Her name is Janeese Lewis George and she currently serves on the DC Council. Last year when the first stories broke that she might be planning to run for mayor, she was dubbed “DC’s version of Zohran Mamdani” because, like Mamdani, she’s a member of the DSA with some pretty far-left views.
Lewis George, a D.C. native and graduate of Howard Law, was elected in 2020 to represent Ward 4, which stretches from Petworth to Takoma and Chevy Chase. Here’s a slice of her record:
She’s rallied against the federal takeover, joined Free DC protests, and denounced ICE enforcement (she took a video of an apparent detainment in August).
Lewis George first made a name for herself when she ran for the Ward 4 seat in 2020. At the time she was leaning heavily on Black Lives Matter and the idea of defunding the police. Here’s part of an interview she did with NPR in 2020:
INSKEEP: Janeese Lewis George, who is very likely to win the general election, met us at the Black Lives Matter mural standing on the letter B.
LEWIS GEORGE: I think it’s awesome. Do I think it solves the problems we have in our city? Absolutely not.
INSKEEP: Before running, she was a prosecutor.
Did you have a moment while working as a prosecutor when you said, I am working in a racist system?
LEWIS GEORGE: Absolutely. All the time.
INSKEEP: That informed her proposals to divert some of the police budget to community improvements and violence reduction programs.
LEWIS GEORGE: You know, I’ve seen, you know, how much we just lean on doing the same thing and expecting a different result, which is like – let’s just put more officers there, and that’ll the problem, which is not the only solution. You’ve got to put more resources into the community to do that.
Nine months ago when President Trump declared an emergency and sent federal agents into the city to reduce crime, Lewis George opposed it. She has also opposed the juvenile curfew which was instituted to keep teens off the streets late at night. Just last month the DC Council voted 8-5 to put a permanent curfew in place.
Council member Janeese Lewis George was among the “no” votes, saying that studies from other cities show that “curfews do not result in fewer instances in youth-involved crime, public disturbances or high-risk behaviors.”
The curfew exists because of scenes like this that have become known as teen takeovers.
BREAKING POINT: Hundreds of teens flooded Washington, D.C.’s upscale Navy Yard neighborhood, sparking fights, robberies and gunfire in what officials described as a “juvenile takeover.”
Former Biden White House advisor Yemisi Egbewole warned that “blue cities need to wake up,”… pic.twitter.com/gPnjyUX4ZB
— Fox News (@FoxNews) March 16, 2026
Another example from last month:
NOW: Navy Yard teen takeover dispersal pic.twitter.com/Fz3SM6BnqL
— Oliya Scootercaster 🛴 (@ScooterCasterNY) April 12, 2026
Just a few days ago we had another example:
🚨 WTF?! A group of thug teens just went RAMPANT on a violent brawl at the Washington DC Navy Yard’s Chipotle
And there were terrified kids inside
US Attorney Judge Jeanine can now prosecute the PARENTS for any of these “youth.”
Bring on the FAFO!
📽️ @Katelyn_Caralle pic.twitter.com/eZLJu2ShpO
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) May 18, 2026
So the point of the curfew is to give police the ability to disperse these crowds of rowdy, sometimes violent teens without having to declare a riot. If Janeese Lewis George is elected mayor, she would attempt to get rid of the curfew. In a Mayoral debate Monday night she argued that the curfew puts these innocent youths in danger.
During the D.C. mayoral debate Monday night, City Council member and candidate Janeese Lewis George condemned curfews for youth in the city, calling the policy “dangerous.” Instead, Lewis George, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and was dubbed by Axios “D.C.’s version of Zohran Mamdani,” said the city should “expand our youth programming” through youth centers and apprenticeships.
Meanwhile, she suggested the real threat to D.C.’s youth is the “federal troops” and “masked ICE agents” patrolling the city.
“Right now, using the curfew as a tool for our young people is dangerous. It is dangerous because we have federal troops who are in our city, masked ICE agents who are in our city, and these are the people enforcing this law and our young people, and these are not individuals who are trained in de-escalation, they are not accountable to D.C. residents,” she said.
