{"id":69168,"date":"2026-03-17T07:55:55","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:55:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/dem-mayoral-forum-goes-off-the-rails-as-race-heats-up-to-replace-longtime-incumbent\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T07:55:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:55:55","slug":"dem-mayoral-forum-goes-off-the-rails-as-race-heats-up-to-replace-longtime-incumbent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/17\/dem-mayoral-forum-goes-off-the-rails-as-race-heats-up-to-replace-longtime-incumbent\/","title":{"rendered":"Dem mayoral forum goes off the rails as race heats up to replace longtime incumbent"},"content":{"rendered":"

A forum featuring Democratic candidates for Washington, D.C. mayor<\/a> descended into chaos on Saturday as frontrunners Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George traded barbs over recent increases to utility pricing made by the Public Service Commission (PSC).<\/p>\n

“Every single time she had the opportunity to vote against the public service commissioners, she voted yes \u2014 not once but twice,” McDuffie, a former chairman of the D.C. Council, said.<\/p>\n

The PSC, an independent agency,<\/a> sets prices for utilities like gas, electricity and heating. The D.C. Council maintains oversight authority over the PSC but doesn\u2019t directly manage its activities, according to their website.<\/p>\n

Instead, the council confirms appointments for the group.<\/p>\n

DC MAYOR FIRES BACK AT HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE OVER ‘POLITICALLY MOTIVATED’ CRIME STATISTICS REPORT<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Recently, the PSC approved a $33.4 million increase in overall revenue that it estimated<\/a> would increase gas bills for D.C. residents by $11.24 a month, according a press release from the group.<\/p>\n

Lewis George, a councilmember of Ward 4,<\/a> the northernmost part of D.C., shot back at McDuffie\u2019s attempts to tie her to the PSC\u2019s changes.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ve never voted \u2014 he\u2019s been the chair,” she said. “He\u2019s been the chair. Let\u2019s speak about it.”<\/p>\n

McDuffie doubled down as the crowd of attendees began to grow restless.<\/p>\n

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“Do not fall for the banana in the tailpipe. It\u2019s about leadership.<\/a> It\u2019s about results,” McDuffie shouted.<\/p>\n

The flurry of accusations and shouting unraveled the event as McDuffie momentarily stormed off the stage and attendees at the event joined in the chorus of yelling accusations.<\/p>\n

In an attempt to restore order, one of the moderators urged the candidates and voters<\/a> to calm down.<\/p>\n

“Everybody \u2014 we not going to do this in the house of the Lord, cause I will start cussing,” the moderator shouted.<\/p>\n

The tumultuous forum comes amid the race to replace outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser,<\/a> who has held the role for 10 years.<\/p>\n

BOWSER ENDS DECADE-LONG REIGN AS D.C. MAYOR AFTER 3 TERMS IN OFFICE, WON\u2019T SEEK FOURTH<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

McDuffie has centered his campaign around affordability and safety.<\/a> Lewis George, who has described herself as a democratic socialist, has stressed access to education, childcare and increased accountability for D.C. police. The pair will face off in a June 16 primary alongside a crowd of other office hopefuls.<\/p>\n

The general election is set for November 8.<\/p>\n

Fox News Digital reached out to McDuffie and Lewis George for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A forum featuring Democratic candidates for Washington, D.C. mayor descended into chaos on Saturday as frontrunners Kenyan McDuffie and Janeese Lewis George traded barbs over recent increases to utility pricing made by the Public Service Commission (PSC). “Every single time she had the opportunity to vote against the public service commissioners, she voted yes \u2014 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-69168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69168\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}