Trump says federal government should 'take over' local politics in DC

President Donald Trump said he was thinking about taking over local politics in the District of Columbia, a move that’d reignite controversy about the authority of the nation’s capital city to govern itself.

“The federal government should take over the governance of D.C. and run it really, really properly,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Wednesday. “We should run it strong, run it with law and order, make it absolutely flawless.”

Trump has toyed with the idea of overtaking local politics since his first term, but this desire has intensified in recent years following a massive post-pandemic crime wave that has since cooled. In 2023, homicides surged to a decades-long peak of 273 cases, though this figure dipped by 32 percent in 2024, according toD.C. police data. Trump has also cast homelessness in D.C. — which has modestly increased in recent years but still remains below pre-pandemic levels — as a choke point for the local government.

These issues prompted Trump to deride the city as one of “filth” and “decay” in a rare trip to the District in between his two terms in August 2023, in which he pleaded not guilty to four counts to overturn the 2020 elections.

Trump has several means to reshape local politics in Washington, unique to the city in a way a president cannot influence individual states. Congress — with the signoff of the president — can undercut the District’s political machinery by rejecting bills the city council puts forward and proposing their own. And if Congress and the president are aligned, they could even undo a 1970s-era law called the Home Rule Act which allows the nation’s capital to largely govern itself by electing its own mayor and city council.

“I get along great with the mayor,” Trump said Wednesday. “They’re not doing the job — too much crime, too much graffiti, too many tents on the lawns.”

Republicans in Congress have tried to override Home Rule for years, but these efforts have been toothless because of Democratic opposition in Congress or the White House. And even when Republicans gained control of the House and Senate during Trump’s first term, he didn’t follow through on his threats to reform the city, including one that would have allowed him to overtake agencies like the local police.

This time, a reenergized Trump is now saying he wants to tighten his grip on the capital city. And allies in Congress have already proposed legislation looking to undo the Home Rule Act.

Eliminating home rule — or even more actively rejecting individual pieces of city legislation — would drastically alter the power balance of the local and federal government. About two years ago, Congress blocked local efforts to decrease crime penalties, marking the first time in three decades that Capitol Hill officials successfully nixed local laws. (Congress has also passed riders blocking commercial sales of recreational marijuana in the city.)

Any move from the Trump administration to overtake the District would almost certainly inflame city residents, and Democrats more broadly, who have complained about the city’s governing structure. Many District residents and politicians have advocated for statehood, which would give Washington full representation in Congress and more autonomy from the federal government.

“I’m the duly elected mayor of the District of Columbia and the lawful CEO of the District of Columbia,” Mayor Muriel Bowser said Thursday about Trump’s latest remarks. “That’s just an unnecessary distraction.”

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