The Associated Press has officially declared Ward 4 Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George DC’s Democratic nominee for mayor—meaning she’s also likely headed to the mayor’s office. Many are framing Lewis George as “the Mamdani of DC.” Both are young, self-described Democratic Socialist city o fficials who focused their campaigns on affordability and people power. They also shared the same ad producer. But, do they align on all the issues? We took a closer look. On Taxing the Rich Zohran Mamdani: Mamdani was a proponent of a wealth tax during his campaign, and he has put that plan into effect. State lawmakers, with Mamdani’s backing, recently passed a “pied-a-terre tax” applied to second homes valued at $1 million or more, which is expected to raise $500 million in revenue for the state. At the city level, Mamdani has also proposed increasing the city income tax rate by two percentage points for those that earn more than $1 million a year, which could raise the city an additional $3 billion in annual revenue. Janeese Lewis George: Lewis George has backed wealth taxes in DC before. In 2021, she co-wrote a bill to impose a small tax increase on single earners bringing in more than $250,000 a year in order to fund housing vouchers and raises for childcare workers. At the time, she told the Washington Post, “We have the wealth and the resources in our city to solve these issues.” On the campaign trail, Lewis George was quieter than Mamdani on potential taxation plans, but has been vocal about closing taxation loopholes that allow Marylanders and Virginians to operate various businesses inside the District as “unincorporated professional services partnerships” to avoid being taxed like a DC business. Closing that loophole through a Business Activity Tax (BAT) would bring in an estimated $500 million in annual revenue. On Public Transit Zohran Mamdani: One of Mamdani’s flashiest (and most controversial) promises was making all New York City buses free, a move that he said would increase ridership and bus speed while adding to the overall economy. However, the program itself would cost the city around $1 billion annually. NYC currently has a Fair Fares program that provides half-price subway and bus fares to low-income New Yorkers. Still, Mamdani says that means-tested methods are flawed: “When someone is earning that little on an annual basis, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to access relief, not ask them to step through a bureaucracy.” Janeese Lewis George: Lewis George also has plans for free buses—though not for everyone. Her platform includes making buses free for DC residents enrolled in SNAP—a means-tested program similar to Fair Fares—and says she’ll “explore other ways to expand financial support for transit.” Like Mamdani, she also emphasizes making buses faster and filling in transit gaps, particularly in Wards 7 and 8. On Building More Housing Zohran Mamdani: Like Washingtonians, New Yorkers are struggling with affording and finding housing. Mamdani launched his plan to build more affordable housing a few weeks ago, telling the crowd at a press conference, “we have spoken about this crisis long enough, it is now time to do something about it.” Over the next decade, the city will aim to build 200,000 new affordable and rent stabilized homes, with a price tag of around $22 billion over the next five years. Janeese Lewis George: Lewis George’s plans are also ambitious—she wants to build 72,000 new homes in the next five years. Mamdani’s plan would build one unit for every 42.9 people in NYC, while Lewis George wants to construct one unit for every 9.75 people in DC. However, she’s not specifying that all of that housing will be designated as affordable units, instead emphasizing the construction of publicly owned mixed-income housing with stable rent. On Childcare Zohran Mamdani: Mamdani promised universal free childcare during his campaign, and he’s already delivering on it. One of his first big announcements after taking office was that the city would start rolling out free childcare for two-year-olds in some parts of NYC starting this fall; the program will expand to the whole city within four years. Mamdani will also open a free childcare center for city employees in September—the first in the country. Janeese Lewis George: Lewis George, who is a mom herself, is not planning to push for universal free childcare, but instead universal “affordable” childcare. She plans to expand DC’s existing childcare subsidies so that no family pays more than 7 percent of their income on childcare. To drive costs down, she also says she plans to locate more childcare centers in underutilized school buildings and invest in subsidies for child care provided by family members. She says that her plan to achieve affordability versus zero-cost stems from the fact that DC’s childcare subsidy already exists and works: “we’re halfway there, so this makes it even more feasible when people say it’s not possible.” On City-Owned Grocery Stores Zohran Mamdani: New York City’s first locations for public grocery stores have already been selected. The mayor pledged on his campaign to open one store in each borough by the end of his first term to save consumers money by simplifying the supply chain. He says that “a public option allows us to intervene where the market has failed.” Under the model Mamdani proposed, the city will own the land and cover overhead costs for the stores, while a private operator will manage daily operations. Janeese Lewis George: DC’s next mayor hasn’t been quite so forward about her plans for city-owned grocery stores, but they’re not out of the picture. Lewis George’s focus is set on existing food deserts in Wards 7 and 8. To fight that, she’d prefer to have the city provide investment dollars for privately-owned grocery stores to set up shop east of the river. However, she said in an April debate that “if we have to do a public-owned grocery store, we will work toward that.”The post Is Janeese Lewis George Really the “Zohran Mamdani of DC”? first appeared on Washingtonian. ...read more read less