jonetta rose barras: When will Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George share her vision?

The structure and composition of political transition committees can provide a glimpse into the potential direction of a newly elected politician or a new administration. Considering the names Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George released this week as assisting with her transition, she’s pretty much all over the place: Some individuals may be considered radical; others are standard garden-variety progressives; still others are moderates or centrists.

That was an unexpected mixture and may be reason enough for worried District residents to relax — temporarily, at least. While Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist, clearly isn’t in the mold of the current mayor, Muriel Bowser, or even the previous mayor, Vincent Gray, the composition of her transition team may persuade her critics that she isn’t a crazy mad politician, ready to open a government-funded shooting gallery for addicts — although during the Democratic primary campaign she seemed to suggest support for such facilities.

During her first formal post-election press conference, held Wednesday at the National Press Club, Lewis George publicly introduced the leadership of her transition team — staff director Jennifer Levy and co-chairs Beatriz “BB” Otero, Aaron Jenkins, Gautam Raghavan, Greg Akerman and Kimberly Perry. Each brings some level of experience to the task but also prompts questions about their selection and what might be the outcome of their service.

Consider, for example, that as the head of DC Action, Perry has often been among the most vocal nonprofit advocates calling for more spending by the DC government and increased taxation. Otero was deputy mayor for health and human services within Gray’s mayoral administration; it is difficult to fathom that in a move to restructure the District government, she might call for the elimination of a position she once held.

Responding to a reporter’s questions, Lewis George said she had not selected the transition team leaders based on any loyalty test or ideological alignment. Rather, she was interested in whether they believed in equity; how they defined the value in equity and the value of their experience; and whether they could help her administration be ready on Day 1. 

She called the political ecosystem in which she and they are operating “the big leagues.”

Lewis George is, after all, the next mayor of the nation’s capital. She won the general election with 156,308 votes, which represented 84.33% of the ballots cast, according to the tabulation as of Thursday. Independent Rhonda Hamilton received 18,673 votes (10.07%), and Statehood Green nominee Robert Gross received 6,474 votes or 3.49%. Come Jan. 2, 2027, when Lewis George is sworn in, she will be responsible for a tri-level government — municipal, county and state — serving approximately 700,000 residents while managing a $22 billion budget.

Throughout the briefing on Wednesday, she exuded calm and confidence as she took questions for nearly an hour in a room filled with members of the press. 

Lewis George accepted an invitation to comment on the national Democratic Party rout of Donald Trump and his Republicans: “It was a clear referendum on where people are in our country. People want to live and thrive. People want a government that works as hard as they do.”

Few in DC would disagree with her analysis.

However, the absence of next-step details about her own pending administration is likely to give some people heartburn.

She reiterated her pledge to conduct forensic analysis that will help determine the efficiency and effectiveness of government, adding that she and her team were looking for savings by identifying duplicative or unnecessary services. She offered that “desk audits” may be conducted in some agencies, though she didn’t identify which ones. She promised to create a DC Youth Advisory Council like the one on which she served during former Mayor Anthony Williams’ administration.

However, she said she had not made any “final decisions” about who currently in the government will be staying and who will be “moving on.”

The latter statement is worthy of shock. After all, Lewis George has been in the legislature for nearly six years. She should have a sense of what works and what doesn’t. Moreover, she started her mayoral campaign in December 2025 — nearly a year ago. What instigated that desire to run? Did she ever have a holistic and comprehensive vision for the city she wanted to lead, beyond her vague commitment for a “people first” administration?

After winning the primary, she held town hall-style meetings in all eight wards, gathering information from residents — more than 4,000 attendees, according to her campaign team. She said she has huddled with her campaign advisers; with colleagues in the legislative branch, where she continues to hold the job of Ward 4 councilmember; with small-business owners; with Bowser; with Williams; and even with U.S. House leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is likely to be the next speaker.

Still, the mayor-elect, who knows the city is facing serious fiscal and socioeconomic issues, did not offer key pillars of her vision for the District during the briefing. For example, she did not outline any specific goals she wished to achieve in the first 30 days, 60 days, 100 days.

Responding to a journalist’s question, she said the report from her so-called “listening tour” will be available in December. She said she has “already engaged” the Police Executive Research Forum in helping to recruit a new chief for the Metropolitan Police Department.

She has not taken similar action related to a new DC Public Schools chancellor, although she said that education will receive prime attention even if she is not focused on changing the current mayoral control of the system.

She repeated her intention to deliver on universal access to childcare and affordable housing, while reigning in utility costs. 

She praised the recent council roundtable examining various tax proposals. She did not, however, indicate whether she will establish an Expenditure Commission as some recommended to help identify possible areas for consolidating or eliminating programs and agencies. 

Lewis George said that over the next couple of months, “we will be hearing from government workers.” 

There are some 37,000 people working in the DC government. Will she conduct  another listening tour, this one proceeding from agency to agency?

Several longtime political operatives and senior government managers I spoke with who have been around for more than one mayoral transition warned not to expect much over the next few weeks. Any transition committee, they said, is mostly a massive recruitment system, identifying people to appoint to various offices. Lewis George has indeed set up a portal to receive applications and resumes.

Bill Lightfoot, a former at-large DC councilmember who managed Adrian Fenty’s and Bowser’s mayoral campaigns, offered that the most important hire for Lewis George will be city administrator. 

Interestingly, Dan Tangherlini, the city administrator during Fenty’s tenure (and director of the District Department of Transportation under Williams), is a member of one of the transition subcommittees. Tangherlini was not at the briefing, however.

“[Lewis George] will need a ‘gatekeeper’ or special adviser, serving in a role similar to that performed by Beverly Perry during Bowser’s tenure,” said at-large Councilmember Anita Bonds, who prior to joining the legislature worked in nearly every mayoral administration since Marion Barry was first elected in 1978. 

Bonds made clear that despite the seemingly moderate approach the mayor-elect may have taken this week, “Lewis George does have an ideology.”

“She has a sense of where she wants to go,” continued Bonds. 

Assuming that’s the case, I don’t think I’m alone in wondering why Lewis George isn’t sharing that vision with the public, even after receiving their votes — although Bonds, like many of the people with whom I spoke this week, is willing to give Lewis George a minute to catch her breath.

“I think she is going to do everything she can to improve the quality-of-life experience for DC residents,” Bonds said.

Call that an “optimism bias,” a phrase former Mayor Anthony Williams recently added to the local political lexicon.

If, however, things continue at the pace revealed earlier this week, it could mean Lewis George won’t fully dig into the weeds of the job until sometime in January — a troubling prospect. She will need to produce her proposed Fiscal Year 2028 Budget and Financial Plan by the spring, laying out policies and program spending for her first full fiscal year as mayor and beyond. 

At the press briefing she said her transition team will be “gaming the budget” so that “in January I can get to work on things.” That could mean there won’t be significant, measurable changes in the government or the city until FY 2029. 

Can DC afford to slow-walk its future? Should there be greater urgency?

jonetta rose barras is an author and DC-based freelance journalist, covering national and local issues. She can be reached at thebarrasreport@gmail.com.