I don’t think anyone is dumb enough to really believe those mobs of teens are going to disappear because of “youth centers and apprenticeships.” Lewis George is leaning into the idea that the real threat is federal agents sent in by the Trump administration because running against Trump is a political winner even if the actual policy of ditching the curfew is an obvious loser.
Charles Fain Lehman, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement that Lewis George has it “exactly backwards.”
“Public acting out is not the result of insufficient services or alternative opportunities. It’s what happens when the system fails to consistently and clearly enforce rules about public conduct,” he said, adding, “It’s exactly backwards to say that what they need is more lenience.”
Despite that, her strategy seems to be working. A poll out this week shows Lewis George in the lead but challenger Kenyan McDuffie isn’t far behind and might have an edge in DC’s new ranked choice voting.
Councilmember Janeese Lewis George holds a five-point lead over Kenyan McDuffie in Washington’s Democratic mayoral primary, according to the first citywide public poll of the race.
The City Cast survey found Lewis George is the first choice of 39% of Democratic voters, compared to 34% for McDuffie…
But for the first time, D.C. voters will rank up to five candidates in order of preference — and that could shake things up. Among voters who did not choose Lewis George or McDuffie as their top pick, more named McDuffie as their second choice, meaning he could close the gap once those votes are counted.
McDuffie is also pretty far left but during his campaign for mayor he’s made public safety his top issue. He supports the curfew and hiring more police officers.
There are other reasons Lewis George may not be an ideal candidate for anyone concerned with public safety, starting with her political director Makia Green who is a big fan of defunding the police. Here she is just yesterday calling herself a police abolitionist and comparing herself to Angela Davis.
I’m an abolitionist like Angela Davis. There are plenty of substantive critiques people could make of my politics. Inventing electoral allegiances I do not hold is just lazy. https://t.co/s4BvgeKXnS
— Makia (@WorkItKikiDC) May 21, 2026
Angela Davis’s view of police was, shall we say, nuanced.
In fairness, Davis supports law enforcement in certain contexts pic.twitter.com/heHwknUPkf
— dylan matthews 🔸 (@dylanmatt) May 22, 2026
Again, this isn’t some rando, this is Lewis George’s political director. Finally, Makia Green isn’t the only sketchy figure Lewis George surrounds herself with. Her friend and “mentor” in DC politics is facing trial for bribery.
D.C. Council member Trayon White Sr. (D-Ward 8) faces trial in September for bribery. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he agreed to accept $156,000 in kickbacks for helping renew lucrative city contracts. Yet prosecutors have evidence that he began taking payoffs in 2019, and the FBI caught him on tape in 2024 pocketing $35,000 in cash during four meetings in his car with an informant.
Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), who is leading in the polls to become mayor of the nation’s capital, went to White’s 42nd birthday party on Sunday. In a video posted on Facebook that was later deleted, she had warm words for her indicted colleague.
“From the moment I got on the council, Trayon was one of the only people who would mentor me,” said Lewis George. To underscore their close ties, she told him he deserved “to be shown love for the love that you give to everybody else.”
What’s a little corruption between friends? And, hey, he’s an antisemitc conspiracy theorist too.
White’s presence in public office has been a national embarrassment long before his alleged criminality became known. In 2018, he accused Jews of controlling the government and manipulating the climate. White posted on social media that snow in March was part of a nefarious plot by the Rothschilds to take over the city. After initially defending the comments as not antisemitic, he apologized.
I’m surprised he hasn’t been a guest on Tucker Carlson’s show. I’ll give Lewis George this much. Unlike Zohran Mamdani, at least she didn’t marry the antisemitic creep.
Lewis George seems to have learned from Mamdani that so long as she keeps smiling and talking about affordability, voters will let her slide on everything else.
Editor’s Note: The American people overwhelmingly support President Trump’s law and order agenda.
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