At time of writing, the Associated Press estimates that around 64% of votes have been counted. Races where no candidate wins a majority of first choices will proceed to a ranked choice voting count – most likely the at-large Council and Ward 1 Democratic primaries. With RCV, all nominees will have support from a majority of their party – as will the winner in an at-large Council special election.

Mayor

In the closely watched mayoral race, Councilmember Janeese Lewis George leads with 52.8% of voters’ first choices, followed by former Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie at 36.6%. If Lewis George remains above 50% as the remaining votes are counted, a ranked choice tabulation will not be necessary to determine the winner. 

Congressional delegate

Five candidates ran in the Democratic primary to succeed retiring Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Councilmember Robert White won that election with 63.2% of first choices. Councilmember Brooke Pinto came in second with 21.5% of first choices.

At-large Council Democratic primary

Nine candidates ran for the Democratic nomination to succeed at-large Councilmember Anita Bonds. No candidate has won a majority of first choices. Oye Owolewa leads with 33.8%, followed by Lisa Raymond at 15.2% and Kevin Chavous at 13.8%. The result will likely be determined by a ranked choice voting count.

In a choose-one election, Owolewa would have won the nomination despite 66% of voters voting for another candidate. In 2022, for instance, Councilmember Anita Bonds won the Democratic primary for this seat with only 36% of first choices. Now, ranked choice voting will ensure the nominee – whether Owolewa or someone else – has majority support. 

At-large Council special election

In the special election for at-large Council, former Councilmember Elissa Silverman is leading with 54.8% of first choices, followed by appointed Councilmember Doni Crawford and Board of Education President Jacque Patterson, with 25% and 19% respectively. If Silverman maintains a majority of first choices, there will be no ranked choice tabulation.

Ward 1

In the competitive Democratic primary for Ward 1 councilmember, Aparna Raj leads with 47% of first choices. Depending on remaining ballots, Raj may win with a majority of first choices, or the winner may be determined by a ranked choice voting count.

Notably, in three Council races – the at-large Council Democratic primary, at-large Council special election, and Ward 1 Democratic primary – candidates cross-endorsed each other, asking voters to rank each other on their ballots. Past elections show that voters often listen to cross-endorsements by candidates they support, so it’s possible candidates who cross-endorsed will benefit when their races go to RCV tallies.

DC’s ranked choice voting elections offer a sharp contrast with the District’s recent past, in which candidates regularly won key primaries without majority support. Since 2012, every districtwide office and six of the eight wards have seen Democratic primaries won with less than 50% of the vote. Since 2020, Ward 2 and Ward 7 have had Democratic Council primaries won with less than 30% of the vote. 

FairVote will post more analysis of the DC election over the coming week. In the meantime, visit Grow Democracy DC to learn more about RCV in DC. 

Follow WTOP’s team coverage of the D.C. primary and Election 2026 online, on air at 103.5 FM or on the WTOP News app. See live results as they come in after polls close at 8 p.m.

Voters in D.C. cast their ballots Tuesday in a primary election to decide party nominees in races for mayor, delegate to Congress, attorney general and several council seats.

The winners of Democratic primaries in D.C. are all but assured to win in November, since nearly 75% of registered voters in the District are Democrats, according to the Independent Voter Project.

Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie, who served together on the D.C. Council, emerged as the two favorites in the mayor’s race after Muriel Bowser announced she would not seek a fourth term.

Lewis George has laid out more ambitious plans to address affordability issues, including expanding access to universal childcare and developing 72,000 units of housing, a plan McDuffie called unrealistic and just rhetoric.

Meanwhile, McDuffie has pitched plans he’s promised to deliver and has focused on the issue of public safety, pushing for curfew measures Lewis George is against and saying he’d increase funding and staffing for D.C.’s police department.

The race for D.C.’s delegate to Congress was also something of a two-horse race between current council members Robert White and Brooke Pinto, though polling ahead of election day indicated White had a significant edge.

In the race for attorney general, incumbent Brian Schwalb is facing a single Democratic challenger, J.P. Szymkowicz.

New mayor for first time in 12 years

Lewis George had the edge over McDuffie in the mayor’s race in available polling data before election day, holding a five-point edge in City Cast D.C.’s poll published in May.

She’s in the middle of her second term as Ward 4’s council member, and previously served in the D.C. Office of the Attorney General as assistant attorney general in the juvenile section of the public safety division.

McDuffie is a more experience D.C. council member, serving for more than 13 years before resigning last year to pursue his mayoral run. Previously, he also worked as a prosecutor and later served in former President Barack Obama’s Justice Department.

The successor to DC’s ‘Warrior on the Hill’

It’s been even longer since D.C. had a new delegate to Congress — 36 years, to be exact.

With the exit of Eleanor Holmes Norton, White and Pinto are the frontrunners in a field of five Democratic candidates.

Pinto is also in the middle of her second term on the D.C. Council, serving as chair of the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety. Before that, she worked in the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

White has served on the D.C. Council for nine years and has previously served as legislative counsel to Norton and as director of community outreach for the D.C. Office of the Attorney General.

Challenge to DC’s attorney general

Schwalb is wrapping up his first term as D.C. attorney general. Before assuming the office in 2023, Schwalb served as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice, then entered private practice and ascended to Venable’s firm-wide vice chairman and partner-in-charge of Venable’s D.C. office.

His challenger, Szymkowicz, of Szymkowicz & Szymkowicz law firm in D.C., has served as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for Foxhall for seven years and has made campaign promises to crack down on crime, predatory landlords and go after those with unpaid traffic violations.

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