Member statements in favor and against 2026-EER02: Endorsement of Janeese Lewis George for DC Mayor
Per Section 4 of our bylaws, “The Political Engagement Committee shall be permitted to issue a recommendation and rationale as a body, to be delivered by its chair or their designee, before or during debates on all electoral endorsements and will be allotted additional speaking time if requested to deliver findings from their engagement with the candidate or ballot initiative campaign. This recommendation and rationale will be included along with endorsement ballots sent to members.”
The Political Engagement Committee has issued a recommendation IN FAVOR of endorsing Janeese Lewis George. The PEC’s full recommendation and analysis can be found here.
IN FAVOR by Joe R
Janeese has been an exemplary candidate and SIO since her first class struggle campaign in 2020. Early last year, we held two strategy meetings with her to map the council ahead of the fights around the RENTAL Act and I-82, and coordinated meetings with CMs involving PEC members, rank-and-file members, and unionized tenants. She is often the only CM to counter the narratives of the developer-landlord and restaurant lobbies, and fought them the whole time along the way. In December, an oral amendment she had passed in July ensured the $51 million surplus from the previous fiscal year was put back into critical social programs. She constantly fights to expand the social safety net (e.g. decoupling from federal tax cuts to expand the refundable earned income and child tax credits, increasing SNAP benefits, protecting Alliance and Medicaid, etc.), called for a ceasefire in Gaza and stood with the GWU student encampment in solidarity with Palestine, and introduces progressive legislation like the Green New Deal for Social Housing and a bill to end cooperation between MPD and ICE and strengthen our sanctuary policies.
Her presence on the council has fundamentally changed the debate, and the capacity, orientation, and targets of outside social movements on essentially every critical issue that has come up for going on six years. During that time, she shouts out DSA and working group projects, includes DSA on a list of orgs to get involved with in some of her office presentations, shows up for DSA actions and events (keynoting our convention just last month), has meetings and strategizes with us, has many DSA members in staff and volunteer roles on her campaigns and while in office, and doesn’t flinch when local media call her a democratic socialist and highlight her DSA membership. Janeese does all of this, and operates as the left pole of the Council and now the standardbearer of the Left for mayor, because of the relationships we’ve built and the work so many of our members have put in for years. She’s running on this record and reputation, and has and will be campaigning on many issues that fall within our chapter and national programs. Our members are already the single largest bloc of any organization in her coalition, from staff to donors to volunteers, and we stand to grow that position many fold if we endorse her and can proactively dedicate ourselves to supporting her — which is also extremely likely to grow our organization and presents an unparalleled opportunity to make inroads with people in the District we’ve spent years failing to connect with. Formally withholding our support from her would not just be giving up our position in the line struggle within the campaign (and hopefully eventual administration) that we’re talking about, but also fracture the coalition it will require for her to win early on in the campaign, blunting her momentum and very justifiably giving a lot of people and many progressive organizations and unions good reason to consider us an unreliable movement partner. We are a crucial part of the coalition that could elect a democratic socialist as our next mayor, and this campaign is key to advancing our project. Janeese clearly understands that, and so should we!
IN FAVOR by Diego J
I want to give credit to the well-written observations MUG made in their abstention recommendation, as well as to all the people on both sides of this debate. Endorsements are earned, and healthy open debate is a vital part of this process. I think MUG raised many important questions about the fear of demobilization after the campaign, the kind of relationship the chapter will have with the Mayor after the election, and the kinds of obstacles this fascist President will pose against a genuine worker- and people-focused agenda. But I also believe we are currently in a rare moment when a true paradigm shift is possible and has already begun; people are more activated than they have been in nearly a century. We can see this not just abstractly, but concretely in the growth of socialist membership, renewed labor militancy, mass Palestine solidarity mobilizations, and the backlash of state repression on campuses and in our streets. The disorganized masses are desperate to know what they can do. Some of them have come to DSA organically, but they need leadership, and I want DSA to be that leader. I think a Mayorship run and a victory will provide the overwhelming momentum needed to bring enough people into our chapter that she will have the public backing necessary to push and enact our agenda aggressively and successfully, just like Zohran is doing in New York. Not because DC and New York are the same, but because the political effects of visible socialist victories travel. They