Mayor-elect George Names Transition Team
The incoming administration will audit agencies and begin budget planning immediately, with a nationwide search for a police chief already underway.
By Beatriz Soto ·
One firm has been retained to conduct a nationwide search for a new chief of police, a task D.C. Mayor-elect Janeese Lewis George announced on Wednesday. The announcement came shortly after her victory speech, during a news conference where she detailed her transition structure and immediate administrative goals.
Lewis George identified a transition director and a group of co-chairs. Jennifer Levy, formerly the first deputy attorney general for the New York State Attorney General, will serve as transition director. The co-chairs are Aaron Jenkins, a former Obama administration appointee; Beatriz Otero, a former deputy mayor for D.C. Health and Human Services; Guatam Raghavan, the former director of the White House Office of Presidential Personnel; Greg Akerman, president of the Baltimore-DC Metro Building Trades Council; and Kimberly Perry, an advocate for child care and education.
The team includes former government officials, a child care advocate, and a labor organizer. Lewis George stated that this group will audit each D.C. government agency. She indicated that the audit may lead to the restructuring of some agencies as she constructs her cabinet.
Lewis George described the process as transparent and accessible. "My commitment to you is that this will be a transparent process that is accessible because that's what it means to build a people-first government," she said. She expressed intent to collaborate with Mayor Muriel Bowser and her administration during the handover.
The mayor-elect characterized D.C.'s current tax system as unfair. She did not specify which taxes would change. She emphasized that the budget would not be balanced on the backs of working people. Her chairs will begin working with the budget director immediately to review the financial outlook before she takes office in January.
She listed universal access to child care, utility affordability, and increased housing construction as primary goals. "I feel confident that we can deliver on universal access to child care," she said. She added that the administration aims to rein in utility companies to lower costs for residents and to make it easier to build more homes.
Lewis George will remain a member of the D.C. Council until her swearing-in ceremony in January 2027.
