WASHINGTON (AP) — Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced Tuesday that she will not be seeking re-election.
Bowser announced her decision in a video on social media, calling it an “immense privilege” to have worked alongside district residents.
Bowser has served three terms, none more tumultuous than the last year, when President Donald Trump issued an emergency order that federalized the city’s police force and sent hundreds of National Guard troops there for what the administration called a crime-fighting mission.
Bowser has spent the last year walking a tightrope between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents who said she should have pushed back more on actions taken by the president.
The district is granted autonomy through a limited home rule agreement passed in 1973, but federal political leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including the approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C council.
That situation put Bowser in an especially tight spot as Trump launched the intervention into the district.
Bowser came under fire early this year when she announced that the “Black Lives Matter” plaza painted on the street one block from the White House would be removed in response to pressure from Republicans in Congress.
The federal government involvement in local affairs hit another level in August when, after threatening to take over the city because of its crime rate, Trump signed an executive order which led to thousands of federal law enforcement officers and agents surging into the street, working with the local police department — which Trump took over for a month. The order also activated the National Guard. Although the emergency period has lapsed, the federal law enforcement presence is still in the city, along with National Guard members from the District and several states.
The mayor, a former city council member, also spent a large part of the year trying to get the House to release about $1 billion of the city’s funding that was frozen during battles over the federal budget. In addition, the city also bore the brunt of significant cuts to the federal workforce by the Department of Government Efficiency.
“For ten years, you and I have worked together on an ambitious agenda to restore faith in our government and ensure that every D.C. resident gets the fair shot they deserve,” she said in her announcement. “To keep that promise, we took big swings in keeping D.C. teams in D.C., raising enrollment and graduation rates in our schools and investing more money per capital and affordable housing than any other city or state.”
Bowser went on to praise the work the city did in coming back from the ravages of a global pandemic, “and summon our collective strength to stand tall against bullies who threaten our very autonomy while preserving Home Rule. That is our North Star.”
The election is next November. Bowser’s term ends in January 2027.
Her decision opens the door for a number of possible candidates, although at least two of them, D.C. Council members Robert White Jr. and Brooke Pinto, have already announced they are running for the district’s U.S. House delegate seat. Fellow council member Janesse Lewis George remains a potential candidate.