change expectations and open space for struggle well beyond the offices themselves. Zohran’s victory has also unlocked many local races for DSA candidates. The old establishment machine is afraid, and they need to be kept afraid everywhere until they are removed from power everywhere. If Kenyan McDuffie wins, the restaurant industry will believe they got away with repealing Initiative 82 again. The business elite will face no punishment for their attacks on the democratic will of the people. This election gives us an opportunity to punch them in the face and have DSA take credit for it. I also want to acknowledge that electoral work is not and should never be DSA’s sole focus or even its preeminent one; it is one tool in our toolbox, a coequal hammer in our arsenal of pressure points alongside Internationalism, Abolition Work, Tenant and Labor organizing, etc. Our members are busy; those who prefer to remain focused on our international work or our street watch team should never feel compelled to volunteer for a campaign just because we endorse it. But I also know we have a significant number of members, especially those with an electoral focus who are ready to fight for this campaign, and want to do so under DSA. Just as I have always believed, it is critical that the Internationalism working group be empowered to fight imperialism without having to water down its anti-imperialist message; I also believe the already significant enthusiasm from our electoral organizers to endorse Janeese Lewis George for Mayor is something to strongly consider when our chapter decides who to endorse. If our organizers are going to support and volunteer for JLG, I want them to do so under the DSA banner. Ultimately, I believe people have raised fair, intellectually honest questions about how we will relate as an organization to a Mayor who wins with our endorsement, but the prospect of having two towers in the form of a DSA Mayor in both New York City and DC is such a narrative changer, it would be such a historical moment in American history, that all of our old calculations will have to be rewritten. I want DSA to be considered the leading oppositional force against the fascist federal administration, and that we are in a moment in time, to take that mantle from the establishment, corporate-friendly Democratic Party once and for all.
IN FAVOR by Jim L
We are in the midst of one of the most aggressive fascist period in World history - fascism is on the rise in Europe and Asia and the white nationalist movement in America controls all three branches of government, the press, and most levers of power. They are executing members of the public, in the street, on camera with seemingly no legal consequences. Trump and the capitalist class are forcing AI extractive tech capitalism on the US and the planet, burning up fresh water and jacking up energy costs on working class people while destroying the planet’s climate; mining our resources and killing our precious environment. Their only plan is to ravage the planet and escape to Mars. We need fighters on the street, in labor and in political office to confront these thugs and pigs and say NO to ICE, NO to landlords AND slumlords, NO to Bigotry and Oppression and I firmly believe Comrade Councilmember Janeese Lewis George will champion us and the working class. She has fought the landlord class and police overreach, at the threat of bodily harm; she has stopped the worse excesses of police power on DC Council and pushed hard for Social Housing and environmental justice. She has united support from unions and has won huge labor concessions from developers and the owning class. She supports the tipped minimum wage and pulls on her experience as a tipped worker and her mother’s union solidarity.
I’ve known Janeese for 5 years and in those years I have seen her empathy and understanding and her partnerships with DSA, SOS, and Palestinian organizing at GW and across the District. She always has had an open office for Palestinian organizing and was a hub for DC activism. I am proud to support her for DC mayor to stop the Green Team’s capital bulwark and fight the Trump regime, ICE, and extractive capitalism in the core of the empire. Please support me in voting to endorse JLG
(Full disclosure I worked for JLG in her Ward 4 office from 2022 to 2025).
IN FAVOR by John Q
Hello chapter! I encourage you to vote yes to endorse Janeese Lewis George for many reasons but I’ll focus on one - social housing! There are many solutions we need to pursue to tackle the incessant housing crisis the city faces that privatizes, gentrifies, and displaces a good that should be considered a human right - but one of the most critical long term interventions is providing publicly owned, climate friendly, affordable, renter-managed housing stock through a social housing department. Janeese was the original cosponsor of the bill to do just this, works tirelessly with local organizers to amplify the demand for it, has thought through the policy on it scrupulously, and speaks regularly on it in her current campaign. This type of policy is one of the boldest housing interventions progressive mayors can take in our day - and she is absolutely making it a priority on the campaign trail, as she has in office. I encourage you to vote yes to endorse Janeese for mayor - a true leader for socialized housing!
IN FAVOR by Julia P
Comrades, the choice to vote YES and endorse Janeese Lewis George for Mayor of DC is so obvious I don’t even know where to begin.
