WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington, D.C. Council member Robert White Jr. won the Democratic primary for the district’s delegate to Congress on Tuesday.
White’s win in the heavily Democratic city sets him up to take the top spot in November’s general elections, when he could replace 18-term delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, 89, decided not to run again after facing mounting concerns over her ability to forcefully push back against the Trump administration’s federal intervention into the city’s affairs.
White had campaigned on promises to fight for the city’s autonomy, which has been squeezed under President Donald Trump, who deployed the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission and rattled the capital’s economy by downsizing the federal workforce.
“The future of our city is at stake,” White told The Associated Press after he cast his ballot Tuesday.
The D.C. delegate position is a nonvoting one, but it grants the nearly 700,000 people of the district, who have no other representation in Congress, a voice through speechmaking on the House floor and bill introduction.
The primary marked the first time in a generation that D.C. residents voted for a new mayor and delegate in the same election. And in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, that party’s winner is expected to come out on top in November. The AP has not yet called a winner in the race for mayor.
Current Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was first elected in 2014, decided not to seek a fourth term. Democratic front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are hoping to replace her.
Trump looms large over the vote
Central to all the campaigns has been the city’s fraught relationship with the Trump administration and the federal government. The city has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.
That autonomy has been further squeezed under Trump, who launched a federal law enforcement surge last summer and sent in the National Guard for an ongoing, open-ended deployment. Trump’s efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. He has also been reshaping the city by removing or renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.
Trump last week threatened a new federal takeover of Washington when asked about his response to a potential victory by Lewis George, a democratic socialist.
“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.
Lewis George, who has pledged to protect the city’s autonomy, stood that ground at her post-election event where pop music blared and a crowd danced with the candidate on stage.
“If there was any doubt, right now we lay it to rest,” she said to cheering supporters. “It is the people of D.C. who elect the mayor.”
McDuffie, closing out the day at an event with supporters, echoed that sentiment.
“It is under threat right now, but Donald Trump does not run Washington, D.C. We do. The people of D.C. run Washington, D.C.,” McDuffie told the crowd. “And we will fight for D.C.’s autonomy every single day of the week.”
Neither candidate declared victory as preliminary results rolled in.
Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions.
Republicans in Congress, meanwhile, have used their oversight authority to challenge the local government’s limited autonomy.
Federal intervention, affordability among candidates’ top priorities
Washington resident Fran Tatu, 69, said the National Guard deployment was a concern for her.
“What’s at stake — many young lives with the surge of federal officers by Trump and all of the troops that are here,” she said, adding that she was voting for Lewis George and White.
Lewis George, in response to questions sent by The Associated Press, said her top priority is addressing “the affordability crisis here in D.C., which the Trump administration has only made worse by unjustly firing federal employees en masse and militarizing our streets.”
McDuffie said his top priority is public safety. He would add 1,000 police officers over four years and take a public health approach to violence reduction that would include focusing on mental health.
Other candidates for mayor include former council member Vincent Orange and Hope Solomon, a former federal contractor who lost her job because of cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency.
This story corrects the spelling of Zalesne’s first name. It is Kinney, not Kenney.