D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser – District of Columbia Government, Office of the Mayor
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has announced she will not seek a fourth term — opening the door for a new generation of political leaders to step into the void she will leave after being a longtime fixture in local politics.
“I’m not running because we’ve accomplished what we set out to accomplish,” Bowser told The Washington Post. “And it’s time. People don’t run for a fourth term.”
Bowser launched her political career as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner in Ward 4’s Riggs Park neighborhood. She won a 2007 special election to the D.C. Council — succeeding then-Mayor Adrian Fenty as his preferred successor — and was re-elected twice before defeating former Mayor Vincent Gray in the 2014 Democratic primary with 43% of the vote.
Throughout her three terms in office, Bowser, 53, has confronted persistent challenges, including chronic housing instability, limited supply, and affordability pressures in a city with an already high cost of living — all of it worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bowser led the District through the 2020 racial justice protests and a post-pandemic surge in violent crime, particularly homicides. She pushed a series of “law and order” measures in response, including tougher penalties for violent offenses and curfews for juveniles.
More recently, she faced President Trump’s federal takeover of the Metropolitan Police Department, which brought National Guard troops and federal agents into the city under the guise of a crime emergency.
Bowser told the Post she expects to be remembered as a “sports mayor,” pointing to the $800 million Capital One Arena renovation she brokered to keep the Capitals and Wizards from moving to Virginia, and the $3.7 billion public-private deal aimed at bringing the Washington Commanders back from Maryland to the shuttered RFK Stadium site.
Bowser — whose brother is gay — has long been a supporter of LGBTQ rights, appointing LGBTQ Washingtonians to city posts and directing funding to the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. During her tenure, the office expanded housing options for LGBTQ seniors and homeless residents, issued grants to community organizations, and helped establish a permanent home for The DC LGBTQ+ Community Center.
Under Bowser’s leadership, the city took over the annual High Heel Race, the longtime 17th Street Halloween tradition that draws thousands each year. The District also hosted WorldPride 2025, generating $310 million in revenue despite attendance being dampened by fears over stricter federal immigration and visa policies.
In her final year in office, Bowser faces looming budget cuts, continued Republican meddling in District affairs, and the challenge of advancing economic and tech incentives meant to offset federal job losses that have disproportionately affected D.C. residents.
Because Bowser has long been seen as friendly to developers, some in the D.C. business community launched an effort to “draft” her to run for a fourth term, arguing she alone had the experience to steer the city through what they warn will be difficult years ahead.
Bowser told the Post that when she was considering whether to run for re-election or step aside at the end of her term, she “had to answer the question, if I’m the only one that can do it. And no, I’m not the only one that could do it.”
The mayor has declined to say whether she’ll endorse a successor. “We will have other candidates that will have ideas about how to do it, and D.C. voters will pick the right one,” she said.
Councilmember Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), a self-described Democratic socialist, has said she is considering a mayoral run. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large) is also weighing a bid, casting himself as a more “business-friendly” Democrat in Bowser’s mold.
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