Despite prodding from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie, the D.C. Council, once again, didn’t cast a vote on emergency curfew legislation.
The council’s weekslong impasse is taking place amid a contentious Democratic mayoral primary that further intensified earlier this week with Ward 5 D.C. Councilmember Zachary Parker’s endorsement of D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4).
Parker, who succeeded McDuffie as Ward 5 council member in 2023, said Lewis George has what it takes to tackle public safety issues as mayor.
“I have found her to wrestle with the nuance of a lot of these policy decisions that is often lost when we try to drill things down to a soft-on-crime-like headline,” Parker said about Lewis George. “I think she will certainly have her work cut out for her to make the case to District residents, but her thoughtful, nuanced approach on the issues and a steady hand in governing will help keep a driving down [of] violent crime across the District.”
Parker endorsed Lewis George weeks after D.C. Council members Brianne Nadeau (D-Ward 1), Robert White (D-At large), and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) issued similar statements of support. D.C. Council members Anita Bonds (D-At large) and Wendell Felder (D-Ward 7) have endorsed McDuffie, as has former Ward 3 D.C. Councilmember Mary Cheh.
For Parker, who’s in the midst of a re-election bid, his endorsement of Lewis George at this critical juncture in the Democratic mayoral primary boiled down to what her administration promises.
“Councilmember Lewis George is the superior choice,” Parker said. “She has laid out a vision for how we will move the District forward, how we will address widening inequality in terms of economics, and how we will address the plight of residents east of the river. These are long-standing issues and we cannot afford for the status quo to be the rubber stamp for the next four years.”
With Holistic Public Safety Vision, Lewis George Has Strong Showing in Polls
A May 20 poll conducted by CityCast DC showed Lewis George, one of seven mayoral candidates, dominating with a five-point lead over McDuffie in the first round of the new ranked-choice voting system. During the second round, McDuffie gained a 13 percentage point advantage.
In a subsequent poll conducted by public opinion research and political strategy firm GBAO, Lewis George led McDuffe in the first and second-round voting, by 14 and 12 percentage points respectively. Both polls came out in the aftermath of a televised Fox 5/Georgetown University debate where McDuffie called Lewis George weak on public safety matters.
In a polling memo, GBAO said its findings vindicate the Ward 4 council member.
“[D.C. Councilmember Janeese Lewis George] enjoys broad popularity in the District while McDuffie is now viewed negatively,” GBAO’s said in its polling memo. “Bottom line: the attacks from McDuffie and his allies have backfired. Lewis George has only gotten stronger as voters have gotten to know her while McDuffie’s standing is moving in the wrong direction.”
If elected, Lewis George aims to turn schools and other government buildings across all eight wards into community hubs. She called this vision reminiscent of what the late Linda Harllee Harper actualized through Building Blocks DC, a past effort by the Bowser administration to address gun violence via a whole-of-government approach.
“It’s a matter of just taking those [high risk] areas and giving them robust resources and supports and listening to those areas about what the needs are and then trying to meet the needs of those communities,” Lewis George told The Informer. “Building Blocks was a worthy mission that I think we should not have abandoned. For me, it would look like creating those building blocks again with key partners and putting all of our agencies on a task of providing the resources and creating the spaces that’s necessary in these high-risk areas to do that work.”
Other aspects of Lewis George’s public safety plan include: the removal of illegal guns and strengthening of police training in constitutional stops; streamlining anti-truancy efforts into one agency; investing in after-school programs and more safe spaces for young people; further centering mental and behavioral health interventions in place of law enforcement; supporting the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement; and ending cooperation with ICE.
Though she didn’t speak directly to her mayoral aspirations, Lewis George said the future mayor and D.C. Council could employ preventative public safety measures in collaboration with District residents, elected officials, parent-teacher organizations, behavioral specialists, and other relevant parties.
“It looks like talking with not just the council members,” Lewis George told The Informer, “but talking with the ANC commissioners, talking with community organizations who are on the ground doing the work, faith communities that are on the ground doing the work and identifying locations throughout the city where we see a dire need for that type of robust programming and spaces.”
Community Members Weigh In on Youth Curfew Dilemma
On the evening of May 26, the Go-Go Museum, a brain child of McDuffie supporter Ron Moten, hosted a Parent & Youth Town Hall on its premises in conjunction with an entity known as Save DC.
The two-hour function, held in the Bundy Garden portion of the Anacostia property, included a parent panel moderated by Keith Alexander of Bloomberg Law and a youth panel by Lonnie Bee of Majic 102.3 FM. The Next Generation Krank Band later took to the stage, keeping an audience that included youth, At-large Councilmember White and D.C. Councilmember Brooke Pinto bouncing.
