Trump threatens DC takeover If Janeese Lewis George wins mayoral primary

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump threatened a federal government takeover of Washington, DC, if self-described democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George wins the city's Democratic mayoral primary.

"I wouldn't like it, and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis," Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. "We won't put up with it. We're not going to lose our businesses. By the way, Washington now is a safe, beautiful place."

Lewis George is running on a progressive platform that has drawn comparisons from both supporters and detractors with New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll found Lewis George, a member of the DC Council, leading her chief rival, former council member Kenyan McDuffie.

The DC Home Rule Act of 1973 transferred power to the locally elected mayor and city council to manage municipal affairs. If Trump were to forge ahead with a takeover, the move would require an act of Congress.

Trump's efforts to reshape the nation's capital have loomed over the city's upcoming election, including efforts to control policing and overhaul some of Washington's most treasured institutions, such as the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Cuts to the federal workforce in Washington have also dealt a blow to the city and raised fears of a broader economic slowdown.

The president has also deployed National Guard troops to the city, casting it as an effort to crack down on what he says is crime and disorder. Even as the administration has abandoned such deployments in other Democratically controlled cities, Trump has claimed the troops in DC have made the city safer. Critics say crime in Washington is already down from COVID-19 pandemic levels and that the National Guard is not patrolling the parts of the city most plagued by crime.

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser is not seeking reelection after leading the city for over a decade. Her tenure has highlighted the challenges of running an overwhelmingly Democratic city whose most powerful resident is a Republican at the White House.

Amid the 2020 protests over the police killing of George Floyd, Bowser was openly antagonistic to Trump, but in his second term she's adopted a more conciliatory approach, looking to cooperate with him on efforts to improve or beautify the city's infrastructure and monuments. That approach, though, has drawn criticism from residents.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 6:44 PM.