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Days after another violent teen brawl broke out in Washington, D.C., a socialist mayoral candidate being hailed as D.C.’s version of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism for her “exactly backwards” response to the “unchecked chaos” rocking the nation’s capital.
During the D.C. mayoral debate Monday night, city council member and candidate Janeese Lewis George condemned curfews for youth in the city, calling the policy “dangerous.” Instead, Lewis George, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America and was dubbed by Axios “D.C.’s version of Zohran Mamdani,” said the city should “expand our youth programming” through youth centers and apprenticeships.
Meanwhile, she suggested the real threat to D.C.’s youth is the “federal troops” and “masked ICE agents” patrolling the city.
“Right now, using the curfew as a tool for our young people is dangerous. It is dangerous because we have federal troops who are in our city, masked ICE agents who are in our city, and these are the people enforcing this law and our young people, and these are not individuals who are trained in de-escalation, they are not accountable to D.C. residents,” she said.
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Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George (left) proposed “expanded youth programming” in response to the teen takeovers rocking the nation’s capital. (Pete Kiehart for The Washington Post via Getty Images; REDDIT/r/washingtondc)
“As mayor,” she said, “I think it’s important that we use the right tools and we don’t put the risk of our youth being harmed or killed without the real oversight that’s necessary.”
Instead of curfews, Lewis George said, “What we do is expand our youth programming. We do summer youth employment throughout the year, extended hours. We expand our centers. We leverage our unions and apprenticeships to create jobs and pathways for our young people. We give them the tools they need to succeed, and we address chronic absenteeism.”
Lewis George also vowed to expand universal access to childcare in D.C., “so that no family is spending more than 7 percent of their income on childcare.”
In response, Charles Fain Lehman, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told Fox News Digital in an emailed statement that Lewis George has it “exactly backwards.”
“Public acting out is not the result of insufficient services or alternative opportunities. It’s what happens when the system fails to consistently and clearly enforce rules about public conduct,” he said, adding, “It’s exactly backwards to say that what they need is more lenience.”
Lehman theorized that candidates such as Lewis George and Mamdani are gaining momentum across the country due to “the welcome decline in violence in major cities over the past several years” having “created an opening for candidates who prioritize the very real challenge of affordability.”
That being said, Lehman emphasized, “I don’t think their preferred solutions — building only publicly funded housing, e.g., or city-run grocery stores — are likely to work.”
He added, “I worry that anti-police sentiment and skepticism of the criminal justice system more generally on the part of DSA-backed mayors is likely to reignite the cycle of violence.”
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Teens brawl inside a Chipotle in Washington, D.C.’s Navy Yard on Saturday, May 16, 2026. (REDDIT/r/washingtondc)
In the shocking video of the fight, which occurred at a Chipotle in D.C.’s Navy Yard neighborhood, about eight adolescents can be seen throwing punches and hurling restaurant furniture at one another as innocent bystanders huddle for safety in the corner of the restaurant. Metro D.C. police said the brawl occurred Saturday around 8:40 p.m.
U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced that her office will crack down on parents of juveniles who wreak havoc in the streets of the nation’s capital. Teen takeovers, many involving massive brawls in the Navy Yard neighborhood, have been documented for years.
“Teen takeovers have disrupted neighborhoods, forced businesses to close temporarily, and diverted valuable law enforcement resources from the residents of the District,” Pirro said in a statement. “These incidents have become increasingly common in areas such as Navy Yard and NoMa and are often accompanied by criminal conduct, including assaults, robberies, fights, and other disorderly behavior.”
Meanwhile, Stefani Buhajla, a spokesperson for Heritage Action, criticized Lewis George, telling Fox News Digital that “libraries and green spaces aren’t the solution. We need law and order.”
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A large group of teenagers brawled in the streets of Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 4, 2026. (Doug Hochberg/X)
Buhajla noted that “D.C. has been plagued by poor leadership for decades,” emphasizing that “crime and homelessness has made America’s home base a largely inhospitable place.”
She said that “President Trump’s efforts to clean up the city shouldn’t even be necessary.”
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“Local leadership should be doing that, and socialism will not get it done,” she continued, adding, “Just look at what happened in Navy Yard the other day: unchecked chaos is ruining people’s livelihoods.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Lewis George and Mamdani for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.
