Uber-Captured? Examining the Groups and Money Behind Opposition to Waymo Coming to the District.

DC local governance seems like a legislative playground for the rest of the Acela corridor, since they don’t have to sit here with the consequences

I had to put up the yarn board for this autonomous vehicle bill fight. Whether you support the bill or not, Councilmember Charles Allen has done yeoman’s work and the answers given by the bill’s opposition on Council just raise more questions. We’ve also been on this beat here at Capital Commonsense through various mediums. You can read our recent articles here and here and listen to our podcast here.

This is all publicly available information and what’s been reported out there, a lot of fairly shocking stuff uncovered by The Washington Post that I’ll reference. Mostly shocking in how unclever it all is.

My New Year’s wish for 2027 is for people be honest about whether affordability is just a bumper sticker to slap on the back of whatever aligned interest groups already told you to do.

Text from the following graphic is also replicated beneath the image, if you prefer to disentangle it all that way.

Dark money from New York

The New York-based Coalition for Accountability and Road Safety came in on the opposition side to Councilmember Charles Allen’s AV bill with $2.6M-plus in ads, topping the combined ad spend of DC’s top two Democratic mayoral candidates, who had spent more than $1M each. Check out The Washington Post’s piece on this. CARS does not disclose funders and its money routes through firms in Maryland and Virginia before the message begins inundating DC residents.

The jobs math

Then-presumptive mayor Janeese Lewis George urged the Council to stall the AV bill in an October social media post, citing “countless workers at risk.” Capital Commonsense’s Ashley Schapitl replied that JLG had already put DC residents working as full-time ride-share drivers at about 200. Uber Head of Federal Affairs Javi Correoso then quote-tweeted Schapitl, calling that “clearly not right” before pivoting to all drivers without offering a different full-time figure—200 full-time drivers would be about 0.05% of DC’s labor force, before adding any jobs the bill may help bring in.

New York: The Uber money

Uber-funded Citizens for Affordable Rates received $9.1M from the tech ride-hail giant in January-to-June 2026. CAR paid Adams Advisors LLC $220K-plus for “community organizing.” The president of Adams Advisors is former Uber lobbyist Amelia Adams, who says she helps run the People First Transportation Alliance, with operations in NYC and Philly. The Transportation Alliance organized for an October rally in DC to oppose a bill that would allow the entrance of an Uber market competitor in the nation’s capital. Uber and Adams say her Citizens for Affordable Rates work is unrelated. Uber previously paid Adams to lobby in 2018 amid an NYC legislative fight to cap ride-hail vehicles.

Philadelphia: Another Uber lobbyist

Bellevue Public Affairs gave the People First Transportation Alliance “limited local engagement.” Its sister firm, Bellevue Strategies, is a registered Uber lobbyist in Pennsylvania. Bellevue Public Affairs says Uber isn’t its client, and declined to say who hired them.

Four of the alliance’s listed founding members told The Washington Post they are not in fact founding members. While the People First Transportation Alliance organized a rally to halt legislation in DC, its own website dropdown menu lists its two priorities as Philadelphia and New York.

The District: Wilson Building rally

Two sets of organizers credited for the rally:

• Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, with Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ and Forestville, Md.-based Amalgamated Transit Union Local 689 (per Metro DC DSA event on Action Network)

• People First Transportation Alliance, helped run by former Uber lobbyist Amelia Adams, whose firm is paid by Uber-funded Citizens for Affordable Rates (The Washington Post, citing attendees and the RSVP form)

Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) bloc on DC Council and the timing

June Q: “Is DC ready for robotaxis within the next year?”

• No — Janeese Lewis George, mayor-elect backed by Democratic Socialists of America

• No — Aparna Raj, incoming Ward 1, former Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America chair

• Yes — but now wait. Zachary Parker said yes before his June 16 primary and now wants “a few more months.”

In that time JLG becomes mayor and Raj has CM vote.

Super PAC money

Safe & Affordable DC backed Lewis George’s winning mayoral campaign. Service Employees International Union (SEIU) affiliates gave $252,000: Local 32BJ $100K, 1199’s New York State committee $100K, the union’s Committee on Political Education $50K, Committee of Interns and Residents $2K.

More of its money came from New York than DC.

SEIU and Uber cut a 2025 deal in California: collective bargaining for drivers (who remain contractors) in exchange for lower insurance mandates for Uber.

Note and sources

No reporting directly links the Uber and People First Transportation Alliance money to Democratic Socialists of America, the Service Employees International Union or Safe & Affordable DC. At-large member Elissa Silverman (independent), a June “yes,” also won’t back the bill this year. The June robotaxi question is from a Washington Post candidate survey.

Sources: Washington Post; New York Post; New York Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government; DC Office of Campaign Finance; DC Department of For-Hire Vehicles; DC Department of Employment Services; Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America on Action Network; TechCrunch; Competitive Enterprise Institute; Axios; City Cast DC; NOTUS; WUSA9; Streetsblog. State lines: U.S. Census. As of Nov. 11, 2026.