Trump Warns He’ll ‘Take Back’ Washington If She Wins

Trump’s threat – President Donald Trump signaled he wants to “take back Washington” if Democratic primary voters elect Janeese Lewis George as the city’s next mayor, setting the race over more than crime and housing. While Trump can use federal levers like the D.C. National Gu

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s push to control Washington, D.C., is no longer confined to repairing fountains or deploying the National Guard. With the capital preparing to choose a new mayor for the first time in more than a decade, he has taken his fight into the ballot box.

At the White House last week, asked about the Democratic mayoral primary, Trump said he “wouldn’t like it” if Janeese Lewis George won. Then he went further: “Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” Trump said. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.”

Lewis George. a city council member who has led in the polls. has campaigned on universal childcare and on ending the D.C. police department’s cooperation with federal immigration authorities. Her top rival. Kenyan McDuffie. a longtime former council member often seen as tied to the city’s political establishment. is running against that agenda—and against a central question voters can’t ignore: who is better prepared for Trump.

Trump’s warning carries power, but it also bumps up against a legal ceiling. There’s no question he can meddle in D.C.’s affairs. Trump has direct control over the D.C. National Guard. 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.” Last year. he took advantage of those authorities. briefly taking over the police department and deploying the National Guard in response to a supposed crime crisis. Groups of guardsmen, mostly from GOP-controlled states, still roam the city’s streets.

But Trump does not have the authority to take over D.C.’s government by himself. 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. For Trump to take over the district’s government. Congress would have to pass a bill amending the Home Rule Act. Even in today’s Republican-controlled Congress. such an effort would require a number of Democrats to support it in the Senate. a path described as highly unlikely.

That distinction—between influence and takeover—has become part of the emotional tension of the primary. Lewis George framed Trump’s comments as an attempt to pressure residents into voting differently. In a statement to HuffPost on Monday. she said. “We are not going to get ICE off our streets by fearing this president.” She added. “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.”.

She repeated the same challenge in a Friday video on social media, looking directly into the camera while urging action: “So D.C., let’s vote.”

Both candidates, in different ways, are running on the same underlying dilemma: how to deal with Trump.

Matthew Dallek. a politics historian at George Washington University. said the campaign message from Lewis George is that McDuffie is not willing to push back enough. “The entire campaign. the subtle or maybe not-so-subtle message from George is that McDuffie is not going to fight enough. ” Dallek told HuffPost. “He’s been a long time city councilman. and he’s too close to the current mayor. and that he’s not going to really take it to Trump.”.

The current mayor, Muriel Bowser, has often avoided direct confrontation with Trump. She praised the president for sending an influx of law enforcement officers last summer. “We greatly appreciate the surge of officers that enhance what [D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department] has been able to do in this city. ” Bowser said in August.

Still, Bowser’s approach has drawn protests—especially after she allowed D.C. police to cooperate with federal officials conducting immigration enforcement. Trump, for his part, has praised Bowser in turn. “I got along with her very well, I liked her, we worked together, D.C. is now a safe community,” Trump said last year after Bowser announced she wouldn’t run for reelection.

McDuffie has tried to turn the Trump threat into a case for governance over confrontation. In his view. electing Lewis George could backfire by provoking Trump and Republicans in Congress. who in the past year have repeatedly proposed undoing various laws passed by the D.C. Council and even revoking home rule itself.

“The strongest defense against federal interference is a city that works: a 911 system that answers when residents call. neighborhoods where people feel safe. and a government that proves every day that DC can govern itself. ” McDuffie wrote earlier this month. He also pointed to Lewis George’s positions. noting that she has opposed expanding pretrial detention and imposing a youth curfew.

McDuffie’s campaign did not respond to a Monday request for comment. But in a Saturday interview with local TV station WJLA, he said he is willing to work with any administration or Republicans in Congress when it benefits D.C. residents.

“If it puts D.C. residents and D.C. businesses at the forefront. then I’m going to work with people to create those opportunities to grow our local economy. ” McDuffie said. He added, “But I’m going to fight back when necessary…. No resident, especially our most vulnerable, our immigrant neighbors, should have to live in fear in our nation’s capital.”.

Dallek also suggested that what voters are hearing might not be the full story. He said it’s possible Lewis George wouldn’t be as confrontational with Trump as her campaign rhetoric suggests. He pointed to New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani. whose harsh words for Trump during his campaign last year gave way to an incredibly friendly meeting with the president.

“The question really is, if George were to win, would she act more pragmatically than her campaign rhetoric suggests?” Dallek said. “Would she adjust once she was in power and copy the model of Mayor Mamdani in New York?”

Trump’s interest in Mamdani may reflect his own New York background. He has also taken an interest in Washington’s cityscape in his second term—launching legally questionable construction and beautification projects and praising the city he has previously called a hellhole. Last week, Trump said, “Washington now is a safe, beautiful place,” adding, “People are coming, restaurants are thriving.”.

As voters choose between Lewis George and McDuffie, the race has become inseparable from the question Trump himself posed: whether Washington should brace for federal pressure—or bet that it can meet power with a different kind of political will.

Donald Trump Janeese Lewis George Kenyan McDuffie Washington D.C. mayoral primary Home Rule Act D.C. National Guard D.C. police immigration enforcement Muriel Bowser ICE federal interference