Janeese’s dedication to the working people of DC is beyond question. She grew up in a union household, and she’s carried those values with her in office, fighting to protect I-82 and successfully leading the charge for a Labor Peace Agreement in the RFK stadium deal. When McDuffie and his allies were ready to take the first deal billionaire developers offered, saying a Project Labor Agreement for the stadium and one hotel was the best they could get, Janeese was bold enough to demand better. She confronted capital head on and got results - the stadium will be built and staffed by union workers, as will all properties in the mixed-used development. Her strong pro-labor credentials have already earned the endorsements of UNITE HERE Local 25, UNITE HERE Local 23, SEIU 32BJ, UFCW Local 400, ATU Local 689, and Washington Teacher’s Union. I had the privilege of being present when the first four of these endorsements were announced, and the energy in the room was electric. I heard union members speak from the heart about the hope Janeese’s run gives them and the trust they have in her based on her impeccable track record as a labor ally. It’s incredible to see labor align behind an open democratic socialist, and MDC DSA would be foolish to pass up the opportunity this presents for us.
Janeese’s track record on the council is one of consistency, bravery, and principled conviction. From union rights to childcare to education to traffic safety to tenants’ rights to social housing to a green new deal and beyond, Janeese has always stood up for democratic socialist values even when she’s had to stand alone. She was one of the first elected officials in the country to call for a ceasefire after October 7th. She fought hard in the face of overwhelming adversity to defend I-82 from the restaurant lobby’s maneuvers to overturn it. She stood up for tenants and led the charge against Mayor Bowser’s sinister RENTAL Act. Stomp Out Slumlords organizers have attested that she’s always stood by organized tenants, showing up to support rent strikes and working with SOS leaders to defend and strengthen tenants’ rights legislation (e.g., the Tenants Opportunity to Purchase Act, or TOPA) in DC. She is the only member of the DC Council to introduce legislation that would prevent MPD from collaborating with federal immigration enforcement agencies, and she’s even gone out into the streets herself to defend her community against ICE’s (or CBP’s, or HSI’s, depending on which hat they happen to have on) vicious campaign of terror. Her ability and willingness to stand up for what’s right even under tremendous pressure has been proven beyond all reasonable doubt.
MDC DSA has been beside Janeese throughout her tenure on the DC Council, helping her build good policies and fight bad ones, and her run for Mayor represents the culmination of a shared project that can change history. When asked about her affiliation with DSA and democratic socialism on NBC News 4 Washington, she proudly referred to our chapter as her political home. She’s hired DSA members to work for both her Council office and her campaign because she affirmatively wants us to be in the room with her, and she’s gone out of her way to address concerns raised by chapter members with empathy and humanity. She was keynote speaker at our 2025 local convention because she’s serious about meeting the moment with us, and we should be ready to meet it with her just like we’ve done in the past. What happened in New York is possible here if we only have the will to pursue it.
Please join me in voting YES on JLG’s endorsement for Mayor!
IN FAVOR by Kurtis H
My name is Kurtis and I have been a chapter leader on and off for the past 6 years. I am writing to urge you to vote to endorse Janeese Lewis George in her campaign for mayor of DC. This election represents a rare opportunity to reach a broad population with a message of socialism. Refusal to contend with the contradictions of a non-cadre executive level campaign and the potential future contradictions of an endorsed mayor is an abdication of our duty to the movement. We have two paths ahead: we can either join a coalition and have a seat at the table (and a prominent one at that, she has been publicly talking about DSA as her political home) or we can abstain and allow the liberal elements of her coalition to set the agenda. I think the choice is clear. For all the growing pains to come, we simply cannot afford to miss the opportunity to try.
IN FAVOR by Henry W
Janeese Lewis George is the strongest voice for the working class. As a member of Stomp Out Slumlords, I have seen Councilperson Janeese Lewis George attend tenant actions confronting their landlords. She is the only councilperson to do this. She is the real deal and I would be honored to be a part of an organization that puts its weight behind her.
IN FAVOR by Catherine F
I’m writing in strong support of Metro DSA endorsing Janeese George for Mayor. Janeese embodies the values of DSA and has continually fought for the working class during her time on DC City Council.
AGAINST by Sam D
I am writing against the endorsement of Janeese Lewis George’s campaign, because our chapter has shown itself to (still) not be ready to hold an electoral candidate and member accountable to our democratically approved red lines, namely the reduction of funding and abolition of policing institutions, support for Palestine, and no association with Zionist lobby groups. In the discussion of Lewis George’s invited attendance to a JCRC event as a panelist, many chapter members showed a willingness to engage in obfuscation and denial, rather than reckon with a difficult situation created by the candidate and her campaign. Members claimed JCRC is not Zionist, that attending an event as a public panelist is not “association,” that our and the national anti-Zionist resolution had no relation to that member’s actions—these were supremely silly contortions. We are the Democratic Socialists of America because we operate, with militant discipline, according to democratic principles.
