Janeese Lewis George was elected mayor of Washington, D.C., on November 3, 2026, and the first thing she promised was an audit.
She is 38, a third-generation Washingtonian and the daughter of a union postal worker. She represented Ward 4 on the D.C. Council and still lives there. She succeeds Muriel Bowser, who held the job for nearly 12 years, and becomes the eighth elected mayor since home rule.
The city she takes over is carrying a budget shortfall that could reach $837 million and a housing target of 72,000 units.
“One of the things we’re going to do early in my administration is a forensic analysis of every District agency,” she said, “making sure we’re taking account of savings and spending, and also fraud and abuse and mishandling.”
On the federal administration operating inside her city, she gave both halves of the answer. “The people of D.C. elect the mayor of D.C., and I am willing to work with this administration to the benefit of D.C. residents,” she said. “And I’m also willing to stand up to this administration when it comes to doing just that.”
She put the night’s events plainly. “This is a declaration that working people deserve a government that works as hard as they do,” she said, and called it a new day for D.C.
She defeated Robert L. Gross of the D.C. Statehood Green Party and the independent Rhonda Hamilton.
