Kenyan McDuffie on Youth Curfews, Trump and D.C.’s Economy

Sitting inside the Northeast Washington home his grandparents purchased in 1952, Kenyan McDuffie waved off the suggestion that his campaign to become the District’s next mayor had left him exhausted.

“No, no,” he replied. “This is where you come to life even more. It’s the home stretch.”

He paused, calculating how many days remained until the June 16 Democratic primary. “Seventeen?” he guessed. “How many hours? But who’s counting?”

As the race enters its final weeks, McDuffie has positioned himself as the pragmatic candidate in the contest — a message that has helped him consolidate support from much of Washington’s business community. He has argued that his governing experience as a former D.C. Council member makes him better equipped than his main opponent, Janeese Lewis George, to navigate public safety concerns and pressure from the Trump administration.

In an interview with NOTUS, McDuffie pushed back on the idea that he represents the political establishment, defended his recent emphasis on public safety and warned that some economic proposals would hurt the District.

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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

You’re widely viewed as the establishment candidate in this race. In 2026, do you see that title as an asset or a liability?

I see the title as misplaced. It’s hard to call someone “establishment” when they’ve authored some of the most transformational legislation in the District’s recent history — from comprehensive campaign finance reform and the NEAR Act to housing legislation that directed 50% of city surpluses to the Housing Production Trust Fund. I also wrote the first guaranteed basic income program in the city’s history.

Generally, when people use labels like “establishment” to tear people down, it’s because they don’t have a record to run on. I don’t have that problem.

I’ve never fit neatly into a box. I grew up in a small neighborhood called Stronghold, was arrested as a teenager, carried mail and dropped out of college a couple times before I got it right. If being a lawyer and serving on the Council for 13 years makes me “establishment,” I still take issue with it.

When you launched your campaign, you talked heavily about affordability and economic pressure. More recently, your campaign has centered much more on public safety and contrasts with Janeese Lewis George over issues like youth curfew zones. What changed?

It’s challenging to get to some of the issues around affordability if people don’t feel safe. Attracting new residents and new businesses is difficult in an environment where the competitiveness has been diminished in terms of quality of life in some people’s eyes.

Kenyan McDuffie said he has always been about “prioritizing the safety of Washingtonians.” Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

You’ve emphasized your support for measures like the teen curfew zones, but your own record on criminal justice has historically been more reform-oriented, including your role in shaping the NEAR Act. Are voters getting a version of you on public safety that’s more politically tactical than consistent with your earlier record?

No, I don’t think so. My record has always been about prioritizing the safety of Washingtonians. I grew up in D.C. when the city was known as the murder capital of the United States, so I know what it’s like to feel unsafe in your own community. My entire career in public service has been focused on both public safety and reforming broken systems.

While polling shows broad support for the youth curfew zones, critics say they’re more politically satisfying than actually effective. If violent youth crime doesn’t meaningfully decline under these zones, what would make you reconsider that approach as mayor?

As mayor, I think it’s a both/and, not an either/or. The youth curfew is a tool — it is not a panacea, but it is a tool the city needs to utilize temporarily to address the kinds of criminal activity we’ve seen. But it also requires work to address the root causes of that behavior.

It requires a comprehensive youth engagement strategy, which I plan to develop and implement in my first 100 days, that brings together an interagency task force. Young people feel like they have to leave their own neighborhoods because they aren’t being well served. There is programming in the District, but do the people who need it know about it? It’s about meeting young folks where they are — not waiting for them to show up in the juvenile justice system. Because at that point, we’ve failed them.

McDuffie speaks to voters inside the Entitlement Lounge on Upshur Street in Northwest D.C. Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

Polling also shows a stark split in this race: You’re strongest with older Black voters and longtime Washingtonians, while Janeese Lewis George is strongest with younger and newer residents. What do you think those younger voters are looking for that they aren’t seeing in you?

It’s just a matter of an introduction — reaching them with information about who I am, what I’ve accomplished and my vision. The reality is, it’s not the age of the candidate so much as it is the understanding the electorate has of their options. I present a progressive track record of delivering for people — young residents as well as senior citizens.

Janeese Lewis George argues that the D.C. government has spent years prioritizing developers and corporate insiders over ordinary residents. You’re widely seen as the candidate closest to the business community. Why should voters who feel priced out trust you to represent change?