In a wave of excitement, many members have shown a willingness to abandon those principles and prior chapter votes in order to adopt (they believe) a strategically optimal electoral alliance. This is opportunism—the sacrifice of political beliefs in the name of (supposed) effective political strategy. But the history of the US Left proves that so-called left–liberal coalitions like the CPUSA’s Popular Front more often result in the dilution and liquidation of their socialist and communist contingents. Sadly, we are not ready for the complicated political calculus this campaign will require. The wise thing to do is to recognize that fact, not ignore it. In the interest of the chapter’s democracy, I ask you to vote no on this endorsement.
IN FAVOR by Wyatt L
I support Metro DC DSA’s resolution to endorse Councilmember Janeese Lewis George for DC Mayor. She has shown her dedication for working people and disadvantaged groups by working hard to pass laws in DC to protect them and give them a voice. Whether it’s increasing minimum wage, supporting diversion and limiting carceral actions, or providing free healthcare to early education workers, the more I learned about Councilmember George, the more I respect and appreciate what she’s doing. She clearly fights on the side of equity and dignity. If her record as mayor reflects her record as councilmember, I believe she’ll do great things. Now more than ever we need to build up socialists to higher office. We need to seize this moment - a moment where left-leaning and left people are looking for an alternative to establishment Democrats. The more and bigger successes we can get, the more legitimacy we have in the eyes of the people and the more resources we can use for up and down ballot elections. New York City shouldn’t be the only city that gets a DSA mayor!
IN FAVOR by Andrew S
As a 5 year member of MDC DSA, I encourage all members to vote in favor of endorsing Janeese Lewis George’s mayoral campaign. Janeese Lewis George has consistently organized and legislated in line with our chapter’s political goals. Her mayoral platform would bring transformational change to working class DC residents, and her record as a councilmember has shown that she delivers on her promises. It is imperative for our chapter, for the socialist movement, and for all DC residents that we vote to endorse her campaign and that we put our chapter’s resources behind her mayoral run.
IN FAVOR by Nathan S
We need a socialist mayor in DC to turn back decades of neoliberalism and build a just city for all, and Janeese Lewis George will be that mayor. JLG is not only a member of Metro DC DSA, but she’s also a tireless advocate for working people and the principles of socialism. I ask all my comrades vote in support of endorsing JLG.
IN FAVOR by Kaela B
Hi comrades. I am making this statement as a DSA member since 2021 and a DC resident since 2015.
I am someone who for years stuck to internal chapter organizing, stewarding our chapter’s member engagement processes. I finally decided it was time to venture out to electoral organizing last fall with Frankie’s campaign in Greenbelt. After it was over, I wanted to get back to the internal chapter stuff and told people I wouldn’t work on another electoral field program. But the secret exception was always if Janeese ran for mayor.
The reasons for that are 1) that the mayoral race is both local and high-profile, and 2) the politics of the person in that seat has real material impacts on the people who live in DC.
After Zohran’s win I became aware of not only the direct impacts of a victory like that on a city, but the indirect impacts on the left; the sudden legitimacy awarded to democratic socialism and the burst of hope and raised expectations of people across the left and center-left spectrum. We are in a unique position to build on that victory for the broader left here in DC.
We are also in a unique position to win something to undo Muriel Bowser’s devotion to austerity and gentrification that has wracked this city since I moved here 10 years ago. Since getting a staff position with Janeese’s campaign, I have become incredibly humbled by how partial my experience of DC is, even as I call it home. In the short weeks since I started with the campaign, I have learned so much more about racial and economic disparity in this city and how Bowser’s tenure has expedited it.
It is a truly amazing aberration that we have Janeese, who is a DC native, actually has democratic socialist politics, and has name recognition and favorability across the city from being on the Council (where we put her in 2021!) Janeese has a fighting chance for mayor in a city dominated by corporate extraction, including in the form of the contender, Kenyan McDuffie.
At this point, the race is a toss-up. While at first glance McDuffie may seem to be a weak candidate, he is very well-known, and has the added backing of big dollar donors in DC, Maryland, and Virginia who would profit from his victory. This is a textbook case of class struggle at the ballot box: McDuffie is so clearly the corporate candidate while Janeese has demonstrated over her years on the Council that she is a stalwart champion for the working class. And I can say from my perspective inside the campaign, that the number of doors we need to knock to win are very ambitious. They need our chapter’s help.
