Donations to Janeese Lewis George's mayoral campaign from D.C. residents are eligible for a five-fold public match if they arrive by Tuesday, Aug. 11, the first filing deadline since the June 16 Democratic primary.
Lewis George, the Ward 4 councilmember and chair of the Council's Committee on Facilities, won the primary with 54.1% of the vote. She urged supporters in a fundraising email published Monday on PoPville to give before the DC Office of Campaign Finance closes its reporting window. Under the District's Fair Elections Program, every dollar a D.C. resident donates to a participating candidate is matched 5-to-1 with public funds, up to a $200 individual cap for mayoral races.
The program, now in its fourth election cycle, disbursed $2,830,041 in base and matching payments to 19 certified candidates during the 2024 cycle, according to the Office of Campaign Finance. Lewis George is a veteran of the system: she first won her Ward 4 seat in 2020 as a Fair Elections participant and was one of only two Council candidates that year to hit the matching-funds cap.
What the money is for
Lewis George's campaign said the matched funds will pay for listening sessions scheduled for September, where the team plans to collect resident input ahead of the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election. In the email, she framed her approach around fixing problems large and small, using the city's failure to pick up discarded Christmas trees as an example of government falling short on basic services.
"I want to be a mayor who solves big problems and small ones," Lewis George wrote. "That's why I've been spending so much time preparing, talking to experts, and reviewing how our government agencies function."
How the Fair Elections Program works
To qualify for public matching funds in a mayoral race, a candidate must collect at least 1,000 contributions totaling $40,000 from D.C. residents. Qualifying candidates also receive a $160,000 base grant. Only donations from District residents are matched; out-of-state contributions may be accepted but do not trigger public funds.
The program is voluntary and costs the District roughly $5 million per year, about 0.06% of the city's budget, according to the DC Fair Elections Coalition.
The general election ahead
Lewis George faces Robert Gross of the DC Statehood Green Party on Nov. 3. Incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser did not seek re-election. Lewis George has said her Day One priorities include ending cooperation between the Metropolitan Police Department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, lowering utility bills and expanding access to childcare.
Additional OCF filing deadlines are expected before the Nov. 3 general election.
