President-elect Donald Trump has talked about exerting more power over the district. He’s toyed with using the National Guard to police the city and crack down on crime. His allies in Congress have submitted legislation ripping up Washington’s home rule power. 

There have been sporadic efforts to resist encroaching federal power over the district carved out for special consideration by the country’s founding documents. 

However, even with Washington’s leadership filled with Democrats top to bottom, they, much like the party as a whole right now, are split on how to handle the looming Trump administration and the threats to their city’s independence. In the third part of our Draining D.C. series, Associate Breaking News Editor Keely Bastow spoke with several local leaders to get a pulse on whether they are going to spend the next four years trying to resist Trump or set aside their differences as much as possible and see if they can make the district stronger. 

The primary fight is going to revolve around protecting home rule and putting a concrete plan in place to try to push for statehood. 

“I think the next two years, the focus is going to be on defending home rule,” shadow Sen.-elect Ankit Jain told Keely, “but I think we need to continue to work on statehood because there’s going to be another election for Congress in two years and for president in four years, and when we have a better Congress and a better president, I want to make sure we’re ready to seize the opportunity to pass statehood.”

Republicans have scoffed at Washington’s attempts to become a state, not only because the move would likely require a constitutional amendment but because local officials have regularly struggled to run the city smoothly. 

Congress has the authority to override most of the rules Washington lawmakers set for themselves. National lawmakers rarely use that power, but there was a media firestorm in 2022 and 2023 when they did. The overwhelming response from Democrats and Republicans in Congress to slap down efforts by local lawmakers to soften criminal punishments, and their finding an ally in Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was at odds with local lawmakers, was a black eye for the district. 

And it is fueling GOP criticisms that the district needs a stronger hand to guide it rather than more leeway. 

“Sadly, the radical politicians who run D.C. are a national embarrassment, from allowing criminals to victimize innocent people to letting foreign citizens vote in local elections,” a spokesperson for Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) told Keely. “Congress should step in to restore commonsense governance in ‘America’s hometown.’”

On the other hand, it’s unlikely Republicans have the kind of unity required to make sweeping changes to how Washington is run. And Bowser is hopeful that she can find common ground with Republicans — particularly on her pet project of renewing life downtown by getting federal employees back into office spaces. 

“We know that we can work together with President Trump to live up to our shared promise, and that is to ensure that Washington, D.C., remains the best city in the world. … I’ve worked with three presidents, including President-elect Trump, and congressional leaders of both parties to advance the priorities of the district,” Bowser said at a news conference after the election results handed Trump the White House. 

Those efforts are going to require some pliancy from Washington. The Council of the District of Columbia has started tweaking the names of bills it is considering so controversial plans will stay off Republicans’ radars. And Jain told Keely the council will be careful about how bold it wants to be in the coming months so they can appear to be good partners with the Trump administration. 

“I don’t think we should, like, totally clip our wings and not move anything that could potentially be subject to attack by out-of-state Republicans,” Jain said. “But it probably would make sense for the council to think a little bit before they introduce anything.”

Click here to read more about the tension Washington is feeling. 

When Democrats want to be more like Trump

It’s not clear what the new leader of the Democratic National Committee is going to do, but there is a broad consensus that whatever it is, it has to be something other than what happened in 2024. 

DNC Chairman Jaime Harrison is stepping away from the role and leaving a vacuum at the top that Democrats haven’t experienced for several years. Harrison isn’t endorsing anyone to replace him, and there is no clear leader of the party, with President Joe Biden vanishing while he’s still in office and Vice President Kamala Harris staying well out of the limelight after her bruising defeat last month. 

The race to replace Harrison is a crowded one, and National Political Correspondent Mabinty Quarshie is trying to catch up with the candidates. She spoke with long-shot contender Robert Kennedy Houton, who will have a tough path to victory but is trying to shake his party awake in the process. 

Telling them he doesn’t mind being compared to Trump might be the jump start they need.

“I actually take it as a compliment if someone says I’m the most Trumpian because Trump won,” Houton said.

Houton told Mabinty he thinks Democrats need to take a page out of Trump’s book and focus on winning, which probably means ripping control away from the loudest left-wing voices in the room. 

“I don’t tolerate just sitting back and watching the party implode because they are beholden to the radical Left,” Houton told her. 

Tacking away from the “radical Left” includes supporting measures such as endorsing an extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, supporting private school vouchers, breaking with “sanctuary cities,” and abandoning an all-in approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion. 

It also means peeling power away from the elder statesmen and making sure younger Democrats are given the keys to the car. 

“I called for the person that we elect must be under 60 years old, and that’s because we need to have the energy,” he told Mabinty. “We need to show that we’re the future party, and my party has been failing.” 

Click here to read more about the contenders fighting to reshape the Democratic Party.

New from us 

The Left’s troubling violent rhetoric

New barometer ranks universities by anti-Israel ‘faculty abuse’

In case you missed it

Trump is floating plans to draw business investment to the US 

Nancy Mace was assaulted at the Capitol

Biden doesn’t want Trump to get any extra judges

For your radar

Biden and first lady Jill Biden will speak at the White House’s conference on women’s health research at 11:30 a.m.

Harris will join Biden to receive the president’s daily brief but has nothing on her public schedule.