Khalil White, the founding lead mic of the Next Generation Krank, said the passion of the young singers and percussionists speaks to his vision he manifested in 2023.
“I’ve been helping, just keeping them motivated, keeping them going,” said White, 23. “[Telling them] ‘Y’all don’t got to be out here doing stuff. Y’all can come and play music, play instruments, and perform in front of a crowd and do the right stuff.’”
Three years later, White, known to many as Wavy, said Gen Alpha is embracing go-go more than he could have imagined.
“Knowing that I played a part that would have them dancing and everything is just showing that we in the right place and we leading the youth in the right direction,” said White, a fan of UCB and TCB, among other go-go bands of the 1990s and 2000s.
Weeks prior to the council’s third delay on the emergency curfew renewal, White called the youth curfew a necessity.
“Only until we can find a better solution,” he told The Informer. “Yeah, we got recreation centers. Yeah, we got teen stuff for them to do, but it’s still not helping out. They’re still fighting, they’re still doing stuff that they shouldn’t be doing.”
Bee, a comedian and Southeast native, called on parents to play their part.
“Have conversations with your kids, listen to your kids, ask your kids where they at mentally,” Bee told The Informer. “Break the generational curse by making sure they don’t go through what it is that you went through. Stop trying to be your child’s friend, and be more of a positive role model.”
During the youth panel portion, Bee allowed a group that included former D.C. State Board of Education student representative Calique Barnes to express their thoughts about the curfew, and the root cause of youth dysfunction. Audience members also participated.
“I really enjoyed them being very honest, open, and unapologetic for what they were saying,” Bee said. “I think it’s the first step on moving forward when it comes to the things that go on in our city, like the fighting and the team takeover.”
On May 18, Lewis George, chair of the council’s Committee on Facilities, earmarked more than $3 million in the Fiscal Year 2026 supplemental budget and Fiscal Year 2027 budget toward the expansion of D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation hours.
This allocation, part of a package to be voted on during a council June 9 meeting, is part of Lewis George’s DC Youth Investment Plan, which also funds the D.C. Department of Employment Services’ Career Ready Early Scholars Program and D.C. Department of General Services’ summertime school facilities upgrades.
“We moved around funds within our facilities committee,” Lewis George said. “And then Councilmember Nadeau sent some funding over and Councilmember Pinto also sent some funding over from their committees as well.”
Last summer, before President Donald J. Trump federalized the local public safety ecosystem, the council unanimously approved the emergency youth curfew. Lewis George has since counted among those— including Parker, Nadeau, At large D.C. Councilmember White (D), and D.C. Councilmember Trayon White (D-Ward 8)— who oppose renewal of the measure.
In speaking about how she sees the youth curfew fitting the District government’s toolkit, Lewis George said that the mayor should cautiously implement the tool, especially with the District under federal occupation.
“If there’s an incident, there’s no Office of Police Complaints for these federal agents,” Lewis George said, “so our young people are more particularly at risk because interaction with young people and individuals who are not trained in this can escalate very quickly and could end in a young person being hurt or a young person being killed.”
As the Ward 7 community reels from the federal officer-involved shooting death of Julian Bailey, Dr. Marla Dean is expressing similar sentiments.
“We’ve had loss of life, and we’ve had neighborhoods under siege by federal law enforcement, and nobody wants to live in a community like that,” said Dean, chair of the Ward 7 Education Council. “What we have to think about is public safety. It’s just not about enforcement. It’s about an economic agenda. It’s about people having a renewed belief in their institutions and their government, and making sure that people feel like that our elected officials are going to listen.”
Dean, a Lewis George supporter, has been knocking on doors, hosting meetings, attending forums, and facilitating ranked-choice voter trainings. The goal, as she explained, is to engage the community while sharing what she calls Lewis George’s strengths.
“I think that Councilmember Lewis George wants to have a more balanced approach [on] how to address issues of all kinds,” Dean said. “The issues are highly nuanced and complicated, and they require that level of thoughtfulness. So it doesn’t really matter what the issue is. You have to balance those scales with a number of different stakeholder interests or concerns.”
Any other means of communication, Dean said, will be futile, much to the detriment of the District’s youngest residents.
“Anytime you get into an either-or situation, you’re trying to have people move in fear,” Dean said. “And I’ve never seen movement in fear that results in good policy or practice.”
McDuffie and Bowser Continue Their Crusade, While Mendelson Looks to the Future
During its June 2 legislative meeting, the council approved a resolution ceremoniously recognizing longtime Ward 8 organizer Wendy Glenn.
