Alex Brandon/AP Photo; Stacia Hall’s campaign; Insider
Democratic incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser is running against Republican Stacia Hall in Washington, DC’s mayoral race.
Bowser, first elected in 2014, is vying for her third consecutive term as mayor. Currently, the mayor of Washington, DC, is popularly elected to a four-year term with no term limits.
The native Washingtonian previously represented Ward 4 for two terms as a member of the DC Council. She is the second female mayor of Washington, DC, after Sharon Pratt, and the first woman to be reelected to that position.
In 2018, she became the first mayor to earn a second term in 16 years when she won with 76% of the vote.
With the city experiencing increases in violent crime, crime and public safety have emerged as leading issues on voters’ minds. Bowser, who in 2020 had a section of 16th Street NW near the White House painted with the words “Black Lives Matter” and renamed a section of the street Black Lives Matter Plaza, pushed to increase the number of police officers, a point she touted during a television debate earlier in June.
“I’m going to make the tough calls when it comes to violent crime, including making sure we have the police that we need,” she said.
Hall, Bowser’s challenger, is a senior rental consultant and small business owner from Ward 3. According to her campaign website, Hall is a single mother who has experienced homelessness. The primary focus of her campaign is public safety: She would put more police officers in schools and develop incentives to have officers live in the neighborhoods they police.
Currently, no Republicans sit on the DC Council, and less than 10% of eligible voters are registered Republicans. Hall, the first Republican candidate to run in nearly two decades, faces an uphill battle. The city’s last Republican mayoral candidate was David Kranich, who ran and lost to Democrat Adrian Fenty, 6% to nearly 90%.
Independent Rodney Grant and Libertarian Dennis Sobin are also on the ballot this year.