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DC’s mayor and the punch-up with Donald Trump that put her on the world stage

Amid her spat with the president, Muriel Bowser has faced criticism from constituents about her own city’s police. But there is still chatter, writes Andrew Buncombe, she could even become Joe Biden’s running mate

Sunday 14 June 2020 13:07 EDT
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Muriel Bowser walks on the street leading to the White House
Muriel Bowser walks on the street leading to the White House (AP)

Back in 2013 when she was first running for mayor of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser gave an interview to the Washington City Paper. The idea was for the reporter from the alternative weekly to take a tour of Ward 4, which she represented on the city council, to provide both colour and insight. The first outing fell flat; Bowser’s campaign manager was so concerned she had come across as too stiff, he requested a second, more “open” interview.

During both interviews, the reporter noted, members of the public came up to her to offer praise. The reporter joked she must have paid them.

There is no suggestion Bowser actually staged those encounters – they were merely good fortune. But seven years later, in her second term as mayor, she finds herself once again seeing an opportunity, whose timing and trajectory she could never have predicted, and seizing the momentum.

Donald Trump teargassed protesters outside of the White House, and used federal law enforcement officers to clear the square for him to stage what was denounced as a photo-op at a church, while also threatening to use “vicious dogs and ominous weapons” to clear those who came to close to his residence.

Bowser grabbed the opportunity to make her own headlines. “There are no vicious dogs & ominous weapons,” she tweeted. “There is just a scared man. Afraid/alone.”

Shortly afterwards, Bowser, 47, who is African American, ordered the city government to paint a Black Lives Matter logo on streets close to the White House. “We’re here peacefully as Americans on American streets,” said Bowser, standing next to a sign that also called for DC statehood.

The Black Lives Matter logo on 16th Street, close to the White House
The Black Lives Matter logo on 16th Street, close to the White House (AP)

The words could be seen from space, and reports of her actions no doubt reached back to the president. In an escalation of the spat with the mayor that surely suited his purposes too, he tweeted that Bowser was “fighting with the National Guard, who saved her from great embarrassment”. He added: “If she doesn’t treat these men and women well, then we’ll bring in a different group of men and women!”

The verbal punch-up with Trump, who is despised by many DC residents, rapidly gave Bowser a national and international profile. The politician previously best known for a bureaucratic approach to her role found herself being invited onto shows such as The Late Late Show with James Corden, and chatting with former congressman Joe Scarborough on MSNBC.

Her name is even bandied around as a potential running mate for Joe Biden. “I already have the best job in Washington DC,” Bowser told The Washington Post when asked earlier this year if she was willing to be vetted for the VP slot.

The truth may be a little different. It is certainly a little more complicated, partly because of the strange business of DC politics.

While many assume the nation’s capital city has a governor, senators and regular members of the House of Representatives, it does not. Having for two centuries ignored the demands of its citizens for representation and home rule, Congress in 1973 devolved certain powers to a 13-member council headed by a mayor. It also granted a non-voting member to the House.

The mayor has only limited powers, and the council has for decades been dominated by Democrats. For many years, such as during terms of Marion Barry, the administration was a watchword for corruption, and the city was rife with crime and poverty.

Observers say Bowser – the protege of Adrian Fenty, who served a single term from 2007-2011 – has continued his efforts to bring more developers into the city, a move she insists can create wealth for everyone. (Both also accepted campaign donations from corporate donors.)

Yet it is a fine line to walk. Parts of the capital are unrecognisable from how they were 20 years ago, but that has implications that cut both ways.

While people like that the streets are safer and cleaner, the gentrification has sharply pushed up property prices in neighbourhoods such as Shaw and Capitol Hill, which were traditionally African American. This has forced many longtime residents of “the district” to relocate to places such as Prince George’s County in Maryland.

While African Americans once made up more than 70 per cent of the city’s population, today that figure stands at around 47 per cent. There is a Disney-fied feel to some of the community’s most iconic establishments, such as Ben’s Chili Bowl, located on U Street.

