. This was a frequent refrain from President Barack Obama. My concern with a Janeese Lewis George mayoralty is her apparent willingness to set those rules aside—undermining quality of life for the overwhelming law-abiding majority.

Washington is a city of people raising families, paying bills, and being good neighbors; they deserve a mayor who governs on their behalf, not one who too often shields the small number of those who fail to meet basic obligations to uphold the social fabric of our city.