I wasn’t the first choice of the business community. But I do have relationships with small businesses, restaurants, hotel workers and unions because I’ve maintained an open-door policy as a Council member. I have the experience and temperament that allows people to be heard, even where we disagree. I bring balance and pragmatism to the work of government.

D.C. is heading into a much tighter fiscal era. What’s one politically difficult thing you think Democrats in D.C. are going to have to admit about the city’s finances that they still don’t want to say publicly?

We have to be completely transparent with residents that we have both a spending problem in Washington, D.C., as well as a revenue problem. We cannot continue spending the way we did during years when the city enjoyed substantial surpluses. But we also can’t simply default to taxing hardworking residents and small businesses as if they don’t have options that include leaving Washington — because they do.

Just look at CoStar, for example: a business that grew up in D.C., whose employees filled downtown restaurants, bars and office buildings, but now they’re staring at us from across the river in Rosslyn. People do have options. We can no longer rely on federal employment and downtown office occupancy the way we have in the past. This may not be a cyclical economic challenge. It may very well be a structural one. There are unique structural realities to governing the nation’s capital, including the amount of untaxable federal land and restrictions like the Height Act.

The solution is to grow our economy by attracting new residents and businesses, building more housing and making government work better and faster. We also need to diversify beyond federal employment by continuing to invest in sectors like higher education, health care, the arts and small-business growth.

D.C. voters may soon decide on ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage to $25 and freeze residential rents for two years. Do you support either measure?

I’ve been a champion of workers’ rights and tenants’ rights. I authored the Expanded Access to Justice Act to provide lawyers to tenants in landlord-tenant court because the research shows most landlords already enter court with legal representation. But from engaging with workers and businesses, I know that both ballot initiatives, while well-intentioned, have the potential to harm the economy at a time when the city desperately needs growth. We will not be able to attract new residents or businesses to the District if we can’t protect and support the ones already here.

Right now, we have a housing market that does not enjoy the confidence of the capital markets. People aren’t investing in building housing here because projects take too long and cost too much. We have to build housing faster and make the agencies that touch housing work better and faster. While well-intentioned, these initiatives could ultimately hurt small businesses, the workers they employ and the tenants they are intended to protect.

Recent polling showed McDuffie as strongest with older Black voters and longtime Washingtonians, while Janeese Lewis George is strongest with younger and newer residents. Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

D.C. is facing renewed pressure from Congress and the Trump administration. How do you balance aggressively defending Home Rule with the reality that the federal government still controls so much of the city’s fate?

My approach to this administration, or any other Congress, is to work with the federal government where possible and fight back where necessary. I’ll work with them where it is in the best interest of our residents and businesses — like pushing to expand Union Station. That plan calls for a $9 billion investment into generational economic development infrastructure projects that would help the District grow.

On the other hand, on Day 1 I plan to eliminate the executive order that permits cooperation between the Metropolitan Police Department and ICE. You cannot have public safety without first having public trust. Right now, that trust has been shaken because of the coordination between MPD and ICE, which has not made D.C. safer and has eroded the trust necessary for MPD to do its job.

Your campaign has largely stayed out of the debate over Janeese Lewis George appearing at an event for Trayon White Sr. after his indictment. Is that because no serious mayoral candidate can afford to alienate parts of Ward 8 politically?

I don’t intend to alienate any residents in any part of the city — especially those parts of the city where residents have felt marginalized. I don’t get into the politics of other candidates when I have a vision that includes those communities already. I don’t have to talk about what Janeese Lewis George is doing or Trayon White. I don’t have to weigh in on political controversies with other campaigns.

McDuffie is hoping to rally supporters as the primary season enters its final weeks. Kainaz Amaria/NOTUS

Mayor Bowser still has not endorsed in this race. Have you actively sought her endorsement?

I have not received Mayor Bowser’s endorsement, and I would welcome a conversation. But my focus [until the election] is to get as many endorsements of individual voters as humanly possible. I’m about building bridges.

A lot of voters seem torn between wanting stability and wanting a real break from how the city has been governed. Which side of that tension do you actually represent?

I represent both. I bring the experience to govern a $21 billion budget on day one, but I also believe the city needs leadership focused on fixing broken systems. The difference between me and Janeese Lewis George — and anyone else in this race — is that I don’t simply complain about problems. I come up with solutions.