I respect that there has been dissent on Janeese’s endorsement, and I am proud that our organization is set up to have forums for disagreement (there was also contention about Zohran’s endorsement in NYC!) But Janeese’s voting record shows that she is incredibly principled and willing to fight for the working class, for her people in DC, especially when it comes to the government supporting peoples’ basic rights like housing, childcare, and collective bargaining (hello socialism!) That is why I am making a full throated statement in favor of endorsing Janeese!
IN FAVOR by Ken B
“Always remember that the people are not fighting for ideas, nor for what is in men’s minds. The people fight and accept the sacrifices demanded by the struggle in order to gain material advantages, to live better and in peace, to benefit from progress, and for the better future of their children. National liberation, the struggle against colonialism, the construction of peace, progress and independence are hollow words devoid of any significance unless they can be translated into a real improvement of living conditions.” –Amilcar Cabral
I am writing today to urge you to vote YES on endorsing Janeese Lewis George for DC mayor. She is a strong, longstanding elected with an excellent record of upholding DSA’s principles and maintaining a strong relationship with the organization, even when she was alone on the Council and under fire from conservatives. Janeese has always stood steadfastly for workers and tenants in the District, coordinated with chapter leaders about political strategy, and articulated a clear socialist vision of politics in the District. While she is not a cadre DSA organizer, she is among the best and most principled DSA Electeds in the country, and has done more for the working class than many more allegedly “radical” candidates who lack the mass appeal and political acumen to win in the first place.
Janeese’s previous campaigns have been activating and motivating for new members. I cut my teeth in DSA canvassing for her 2024 reelection campaign, and her mayoral campaign is garnering even more attention. Workers and tenants across the DMV see her articulating their interests and taking on their enemies. With this campaign, we will be able to absorb more people into DSA than ever before. I do not believe it is an understatement to say that endorsing her campaign for Mayor has the potential to double the size of our chapter by the end of the year and do for us what Zohran’s campaign did for New York City DSA.
Janeese Lewis George’s endorsement is a critical step we need to take to fulfill the mandate of our Chapter Program. The Program, adopted unanimously at our 2025 Local Convention, commits us to expanding our electoral work and elect a left-labor majority on the council and a left-labor mayor by 2030. It is very unlikely, and certainly not a guarantee, that a more suitable candidate will be positioned to run for mayor in 2030. Janeese’s campaign is, in all likelihood, our only opportunity to achieve this goal. The Program also outlines some specific criteria for candidates, stating, “we must endorse candidates who are willing to publicly identify with the organization, consciously use their campaign and time in office to build it, and clearly understand their role within our broader political project.” On all these criteria, Janeese passes with flying colors. She calls DSA her political home on local news, frequently encourages constituents and supporters to join, and works hand in hand with the chapter to accomplish our shared political goals. This Program was envisioned to be a governing document for deciding chapter strategy, and I believe we should uphold the commitments we made at convention and vote YES on this endorsement.
I want to address some of the concerns members have voiced about what might happen after we endorse and if we win. What happens if Janeese goes against our line, collaborates with Trump, or fails to follow through on her affordability agenda? These are understandable concerns. While I do not believe that we need to worry about Janeese’s political loyalty due to her long history as an excellent SIO, and importantly her willingness to forthrightly communicate with the chapter’s Political Engagement Committee throughout that time, I want to point out that our chapter proved itself able to hold electeds to account, as exemplified by our censure of Zach Parker over his unequivocal support for and vote in favor of the unamended emergency implementation of the Secure DC bill when Janeese took a lonely vote against the emergency implementation and was open and proactive in discussing her strategy around the bill with the chapter. If Janeese should stray too far from the principles we’ve known her to uphold, I am confident our chapter would be willing to take similar measures if they prove necessary. We are also creating our first official SIO committee to help handle relationships and communications with electeds, including resolving conflict, which I believe will help prevent situations like this from arising in the first place.
In addition, I want to say that I think it is an error to view the fulfillment of Janeese’s agenda as wholly depending on her efforts as mayor. We as DSA must remain engaged with her administration to ensure that her–and our–objectives are fulfilled. Every challenge, obstacle, and legislative battle that Janeese encounters will be an opportunity for us to engage publicly, absorb more members into DSA, and further build our relationships with other coalition partners such as the many labor unions that have already endorsed Janeese. This will also have the effect of demonstrating DSA’s value to the administration outside of the electoral cycle, which will further reduce the likelihood of a major rupture between DSA and the administration. If you’ve had some reservations about the endorsement, I hope you will take to heart that its proponents are acutely aware of the need to stay engaged and prominently involved with Janeese’s coalition in order to fully enact our vision of socialist agenda for DC, and vote YES on this endorsement.
