Muriel Bowser handily won the Democratic nomination in June, and is poised to win November’s general election in a city where Democrats dominate.
When Bowser visited a Ward 7 Democrats meeting this month, some took the opportunity to press the mayor on why they should trust her promises when she has had eight years to fix their problems.“These are the same people who have been in office — why is nothing being done? Homelessness is still a problem,” Falecia Richmond said, gesturing toward Bowser and two other longtime officeholders at the meeting, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson and council member Anita Bonds .
“I do have a record, and I’m proud of my record,” Bowser replied to the woman, who did not give her name. The mayor pointed to changes she has made, including recruiting a new Lidl grocery store east of the Anacostia and making plans to move a D.C. government office building to Ward 7.
In an interview in late October, Bowser characterized her first term as a “fresh start,” focused on new ideas, and her second as the “fair shot” term, with an emphasis on housing, among other priorities. She points to the changes she has made in the city along the way, including following through on a promise in her 2014 mayoral campaign to tear down the decrepit D.C.
“What excites me so much about a third term is that the job is different … Bringing the city back from the pandemic, preparing for a possible recession, preparing for the possibility of a hostile Congress. That’s why I think it’s so important and I asked voters to make sure we had seasoned leadership in the mayor’s office,” she said.