JUNE 17, 2026
D.C. Democratic primaries for mayor and congressional delegate produce early leads and a projected winner
Janeese Lewis George held a large early lead in Washington, D.C.'s Democratic mayoral primary on June 16–17, 2026, with roughly 53% of the vote to Kenyan R. McDuffie's 37% when about two-thirds of ballots had been counted. Robert White won the Democratic primary for the city's nonvoting congressional delegate seat, succeeding 89-year-old Eleanor Holmes Norton, who had held the position since 1991. Washington used ranked-choice voting for the first time in the mayoral race, and election officials warned a final result might not be certified for several days.
Washington's Democratic primary on June 16, 2026, centered on two contests: a mayoral race to succeed outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser — the first open-seat mayoral election in the city in two decades — and a delegate race to replace longtime U.S. House Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. Seven candidates appeared on the Democratic mayoral ballot, but D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George and former at-large Council member Kenyan R. McDuffie were widely considered the front-runners throughout the campaign.
By midnight, with roughly 64–66% of estimated ballots reported, Lewis George stood at approximately 53% and McDuffie at 37%. Because D.C. employed ranked-choice voting for the first time, an official winner was not immediately certified; the D.C. Board of Elections planned to release additional results and, if necessary, a first round of ranked-choice tabulations on Sunday. CNN's Decision Desk had not projected a winner in the mayoral race. Lewis George appeared at the Howard Theatre and delivered what the Washington Post described as sounding like a victory speech; McDuffie addressed supporters at the Park at 14th shortly after 9:30 p.m. and had left the stage by the time the night's results became clear.
In the delegate race, both CNN and the Associated Press projected Robert White the winner. White, a fifth-generation Washingtonian who has served as an at-large D.C. Council member since 2016, will become the city's third congressional delegate since the position was reestablished in 1970 and its first new one since Norton took office in 1991. He defeated a field that included Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto, former Norton aide Trent Holbrook, former DNC official Kinney Zalesne, and former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Greg Jaczko, according to CNN. Norton, 89, had faced questions about her fitness for office; Politico reported that D.C. police said in October that Norton was scammed out of more than $4,000 and that an initial police report described her as having "early stages of dementia."