Per section 6.5 of our bylaws, “recognized caucuses shall have the right to publish statements and proposals in public forums for the local, subject to the moderation of that forum.” Metro DC DSA’s Groundwork Caucus has submitted a recommendation IN FAVOR of endorsing Janeese Lewis George. The caucus’ full writeup and analysis can be found here.
The Metro DC DSA Groundwork Caucus strongly recommends voting YES to endorse chapter member Janeese Lewis George for mayor. For too long, DC has languished under the mayorship of pro-business Democrats who consistently sell out the residents of DC and attack our rights as tenants and workers. Janeese Lewis George has spent 6 years as a socialist in office serving on the DC Council, and she knows how much power the mayor has to improve the day-to-day lives of people in the District – and that we have to be ready to take on that fight if we ever want to see our movement win power. Her campaign offers an opportunity to fundamentally shift this balance of power.
In the six weeks since her launch, the campaign has already articulated a clear line of class struggle, standing with workers and tenants against bosses and landlords, calling for a DC that everyone can afford, and promising a defiant and principled struggle against the fascist Trump regime and their jackbooted thugs that kidnap and kill our neighbors. Class struggle campaigns are one of the two kinds of campaigns our Chapter committed to engaging with in our Chapter Program, which passed unanimously at our 2025 Local Convention (the other being cadre campaigns, which we are also running this cycle with Aparna Raj and Imara Crooms). A “class struggle” campaign is one we choose to engage with because we, as a body, recognize that the race “cleanly divides all of labor and progressive forces against all of capital” and presents an opportunity for DSA to grow and build power. While Janeese may not be a cadre DSA member, she has spent years prioritizing our chapter, engaging with our internal process, uplifting our message and values, and encouraging those in the community to join our organization. She has stated publicly that she sees us as her political home. Her campaign clearly has immense potential to grow our party and our power.
It would be an understatement to say that there is massive energy behind Janeese’s campaign. It has already activated thousands of DC residents, many of whom are being politicized for the first time by this campaign. Especially noteworthy is the campaign’s popularity among Black and Brown communities that DSA has historically struggled to organize, both here in DC and nationally. DC’s multiracial working class has identified Janeese as a candidate who speaks to their interests and is offering them a government that works for them, not for their bosses and landlords. The campaign has also garnered substantial support from working class institutions such as labor unions. UNITE HERE Locals 23 and 25, longstanding DSA allies who have grown even closer to us in recent years through our restaurant worker solidarity organizing around I-82 and boycotting and picketing union-busting restaurants, have been major players in the campaign so far and are looking to DSA to help buttress and anchor the left flank of Janeese’s coalition. SEIU 32BJ, which first broke with the mayor to stand with DSA and our allies during the most recent fight over DC’s budget, has also endorsed, showing that Janeese’s campaign has strong potential to further align the labor movement leftward. Other endorsing unions include ATU Local 689, UFCW Local 400, and Washington Teachers Union. The Working Families Party, a progressive-party like formation which DSA helped cohere locally in 2025, has also endorsed Janeese. DSA’s engagement can help cement this left-labor coalition and build stronger organizing relationships between ourselves, aligned unions, and WFP. This at same time as Janeese’s campaign has also united the breadth of DC’s tenant, migrant justice, and Palestine movements behind her. Her campaign is cohering the left of DC, and we believe DSA is key in solidifying this growing coalition.
Janeese has always been firmly committed to DSA, our principles, and building our chapter. She routinely encourages constituents and supporters to join DSA, including in a recent interview with NBC News 4 Washington where she described Metro DC DSA as her political home where she could “actually deliver for working families and people.” Janeese has been an endorsed candidate since 2019, winning two endorsement votes nearly unanimously, and has always stood with us, proudly and publicly representing our chapter. Janeese has taken lonely votes, standing with our principles, but also successfully organized her colleagues on the council for major wins for workers in DC. She has stood with us on picket lines, against slumlords and the police, for Palestine, and for all of our priorities over and over. She has headlined rallies and protests for the chapter. She has co-governed with our chapter, partnering with us on issues ranging from an innovative program for Covid canvassing to working closely with Stomp Out Slumlords on tenants’ rights to collaborating with the Labor Working Group on labor policy, and more. She has also proudly used her platform to encourage workers to join MDC DSA and even spoke at our chapter convention this year.