An indication that Bowser’s centrism had been facing a challenge was perhaps most clearly seen in this month’s election for several city council seats. In Ward 4, the area she once represented, the council member she groomed to replace her, Brandon Todd, was easily defeated by Janeese Lewis George, who ran on a far more progressive ticket.

George tells The Independent the need for the progressive policies she had been talking about for months – paid family leave, easier access to healthcare, affordable housing, an increased minimum wage – became all the more clear as the coronavirus struck.

“Initiative 77 was an initiative here that you know, I criticised [Todd] for repealing, which was a fair wage for tipped workers,” says George, 32, an activist and lawyer. “And then during Covid-19, the first group of individuals to lose the jobs were restaurant tipped workers, right? And so, what was happening in the country started to make the case for me.”

Bowser, who in 2018 adopted a daughter, Miranda, has also run into problems over the decision to paint the Black Lives Matter logo on two blocks running on 16th St, and to rename the area Black Lives Matter Plaza.

Probably, the most significant criticism was from the local chapter of Black Lives Matter itself.

In a tweet, it said of Bowser’s actions: “This is performative and a distraction from her active counter organising to our demands to decrease the police budget and invest in the community. Black Lives Matter means Defund the police.”

Group members converted the district’s flag into an “equals” sign and added their postscript in the same bright yellow shade, co-opting the city’s own work to make the mural read: “Black Lives Matter = Defund the police” – underscoring the belief that black people’s safety required police overhaul.

Like many mayors across the country, Bowser finds herself juggling demands from activists to “defund” the force, while trying to avoid giving ammunition to Trump and the Republicans who want to try and make law and order an election issue. She told NPR this week of her funding: “My budget doesn’t fund it a penny more than we need and certainly not a penny less.”

Yet critics point to the 2020-21 budget, announced in May, that calls for a $580m Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) operating budget, a 3.3 per cent increase from 2020. It also requested an additional 4,000 officers by 2021.

Others say Bowser has failed to secure police accountability in her own city. Natacia Knapper, an activist with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and a volunteer with Stop Police Terror Project DC, said the mayor had failed to bring to justice the officers involved in the deaths of three black men, Marqueese Alston, D’Quan Young and Jeffrey Price.

One area in which Bowser may have more success is in the long-fought battle for statehood. Activists say the president’s disdain for the mayor and her authority, and his deployment of the National Guard and federal law enforcement officers, has strengthened their hand.

Black Lives Matter activists felt the need to amend the city’s artwork (Getty)
Black Lives Matter activists felt the need to amend the city’s artwork (Getty) (Getty Images)

A bill to make DC the 51st state now has sponsors in both the House and the Senate. House majority leader Steny Hoyer, Nancy Pelosi’s deputy, said the Trump administration’s recent threats to impose the president’s “dangerous and callous will” on protesters in the district underscored the need for a congressional vote on statehood by the end of the year.

“Donald Trump has thrown the veil off of our situation, and laid bare the power the federal government has over the 700,000 or more residents who call DC home,” says Barbara Helmick, director of programmes for DC Vote, a group campaigning for statehood. “He showed it in the most outrageous way.”

And what for Muriel Bowser? The mayor’s office did not respond to a series of questions from The Independent. Her post has no term limits and polls suggest she could serve again if she wanted to.

But many believe her clash with Trump, and the oxygen of publicity, may have tilted her ambitions higher.

Chuck Thies, a DC-based political consultant, said Bowser had played her cards in a smart and self-serving fashion as the drama with Trump played out. He also noted that earlier this year, in a move that raised many eyebrows, Bowser, the youngest of six children who grew up in the city’s Michigan Park neighbourhood, endorsed former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg in his short-lived run for the presidency.

If Bloomberg was looking for someone to head one of his many philanthropic projects, such as combatting gun control, somebody such as Bowser could be perfect.

And as to serving as Biden’s deputy, Bowser this week gave the clearest response yet, telling Fox News she had not been vetted, but adding: “I know that we need a change. We need to change the Senate and we need to change the White House.

“That’s what I’m going to be spending my time [on], making sure that we get that word out in Washington DC, and I certainly will help in any way that I can.”

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