Washington D.C.’s real estate industry is bracing for another source of uncertainty after voters nominated democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George for mayor at a time when the city’s economy is already under strain.
Lewis George’s primary victory all but guarantees she will become the city’s next mayor, raising fresh questions among developers about whether investors will continue putting money into a market already battered by office distress, federal job cuts and slowing construction.
Her victory follows a string of progressive wins in major cities, including Zohran Mamdani in New York City and Katie Wilson in Seattle.
Developers worry Lewis George’s victory could further chill investment in a market already struggling to regain its footing. The city’s central business district has experienced widespread distress, with property values falling almost 50% over the last five years, according to data analytics firm MSCI. Federal cuts have left a 100,000-job sized hole in the Greater D.C. area and new construction is at a 15-year low.
“I was starting to feel the city slowly getting better, but investors need proof, and I was just starting to convince them to make moves, but this election has thrown a wrench in that,” said Philippe Lanier, CEO of local developer Eastbanc. “They get a little nervous about a DSA candidate becoming mayor because they don’t know what it means.”
Lewis George, who campaigned on expanding social programs, would enter office as the city faces a $1.1 billion deficit. Developers worry she could be more receptive to new taxes to close the gap, including a proposed wealth tax that would require City Council approval.
The latest iteration is a 3 percent surcharge on passive income and capital gains for people earning more than $400,000 per year, or $500,000 for joint filers. The tax is estimated to raise $200 million in the first year and $100 million in the second year.
Lewis George has not said whether she will support the wealth tax — her predecessor, Mayor Muriel Bowser, warned against it — but developers fear the proposal would come at a particularly vulnerable moment.
The region has already experienced increased out-migration. Between January 2025 and January 2026, the Greater D.C. area lost about 104,000 jobs, the most of any metro area in the country, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Residential vacancy in the region jumped from 6 percent in 2024 to 8 percent in 2026, according to advocacy group Greater Greater Washington.
Lainer pointed to federal job cuts under the Trump administration as a source of the economic pain.
“Elon Musk running around D.C. with a chainsaw was not really conducive to growth,” Lanier said.
Still, some developers believe Trump’s continued influence over the city could temper Lewis George’s agenda. The president has repeatedly threatened to “take back” D.C., leading some in the industry to believe the new mayor may avoid policies that provoke federal intervention.
“The question is what can she actually do?” said Ian Ruel, co-founder of local developer Feldman Ruel. “She can only posture so much toward him until he pisses him off to a detrimental level.”
Still, the new mayor has sought to appeal to developers with her campaign promise to build 72,000 new units over the next five years. Despite her ideas for zoning and permitting reform to make building easier, developers say Lewis George’s goals will require significant buy-in from institutional investors, which have fled D.C. en masse.
“I need to understand her agenda and how she’s going to get there, and I need to explain that I can’t help her get there unless I have investors,” Lanier said. “If she’s not doing things to make it easier for me to get investors, then I can’t help her.”