Monday, June 8, 2026
By Emma Ibrahim?
? On June 2, Mayor Muriel Bowser criticized five Council members by name — including mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George — for declining to support an emergency order to extend the mayor’s temporary teen curfew.
“I am greatly disappointed that five members of?Council?are essentially obstructing the Council from moving forward on this important public safety legislation,” Bowser wrote to Council Chairman Phil Mendelson.
“Council members Janeese Lewis George, Trayon White, Robert White, Brianne Nadeau and Zachary Parker have refused to let the emergency declaration pass despite the majority of members supporting the permanent and emergency versions of this bill,” the mayor’s letter to Mendelson reads.
If passed, the emergency measure would have closed the gap between Bowser’s emergency order to?establish?designated teen curfew zones, which expired on June 6, and a permanent citywide youth curfew law set to go into effect on July 16.
While Council member Lewis George, a democratic socialist who represents Ward 4, has voted in favor of the youth curfew in the past, she doubts its effectiveness now as “armed federal agents and troops who are not trained in de-escalation and are not accountable to the D.C. government can enforce the curfew,” said Amanda Michelle Gomez, Lewis George’s communications director.
With the primary election to?determine?who will earn a spot on the city’s ballot for the mayor’s race this November quickly approaching, Lewis George and her chief opponent, former Council member Kenyan McDuffie, differ on how to best keep D.C. residents safe.
“If a young person breaks the law, they should be held accountable. It is not a crime for teenagers to gather in crowds. But they need safe, productive spaces,” Gomez said.
In late May, Bowser declared a public emergency?to address “teen takeovers.” Her emergency order authorized the Metropolitan Police Department to establish temporary curfew zones to prevent disorder in areas such as Navy Yard and the U Street Corridor, banning persons age 17 and under from gathering in groups of nine or more in public places.
There was also a citywide curfew prohibiting minors from being in public places between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., with certain exceptions for work and other permitted activities.
A recent Washington Post-Schar School poll showed that 71 percent of registered D.C. voters support teen curfews.?
The Council already passed a citywide youth curfew for July and August, from midnight to 6 a.m., and for September through June, from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. on weekdays and from midnight to 6 a.m. on weekends. However, the measure will not go into effect until July 16, following the congressional review period mandatory for all D.C. legislation.
The curfew law will also empower the chief of police to declare “extended juvenile curfew zones” on weekends.
McDuffie, who, according to the Post-Schar School poll, is trailing Lewis George in the race to be the District’s next mayor, stated that he supports temporary curfew measures in specific areas.
In the first televised mayoral debate, hosted by WUSA9?in?Ward 7 in April, McDuffie remarked, “I’m not going to divest from the police, like my opponent.” The former Council member was referring to a tweet posted by Lewis George in 2019, before she joined the Council, in which she said: “I will absolutely divest from MPD and put that money into violence interruption programs.”?Then, in a televised debate on May 18, hosted by Fox 5 and Georgetown University,?he again characterized her as soft on public safety.
While this mayoral race is not the first time Lewis George has faced criticism for her approach to public safety, she has consistently voted to fund the MPD and pledged to address the officer vacancy crisis as mayor by reducing forced overtime, expanding the police cadet program and providing housing and childcare benefits.
However, Lewis George’s top-paid advisor, Makia Green, is co-chair of the Defund MPD coalition and co-founder of prison abolition group Harriet’s Wildest Dreams.
“Janeese believes D.C. needs more police officers to quickly respond to emergencies, serve all communities and drive down crime citywide,” Gomez said.?“She will end D.C.’s cooperation with ICE to restore community trust in MPD and allow officers to focus on improving public safety.”
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