Washington's Likely Next Mayor Rejects a $40,000 Pay Raise, Saying Residents Are Already Stretched

WASHINGTON — The D.C. Council is considering a bill that would raise the mayor's annual salary from $250,000 to $290,000, a $40,000 increase of about 16 percent, effective January 2027. But Janeese Lewis George, the Ward 4 councilmember and frontrunner in next week's mayoral election, said publicly on October 29 that she opposes it.

The candidate's position: she will not ask residents to pay more for the mayor

Lewis George told The Washington Sun: “Families in this city are stretched on child care, housing and their utility bills, and I am not going to ask them to pay more for the job of the mayor. My focus is on lowering costs for the hardworking people of D.C.” She said she did not request the measure, and outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser's office confirmed it did not come from the mayor's side either.

The bill and the timing window

The Salary Adjustment Amendment Act of 2026 (B26-0842) was introduced this month by At-Large Councilmember Anita Bonds, who said the raise would “better reflect modern cost realities.” Under D.C. law, the mayor's pay cannot be raised during a term, so any change must be made in the two-month window between an election and inauguration; the last raise was approved in late 2022, and the current $250,000 salary has applied since 2023. Because the council chair and the attorney general must by law earn $10,000 less than the mayor, a mayoral raise would lift their pay too. Council Chair Phil Mendelson declined to specify whether he supports the bill, and Attorney General Brian Schwalb's office did not comment.

The backdrop: tight budgets and a fight over cost-of-living raises

The dispute comes as D.C. faces leaner budgets: unions representing some 10,000 government workers are pressing for raises after Bowser's negotiators offered no cost-of-living adjustments for the next few years. “Public service deserves fair compensation at every level of government, but fairness cannot be reserved for those at the top,” said Joey Davis, president of AFGE Local 1975, which represents 1,200 workers from the Department of Public Works to the Department of Motor Vehicles. A similar scene played out in New York earlier this year, when Mayor Zohran Mamdani turned down an 18 percent raise approved by lawmakers. The bill is still before the Council and has not passed; next week's election result and the Council's subsequent vote will decide whether the $40,000 raise becomes real.