Follow WTOP鈥檚 team coverage of the D.C. primary and Election 2026 online, on air at 103.5 FM or on the WTOP 太子探花 app. See live results as they come in听after polls close at 8 p.m.
Two days after D.C.’s primary election, Janeese Lewis George is set to become the Democratic nominee in D.C.’s mayoral race after Kenyan McDuffie conceded the race Thursday morning.
In a statement, McDuffie said while the certification process will continue, it is clear that voters “have chosen a different path.” Lewis George and McDuffie, who served together on the D.C. Council, emerged as the two favorites in the mayor’s race after Muriel Bowser announced she would not seek a fourth term.
“Earlier this morning, I called Councilmember Janeese Lewis George to congratulate her on her victory and wish her success as she prepares for the general election,” McDuffie said in a statement. “The campaign may be over, but the work of building a safer, more affordable, more prosperous city continues.鈥�
On Tuesday night, nearly three hours after polls closed in D.C.’s primary elections, Lewis George had secured more than 52% of the vote to McDuffie’s nearly 37% after the D.C. Board of Elections released results from over 100,000 ballots. No other candidate had more than 3%. On Wednesday, her lead increased by a tenth of a percent after an additional 8,000 ballots were tallied.
During the campaign, Lewis George laid out more ambitious plans to address affordability issues, including expanding access to universal childcare and developing 72,000 units of housing, a plan McDuffie called unrealistic and just rhetoric.
“This moment is for those who refuse to surrender their hope in a government that works for all of us,” Lewis George said triumphantly Tuesday night.
McDuffie pitched plans he promised to deliver and focused on the issue of public safety, pushing for curfew measures Lewis George is against and saying he’d increase funding and staffing for D.C.’s police department.
Lewis George joins Robert White, who won the Democratic nomination in the race for D.C. delegate to Congress Tuesday night. He cruised to a commanding victory over Brooke Pinto with around 63% of the vote to Pinto’s 21.5%. No other candidate had more than 8%. White said Pinto called him shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday to concede.
In the contest for attorney general, incumbent Brian Schwalb handily defeated his lone Democratic challenger, J.P. Szymkowicz, for the party nomination. The Associated Press called the race after the first batch of results was released Tuesday night.
The winners of Democratic primaries in D.C. are all but assured to win in November, since nearly 75% of registered voters in the District are Democrats, .
Polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday in the District’s primary elections, but long lines to cast a last-minute vote and the debut of ranked choice voting in D.C. delayed the release of results, with initial numbers not coming in until after 10:30 p.m.
New mayor for first time in 12 years
Lewis George delivered remarks Tuesday night resembling a victory speech, after the first batch of tabulated ballots showed she held a significant edge over McDuffie, outperforming him in almost every corner of the District.
“We are making history by showing this country that the dream of America is still alive in its capital city, that hope can overcome despair, that a people divided can be united again, and as we’ve heard echo down our streets 1,000 times, that a people united will never be defeated,” Lewis George said.
Lewis George is in the middle of her second term as Ward 4’s council member, and previously served in the D.C. Office of the Attorney General as assistant attorney general in the juvenile section of the public safety division.
McDuffie is a more experienced D.C. Council member, serving for more than 13 years before resigning last year to pursue his mayoral run. Previously, he also worked as a prosecutor and later served in former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department.
As D.C. waited hours for results to be released Tuesday night, McDuffie spoke to his supporters.
“As the votes are being counted tonight, we respect this process. We respect this process, and we are going to see it through all the way to the end. We’re going to make sure that people understand that every single vote is going to be counted,” he said.
McDuffie conceded the race Thursday morning.
The successor to DC’s ‘Warrior on the Hill’
It’s been even longer since D.C. had a new delegate to Congress 鈥� 36 years, to be exact.
With the exit of Eleanor Holmes Norton, White and Pinto were the front-runners in a field of five Democratic candidates. White, though, got out to an insurmountable lead Tuesday night, with tens of thousands more votes than Pinto with the AP estimating more than 60% of the vote had already been counted. Pinto conceded the race shortly before 11 p.m. Tuesday, White said, and The Associated Press called the race for White shortly after.
He delivered a fiery speech Tuesday night promising to deliver for the D.C. residents who supported him.
“I will not yield the fight for families drowning in the cost of housing, groceries, childcare听and healthcare. I will not yield in the fight for workers who did everything right, but lie awake at night wondering how it’s all going to work. I will not yield for the people who have spent their lives waiting for a turn that never seems to come, because our turn will never come unless we demand it,” White said.
White has served on the D.C. Council for nine years and has previously served as legislative counsel to Norton and as director of community outreach for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.
Pinto is also in the middle of her second term on the D.C. Council, serving as chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. Before that, she worked in the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.
DC’s attorney general fends off challenge
Schwalb is wrapping up his first term as D.C. attorney general. Before assuming the office in 2023, Schwalb served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, then entered private practice and ascended to Venable鈥檚 firmwide vice chairman and partner-in-charge of Venable鈥檚 D.C. office.
He easily defeated his challenger, J.P. Szymkowicz. The AP called the race Tuesday night after Schwalb captured more than 90% of the votes that had been counted.
Szymkowicz, of Szymkowicz & Szymkowicz law firm in D.C., has served as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Foxhall for seven years and made campaign promises to crack down on crime, predatory landlords and go after those with unpaid traffic violations.
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
漏 2026 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
