{"id":213661,"date":"2026-06-13T14:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T14:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/could-trump-take-back-washington-dc-if-he-doesnt-like-new-mayor-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T14:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T14:12:15","slug":"could-trump-take-back-washington-dc-if-he-doesnt-like-new-mayor-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/could-trump-take-back-washington-dc-if-he-doesnt-like-new-mayor-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Could Trump &#039;take back&#039; Washington, DC, if he doesn&#039;t like new mayor? &#8211; USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With Washington, D.C.\u2019s mayoral primary days away, <a href=\/news\/politics\/donald-trump\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|e|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>President Donald Trump<\/a> suggested that the federal government could \u201ctake back\u201d the nation\u2019s capital if a progressive candidate wins.<br \/>Trump did not name a candidate, but appeared to be referencing D.C. Council member <a href=\/story\/news\/2026\/06\/05\/how-undecided-voters-could-play-major-role-in-dc-mayoral-election\/90418243007\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|e|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>Janeese Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist<\/a> leading recent polls ahead of the June 16 Democratic primary to replace outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser.<br \/>\u201cI wouldn\u2019t like it \u2013 and maybe we take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,\u201d Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. \u201cWe won\u2019t put up with it. We\u2019re not going to lose our businesses.\u201d<br \/>Lewis George has emerged as a <a href=\/story\/news\/2026\/06\/05\/how-undecided-voters-could-play-major-role-in-dc-mayoral-election\/90418243007\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|e|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>front-runner in the race<\/a>, leading former D.C. Council member at-large Kenyan McDuffie by 11 points in a recent Washington Post\u2013George Mason University Schar School poll.<br \/>In heavily Democratic Washington, the general election outcome is typically not competitive. The Democratic candidate won the 2022 mayor\u2019s race by nearly 60 points.<br \/>During his second term, Trump has pushed for a larger federal role in the District, citing concerns about crime, homelessness and public safety.<br \/>In August 2025, Trump <a href=\/story\/news\/politics\/2025\/08\/21\/trump-law-enforcment-officials-dc-safe\/85768351007\/ target=_blank rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" data-t-l=:b|e|k|\u2691u class=gnt_ar_b_a>deployed about 800 National Guard troops<\/a> to Washington after declaring a public safety emergency. Several Republican-led states also sent Guard members to assist.<br \/>While the federal takeover of the city\u2019s police department ended in September, National Guard deployments have continued.<br \/>Although the U.S. Constitution gives Congress \u201cexclusive\u201d authority over Washington, D.C., the city has operated under its current system since December 24, 1973, when the Home Rule Act allowed residents to elect a mayor and city council.<br \/><em>Mike Stunson of the USA TODAY Network and USA TODAY\u2019s Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy contributed to this report.<\/em><br \/><em>Fernando Cervantes Jr. is a trending news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach him at fernando.cervantes@usatodayco.com and follow him on X @fern_cerv_.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/rss\/articles\/CBMiowFBVV95cUxOWlZyaUNOZHBLdVk5dW4zN2c1ZHhrTFZRM1RNVFZ1SnJ2cW9raVJsOEVxMzhmX3hTYk44azlwNFlabEZocHN6Slh2dTFfUG0yZEk3LUNhYUh4Vm00Qm9JZVIyMFdMNzZGM1NqUndxVWVvdllOdzR0dERBNlNwSGRwWV8xWEhnRUx6ZjFJQ0dlSVFya21VRmVjNGxILWlPS282dEpJ?oc=5\">source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With Washington, D.C.\u2019s mayoral primary days away, President Donald Trump suggested that the federal government could \u201ctake back\u201d the nation\u2019s capital if a progressive candidate wins.Trump did not name a candidate, but appeared to be referencing D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist leading recent polls ahead of the June 16 Democratic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":213662,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-213661","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=213661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/213661\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/213662"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=213661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=213661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=213661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}