With Washington, D.C.’s mayoral primary days away, President Donald Trump suggested that the federal government could “take back” the nation’s capital if a progressive candidate wins.
Trump did not name a candidate, but appeared to be referencing D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist leading recent polls ahead of the June 16 Democratic primary to replace outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser.
“I wouldn’t like it – and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “We won’t put up with it. We’re not going to lose our businesses.”
Lewis George has emerged as a front-runner in the race, leading former D.C. Council member at-large Kenyan McDuffie by 11 points in a recent Washington Post–George Mason University Schar School poll.
