What D.C. can do when a building’s elevators stay broken

By John M. Fredericks

A lawsuit over a 166-unit building on Florida Avenue NE is a crash course in how D.C. enforces its housing code, why a fine on paper isn't a fine paid, and what two Council bills would change.

Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George on Wednesday named Jennifer Levy, a former first deputy attorney general in the New York State Attorney General's Office, as her transition director, along with five co-chairs, and said the team will audit every D.C. government agency and may restructure some. She also said she has hired a firm to run a national search for a new police chief; WJLA reports the search is being done with the Police Executive Research Forum and that her team is in contact with the White House about arranging a meeting with President Trump.

Context  Lewis George, who now represents Ward 4 on the Council, takes office Jan. 2, succeeding Mayor Muriel Bowser. The co-chairs are Aaron Jenkins, a former Obama administration appointee; Beatriz "BB" Otero, a former deputy mayor for health and human services; Gautam Raghavan, who led the White House Office of Presidential Personnel under President Biden; Greg Akerman, president of the Baltimore-DC Metro Building Trades Council; and Kimberly Perry, executive director of the advocacy group DC Action. FOX 5 DC reports the team will recommend people for deputy mayor, agency director and commission posts and help set priorities for her first 100 days. The city projects a budget shortfall of about $650 million or more for fiscal 2028; Lewis George said she will not balance the budget "on the backs of working people" and called the tax system unfair without giving specifics. WJLA reports she has named development around Union Station and federal land transfers as possible areas of cooperation with the administration.

FOX 5 DC  ·  NBC4 Washington  ·  WJLA 7News

Lewis George plans to stay on the Council through the end of the year and resign her Ward 4 seat when she becomes mayor on Jan. 2, WJLA reports, which will lead to a special election that must be held 70 to 174 days after the seat becomes vacant. WJLA also reported early Thursday that the legal question over who fills Robert White's former at-large seat remains unresolved.

Context  White resigned effective Nov. 2 to become D.C.'s delegate to the House. Normally the departing member's party appoints an interim replacement until a special election, but At-Large Council member Christina Henderson's switch from independent to the Democratic Party brings Democrats to the legal limit of three at-large seats, which raises the question of whether the party can appoint another Democrat. The D.C. Democratic Party says it has the authority to make the appointment. Henderson has said attorneys she consulted found nothing in the Home Rule Act or federal law that bars her switch, and Council Chairman Phil Mendelson's office has said its lawyers believe Democrats could fill one of the independent seats, City Cast DC reported Tuesday.

WJLA 7News  ·  City Cast DC

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) will not seek to lead House Republicans in the next Congress, when they will be in the minority; the Associated Press reported the decision citing two people familiar with it, and ABC News reported he told his staff. Senate Republican leader John Thune (R-S.D.) plans to run for minority leader and so far has no opponent, the Washington Examiner reported.

Context  AP reports that House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) is running for the top Republican post, and ABC News reports Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) is expected to run; House Republicans hold leadership elections Nov. 10, and candidates must declare by noon Nov. 6. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) formally announced his bid for speaker in a letter Wednesday; House Democrats vote on their leaders Nov. 18, and the full House elects a speaker when the new Congress convenes Jan. 3, where the winner needs 218 votes. Johnson won reelection to his Louisiana seat and is expected to stay in the House.

AP via WRAL  ·  Washington Examiner  ·  ABC News

As of Wednesday night, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith in Mississippi by 1,138 votes with about 96 percent of ballots counted, and Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska by 637 votes with nearly a quarter of votes still uncounted, according to AP. Neither race had been called.

Context  In Mississippi, about 3,600 mail ballots and an unknown number of provisional ballots remain; counties must submit certified results by Nov. 13, and the state has no automatic recount, so a candidate would need a court order to get one. Alaska uses ranked-choice voting and will not publish its ranked tabulation until Nov. 18; on Sunday a federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit that sought to block certification over a second candidate named Dan Sullivan on the ballot, and the department has said it will appeal. Democrats are expected to hold at least 54 of the 100 Senate seats in January; ending a filibuster takes 60 votes.

Al Jazeera (with AP)  ·  ABC News

Vice President JD Vance wrote in a long post on X on Wednesday that Republicans lost the midterms because of the war with Iran, saying many people who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 backed Democrats this year, and he also pointed to the cost of living and U.S. relations with Israel. Asked about the post, President Trump told reporters it was "largely true" but said he would go to war again and would not have done anything differently.

Context  Trump said the war briefly raised gas prices but that the country had no choice because Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, and he said Republicans would have won if he had been on the ballot. Vance has supported the war in the past; in his post he called for ending it, addressing costs and changing the U.S. relationship with Israel. Fox News Digital said it asked the vice president's office and the White House for comment.

ABC News  ·  Fox News

Thursday, 10 a.m.  ·  The Executive Building, 1030 15th Street NW, Suite 700 West (also online)

The city's ethics and open government board hears reports from its open government and ethics directors and takes public comment.

Thursday, 7 p.m.  ·  Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Avenue NW  ·  Free

The author discusses his book on John F. Kennedy's personal life and the women he pursued.

Friday, 7 p.m.  ·  Politics and Prose at The Wharf, 610 Water St. SW  ·  Free

The author discusses her history of the undersea cables and pipelines that carry most of the world's data, oil and gas, in conversation with journalist Patrick B. Pexton.