By Washington Examiner

Published June 18, 2026 5:00am ET | Updated June 18, 2026 4:08pm ET

Janeese Lewis George, an avowed socialist and proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America, took a commanding lead in the District of Columbia’s Democratic primary on June 16, all but guaranteeing she will be the next mayor of Washington. As radical as Lewis George’s socialist policies are, however, they should not be thought of as an aberration, as they might once have been. For socialists within the Democratic Party now control the mayor offices of New York, Chicago, and Seattle, and are poised to take over Los Angeles and Washington. The Democratic Party has become the party of socialism.

Lewis George’s record and policy proposals are cartoonishly bad. At a time when Washington’s economy is shrinking, its budget deficits growing, and its downtown office vacancy crisis worsening, Lewis George wants to create a new business activity tax. The levy is designed to reach law firms, lobbying shops, consulting firms, and other professional services partnerships that operate in Washington but avoid the city’s unincorporated business tax because their owners live outside the district. Lewis George claims the tax would raise $500 million, but its likelier effect would be to drive hundreds of successful firms out of the capital and across the Potomac River into Virginia, further hollowing out Washington’s struggling commercial core.

In addition to weakening Washington’s economy, Lewis George proposes dismantling the city’s IMPACT education reforms, which are a bright spot in an otherwise dysfunctional government. IMPACT improved Washington’s schools by testing students, rewarding good teachers with bonuses, and removing bad ones from the classroom. Teachers unions hate the policy because it makes them accountable for doing their jobs effectively. With union support backing her campaign, Lewis George has agreed to end it.