You don’t have to leave the city to have fun during the upcoming three-day weekend. Here’s where to get out and about, including watching local films, weeding in a historic garden, and competing in a citywide scavenger hunt.
Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George was crowded by constituents, reporters, even a former councilmember as she held a listening session in Ward 7 on Sept. 3. (Alex Koma)
Janeese Lewis George may not be the mayor yet, but this week, she got her first taste of what holding D.C.’s top job will really be like.
Two months after her primary romp, and after a few weeks avoiding the spotlight, the Ward 4 councilmember hit the public stage again. Lewis George held the first three of a planned eight listening sessions across each of the city’s wards, getting a peek at what her life might be like after she wins the mayoralty in November: the good, the bad, and everything in between.
At the Ward 7 event at a Hillcrest church on Thursday night, Lewis George’s campaign invited attendees—about 300 people, in organizers’ estimation—to sort themselves into rooms based on the issues they cared about: jobs and the economy, community safety, food access, transportation, education and others. The presumptive next mayor visited each one for a few minutes and received a taste of just how vexing her task will be in governing the city.
Participants urged Lewis George to consider walkability as the city designs the new RFK stadium campus, but also railed against a District Department of Transportation they felt has “run amok” in redesigning their communities. They decried “jumpout” searches by police (a longtime complaint, particularly east of the Anacostia River) but also called for police enforcement that can address rampant violence in their neighborhoods and gets guns off the street. They petitioned for more grocery stores to serve their communities (another ongoing issue in the ward) but expressed some hesitation about her campaign pledge to pilot city-owned grocers, as New York City started doing.
If Lewis George felt some pangs of regret about her decision to implore the crowd to be “unabashedly honest, brutally honest” about their needs at the start of the event, she didn’t show it. (It’s certainly not the sort of rhetoric you’d hear from the notoriously criticism-averse Mayor Muriel Bowser, several activists in the crowd noted.)
“I’m not worried that Ward 7 will hold me accountable, because I know you all will,” Lewis George told attendees. “This is all about our government having real accountability.”
The event also showcased one of Lewis George’s other big challenges as she prepares to become mayor: Everyone now wants a piece of her.
Not only was just about every member of the assembly eager to shake Lewis George’s hand and bend her ear—she caused several traffic jams just trying to walk up and down the pews of the East Washington Heights Baptist Church, as well-wishers rushed to her side—but she suddenly finds herself awash in former rivals suddenly eager to make nice.
There was perhaps no greater example of this phenomenon than Ward 7 Councilmember Wendell Felder, a close ally of Bowser who endorsed Lewis George’s chief opponent in the primary, Kenyan McDuffie.
The pair are personally friendly, but have at times clashed on the Council—most memorably, Lewis George slammed Felder for his role in deciding McDuffie’s replacement on the Council—though you’d never know it to see the two of them on Thursday night. Lewis George shouted out the Ward 7 councilmember several times, praising him for catching an early flight to make it back in time for the event, and they spent the evening strolling together through the various breakout rooms to rub elbows with attendees.
And then there’s all of Lewis George’s allies on the campaign who may be thinking about how they can benefit from proximity to the next mayor: especially with a bunch of plum administration jobs that’ll need to be filled.
Ward 7 State Board of Education Rep. Eboni-Rose Thompson ran the discussion on education, in her latest appearance alongside the presumptive mayor at a community event. Thompson also earned a prominent speaking role at Lewis George’s victory party, fueling gossip about what that political alliance might yield. (It’s not escaped anyone’s notice that Lewis George went to bat for Thompson when Felder worked to blocked her appointment to McDuffie’s old seat, and the political class has been buzzing for weeks that Thompson is one of the top contenders for an appointment to the Council to replace At-Large Councilmember Robert White.)
Kingman Park advisory neighborhood commissioner Ebony Payne got the nod to lead another breakout session, and rumors have been flying about her political intentions ever since she and Thompson came just shy of besting Felder in 2024’s contentious Ward 7 Council primary. Plenty of people believe she’s likely to give the race another shot in 2028, so sticking close to the new mayor can’t hurt.
Even former Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander got a chance to lead a group, another notable appearance after she raised eyebrows around the city by throwing her support behind Lewis George in the campaign. Long a more moderate politician, Alexander has been lobbying the city government since former Mayor Vince Gray knocked her out of office a decade ago, and she’s never shed the rumors that she’s looking to get back into government or elected office somehow.
But all of that maneuvering is still a bit off in the future. For now, Lewis George says she’s focused on these listening sessions. Her campaign believes more than 1,000 people have already attended, and she still has five left to go.
Can Lewis George somehow translate all this input (and all these new friends) into a government that meets the demands of her supporters? She’s got about four more months to find some answers to that question before things start getting truly complicated.
“We’re past the politics of the thing,” Lewis George told the crowd. “And now we need to get into the implementation of the thing.”
Alex (he/him) is a senior reporter for The 51st who has spent his career covering local government, politics, the criminal legal system and more in the D.C. area. He was raised in Northern Virginia, graduated from Virginia Tech, and lives in Shaw.
Over 17% of the city's residents live in poverty. Without funds or staff, the government body tasked with helping them is unlikely to make a difference.
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