The legislative body also mulled legislation permanently narrowing the Open Meetings Act, and conducted a final reading on the Background Check Adjustment Act and Leading Education Access for Reentry and Necessary Success (LEARNS) Amendment Act of 2026. Council members also tackled a non-consent agenda centering on: increasing mandatory minimum motor vehicle insurance requirements and the provision of more local tax relief for owners of the currently uninhabitable River East at Grandview Condominiums who received the latest wave of recompense.
Much to the chagrin of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D) however, the council couldn’t move an emergency curfew declaration without at least one of the five council members who’ve maintained their opposition to the legislation.
“I have some frustration with that because the council has historically been very good about recognizing that when one is on the losing side, he’s on the strong majority moving forward,” Mendelson told reporters on Monday, in allusion to Parker. “If one is committed to opposing the emergency legislation, it would still allow the council to go forward by giving the two-thirds vote necessary for the declaration [rather] than going against the bill itself.”
In two weeks, voting will wrap up in what’s been an unprecedented election year. With the District under the thumb of the Trump administration, the Democratic mayoral primary has become a question of who could best stand up to White House and a Republican-dominated Congress.
In a statement circulated on Monday, McDuffie didn’t mince words.
“Washingtonians called for action, and Janeese Lewis George and her allies on the council continue to do nothing,” McDuffie said. “But let’s be clear about what nothing means here. It means we’ve handed Donald Trump and Jeanine Pirro exactly the argument they’ve been making— that Washington cannot protect its own residents, that Home Rule is a privilege D.C hasn’t earned, and that federal intervention is the only answer.”
If elected, McDuffie’s public safety plan involves temporary use of a youth curfew. It also includes a combination of what he called strong law enforcement and investments in violence prevention, education, economic opportunity, and safe passage. The plan also centers on support for first responders, a Youth Engagement Strategy, and modernizing 911 infrastructure.
“Let me be clear, a curfew is not the entire solution, but 35 days of doing nothing is not a solution either, and it certainly is not leadership,” McDuffie told reporters on May 26 while speaking about Lewis George’s opposition to the emergency curfew bill. “What I cannot support is allowing this authority to lapse because of political hesitation and then suggesting that extending recreation center hours by about 30 minutes somehow meets the urgency of this moment. It does not.”
McDuffie’s call to the council not only came shortly after Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District, threatened prosecution of curfew breakers’ parents, but circulation of video footage showing a youth melee at a Navy Yard Chipotle.
It also came months after the Free DC forum at Matthews Memorial Baptist Church in Southeast where McDuffie expressed opposition to the extension of youth curfew zones.
“Every week the council allows this curfew authority to lapse gives opponents of home rule more ammunition to undermine our ability to govern our own affairs,” McDuffie said. “Defending Home Rule requires more than rhetoric and social media posts. It requires competent governance. It requires leadership willing to make difficult decisions, and it requires demonstrating that D.C. can both keep people safe and invest in young people at the same time.”
Last month, in advance of Memorial Weekend, Bowser reinstated a limited youth curfew that allows Interim Police Chief Jeffery Carroll to designate targeted curfew zones where groups of nine or more youth under 18 aren’t allowed to gather after a certain time.
That curfew expires on June 6. Without emergency curfew legislation in place, that leaves more than a month before the July 16 implementation of the permanent curfew law approved by the council in May.
“Washingtonians deserve more than a 15-day patchwork solution when the council has the authority to act right now and treat these teen takeovers like the public safety emergency that they are,” McDuffie told reporters last month.
Bowser recently weighed in on the council’s inaction, expressing disappointment with the five council members and accusing them of “essentially obstructing the council from moving forward on this important public safety legislation.”
“The current mayor’s offer expires Saturday, and the permanent curfew legislation will not take effect until next month,” Bowser’s letter read, “leaving a gap that the council should address through this bill. Unfortunately, these five members are blocking the will of the public and the majority of the council.”
Mendelson, who’s endorsed At-large D.C. Councilmember Doni Crawford (I-At large) in the special election, said he won’t make an endorsement in the Democratic mayoral primary. He however spoke about what’s at stake as the council navigates a relationship with the new mayor.
“I think most members probably do not appreciate what all that involves,” Mendelson said on Monday. “There’s going to be [a] delay in a lot of stuff that we’re used to happening more timely because it’s a new mayor who’s getting his or her footing.”
With that, the chairman affirmed the need for a peaceful working relationship between the council and executive.
“I am hopeful that whoever wins is very collaborative with the council because we are partners,” he told The Informer.