She has consistently fought for our policies on the Council. She was integral to securing rent freezes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and she met with the PEC and SOS leaders to strategize around the RENTAL Act. She issued a strong statement in coordination with chapter leadership calling for a ceasefire after October 7th, one of the first elected officials nationwide to do so, stood firmly in solidarity with the George Washington University student encampment, delaying intervention by MPD until congress forced them to go in, and to this day has a sign calling for a ceasefire in Gaza hanging in her public lobby at the Wilson Building. She fought the Secure DC Act tooth and nail, amending it substantially and only voting in favor of the final legislation to preserve political capital and necessary relationships with other councilmembers so that she could continue to effectively mitigate harmful legislation in the future. When it was clear that the stadium developers would get a half-billion-dollar handout from the city, Janeese fought successfully to make sure that as much of those funds as possible would be paid back to the community in the form of affordable housing development and strong union contracts for the workers building and staffing the stadium. Throughout all this, she’s been in close contact with chapter leaders and has consistently included DSA members in her office and campaign teams, a record her current campaign is already upholding.
Despite Janeese’s popularity and strength as a candidate, this will not be an easy race. There will be a substantial amount of Democratic establishment effort and money aligned against Janeese. We have already seen that forces outside DC are prepared to rally against her – despite her own record-breaking Day One numbers, Janeese’s primary opponent Keyan McDuffie raised more than $181,000 on the first day of his campaign, with much of that coming from people outside the District, and will be getting millions of dollars of support from PACs. Janeese’s campaign will need to knock half a million doors across all eight wards, a far greater undertaking than anything our chapter has done so far. Without our expertise and dedicated volunteer base mobilized not just to knock doors, but to launch canvasses and train other volunteers, the campaign may not be able to reach these goals. DSA’s endorsement and investment in the race is likely to mean the difference between getting a socialist mayor that fights for the people of DC and getting Muriel Bowser’s fourth term in all but name. DSA can almost certainly deliver at least 100,000 of the doors Janeese needs, in addition to knocking that many again for our other races. From our undocumented neighbors kidnapped by ICE with the support of our current mayor, to the tenants in unlivable conditions, to Black and Brown communities targeted by the police, to workers abused by their bosses, to unhoused people targeted for sweeps, to Palestinian activists protesting for their very lives, the difference between a Janeese win and loss is a life of dignity and security or a life of oppression. For some, the difference is life and death.
If we do not endorse, not only do we lose out on the opportunity to absorb thousands of campaign volunteers into DSA and build our party, we also likely consign the people of DC to another four years–or more, as there is no guarantee of this opportunity arising again–of conservative, collaborationist Democrat rule. We let an opportunity to cement the political realignment of local unions towards democratic socialism slip through our fingers, and send a message to organized labor that we are not a reliable ally and it would be safer sticking with the democratic establishment. We say to the workers and tenants of DC that we are not interested in bettering their lives or fighting for their rights. We show our movement partners and all endorsees that we are not partners to be trusted, and they do not stand to gain by taking risky, lonely votes to stand by our shared principles. We cut ourselves out of the mass movement that has the potential to win statehood and reshape the political landscape of DC for decades to come.
Some members have expressed trepidation about endorsement due to the challenges that a victory in this race would bring on. These challenges will be real, and in many ways, one could say that winning the election will be the easy part of this endeavor. A hostile federal government willing to override DC’s autonomy up to and including rescinding home rule will certainly make it more difficult to implement a democratic socialist agenda. A worsening economic situation in the District–largely the result of a direct assault on the workers and tenants of DC by the administration, combined with their overall disastrous economic policy nationally–also poses a substantial challenge a socialist mayor would have to overcome. However, in our estimation, our chapter and Janeese are capable of meeting these challenges, especially working together. Kenyan McDuffie or Vincent Orange as mayor would not guarantee a less hostile federal government, the preservation of home rule, or economic prosperity for DC. Indeed, establishment capitulation will only ever invite further attacks. Janeese knows that the only way to defend home rule and to achieve statehood on the other side of it is with the same sort of militant resistance that got us home rule in the first place. She knows the inevitable confrontation with the federal government must be on our terms, with an organized militant base. We have seen in Minneapolis how a militant, organized city can fight back. This struggle cannot be avoided; it has been forced upon us.
For Janeese’s mayoralty to succeed, DSA must sustain this mass movement beyond election day, something we have every confidence the chapter can do. It will take street power, strike power, and state power to deliver the changes the people of DC need. Putting Janeese in office as mayor brings us one of the three, but we will need to continue to build a fighting workers’ movement and engage in militant direct action against federal authorities to bring about statehood and a democratic socialist future. This endorsement is only the beginning.
While Janeese needs DSA’s endorsement and support to win the election and defeat the right, the chapter also needs to endorse. The entire energy of the left in DC is behind this campaign. The energy of our base, of our allies, and our members is behind this campaign. If DSA does not endorse, they won’t stop supporting Janeese; they’ll just do so outside the chapter. Thousands upon thousands of working class people will be fighting every day to elect a socialist mayor, and our organization will be nowhere to be found, totally disconnected from and irrelevant to the actually existing organic mass movement in DC. The real movement of the working class is behind Janeese, and we cannot afford to break with it. If we do so, we confine ourselves to being a social club for downwardly-mobile disproportionately white transplants, severed from the real struggle of our class. It is not an exaggeration in the slightest to say that this endorsement is existential to the chapter and our goal to become the party of DC’s working class.
The question before us is simple. Do we take on a promising campaign and absorb thousands of new members into DSA, or do we sit idly by while they remain unmoored and without a political home? Do we stand with our allies in the labor movement and bring more unions into the socialist fold, or do we let them fight for our cause alone? Do we contend with the contradictions of executive power head-on, as we must inevitably do in order to win a socialist future, or do we cut off dialectical progression at the root by refusing to get our hands dirty and consign ourselves to political irrelevancy?
We urge you to vote YES to endorse the 51st state’s next mayor, Janeese Lewis George.
IN FAVOR by Julian A
I have written my thoughts out longer here, https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V8fhB6W4NWyIoMjUoJeXtI8XGpGWdlXqe0U2LLlLaZA/edit?usp=sharing, and would encourage comrades to read through the position there. But to summarize my position, it goes something like:
We are facing an incredibly dangerous situation nationally, with a rising fascist threat. In DC, there is an actually-existing anti-fascist coalition that DSA is already active in, and there is real mass excitement about a Janeese campaign, with that excitement coming from seeing her campaign as a vehicle for working-class anti-fascist politics. We should seek to engage with that, precisely in order to attempt to build socialist hegemony of the anti-fascist front, rather than leave a vacuum for Zionists like Brianne Nadeau and developer sell-outs like Robert White to fill. In doing so, we’ll need to distinguish ourselves rhetorically, but also through how we seek to campaign and the base we seek to build. This is necessary not only to win or build up our own party, but also to prepare and strengthen DC’s working class for what will be an even harder task of governing the capital city in opposition to a fascist president.
IN FAVOR by Katharine R
Hi all, I’m an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 25 and have been organizing alongside hospitality workers on new organizing drives, including at Starr Restaurants and Eastern Point Collective, where workers have faced egregious union busting (shout out to everyone who has been doing turnout and joining the picket line!). I’m super excited about Janeese’s campaign – she’s committed to cracking down on union-busting and using the district’s influence where possible to ensure workers have a fair process to organize. JLG has stood by workers again and again, in the fight over I-82, securing the labor peace deal at RFK, rallying with hotel workers during the hotel contract fight, and with teachers in their contact fight, etc. JLG has also been in the streets to protest the racist assaults and kidnappings by ICE and committed to end the MPD-ICE collaboration. When Mayor Bowser cut health insurance programs for undocumented DC residents, JLG fought back and will continue to fight to reinstate the Alliance program. Also as a new mom to a one-month year old, I’m very excited about a candidate who will both fight for universal childcare and look for ways for these workers to have union protections. All that to say please join me in voting for JLG!
IN FAVOR by Hugh M
Im a DC native and all my life Ive seen the rampant economic inequality that has divided my city and has been a roadblock to the good lives everyone deserves to live. Im tired of this needless suffering and the first step towards ending it is getting a socialist in office. Aside from the clear and tangible quality of life improvements that a socialist mayor would bring to the lives of everyone in DC we should also acknowledge the symbolic power of having a socialist and DSA member as mayor of the capital. The DSA has already made massive political waves by electing Mamdani, so getting not only a mayor in the biggest city in the country but the capital of America as well will boost our moral, our membership, and more importantly, prove to everyone that we have the ability to take back power and improve the lives of the people during a time where apathy is widespread. Right now the dsa is the tip of the spear in the fight for a better world and we must endorse Janeese to maintain our momentum as movement as well as improving the lives of so many people with good policy.