Janeese Lewis George gives victory speech on election night

And thank you for being willing to serve alongside me. All of us tonight, but thank you for your tireless efforts and voter protection and training. The D.C. Democratic Party is just getting started. What a great night for Democrats, am I right? I also want to thank the poll workers and the Board of Elections staff. I've been working tirelessly to ensure Washingtonians could cast their ballots. Thank you for protecting one of the most sacred rights we have in our country and our democracy. Every donor that gave, every volunteer, this night is yours. Sisters in the labor movement, when we fight, And to the 72 organizations that endorsed me and gave it their all, we did it. My husband, Kyle, the first gentleman of D.C., boy, Pierce James, thank you for sharing in the silent work that goes unnoticed when running for office and serving. I love you all. Tonight, I stand before you as your mayor-elect. Our country is navigating a defining season in its history as working-class people fight to afford to live and prove that democracy works when we put people first. In D.C., we know something about fighting for our democracy right here. Tonight, we are living proof that you don't have to choose between loving your city and fighting to make it better. For too long we have asked for a DC we can all afford, and we got excuses. Ask for solutions, and we got half measures. Again and again, we were told government doesn't work like that, that's impossible. But to paraphrase James Baldwin, impossible is the least we can demand. Because the history of this city, our people testifies to nothing less than perpetual achievement of the impossible. DC, let me remind you that we answered Jim Crow by making U Street into Black Broadway. Thank you so much for joining us. We'll see you next week. . . . We demanded the vote for president and we won. . . . . We organized and we demanded the right to home rule . . . . . and we won. It's the story of our people, of our DC. . . . . . . . A daughter of a union postal worker, . . . . . . the granddaughter of an Alice Steele lunch lady, . the great-granddaughter of a domestic worker, whose birthday would be today can grow up to be the mayor of her hometown from student representative on the board of education to youth mayor of Washington DC to the mayor elect of Washington DC people who fight for ourselves for our families and for the lasting dignity of all of our communities in all eight wards of this city people who live here Just look at the people around you, who you've organized with, who you've fought alongside to make this city better. When I think of our people, I think of people like Shakita McBroom. She's the Tenant Association President at Congress Park. She's lived in her apartment for 11 years. And for 11 years, she's been calling. Calling about the floors coming apart under her. Calling about the security that keeps slipping away. Calling about squirrels living inside her neighbor's walls. Shakita for 11 years of calls and too many of them went nowhere. Now, here's what I want you to understand about her. She didn't stop. She knocked on her neighbor's doors. She organized her building. She turned the frustration of her neighbors and her communities and fighting for her seniors and the children there into a tenant association that harnessed power of the people. It's leadership, and we honor it. And we know so many people who hold that same leadership and that same strength. I didn't run for mayor to keep applauding how hard our people have to fight and how good we can fight. I ran for mayor so that government will fight for you. Thank you. Tonight, our campaign ends. Tomorrow, our work begins. You see, that's it. You see, this was never just about an election. This was a declaration, a declaration that working people deserve a government that works as hard as they do. A declaration that this government belongs to the people. A declaration that nobody in this city should ever have to fight alone. So as we build a people-first government, we'll be accountable to every story we heard along the way. Shakita and her neighbors at Congress Park Accountable to the seniors at the Wallock House in Chinatown, watching their neighborhood change without them. Accountable to the students who spent their spring break picking up trash with us in Marshall House and declared, we are sick and tired of black youth being demonized in this city. Third spaces, we want opportunity, we want jobs, we want examples, we want love. I'm accountable to Carol. A worker in this city who keeps this city clean as a sanitation worker and still can't afford to live in it. It's a new day in D.C. one where we don't make excuses and we don't retreat. A D.C. where we don't give in to the apathy or leave each other behind. We are each other's business. We will make government work for the people. We will treat the people who work for the government with the respect they deserve. Our government workers show up hard every single day, give of their time and their livelihood, and they deserve to be respected and paid as such. Make childcare affordable and within reach. We will expand community solar and hold utility companies accountable. We will build excellent schools in every ward in this city. We deserve nothing less than the best. We will lower costs for tenants and build more homes and better homes for all of us. We will pick up the trash, plow the snow, eliminate the rats, make it easier to open a small business, easier to keep it open. We will connect Washingtonians to good jobs and make sure they're paid every cent they're owed. We will make our communities safer and safety would be a priority every single day for our people and we will invest in our people when they need it most. We will defend our families, immigrant families in a sanctuary city, protect our local autonomy and we will win D.C. statehood. We will take care of our most precious, we will take care of our seniors and we will take care of our young people. And when we take care of them, watch how our city grows. And guess what, DC? We aren't starting from scratch either. Mayor Walter Washington, our first elected mayor under home rule, provided and proved that this city could govern itself. Mayor for life, Marion Barry, awarded a belief in the people of DC. He believed that every young person needed an opportunity and wanted an opportunity ought to have one. That our young people deserve summer jobs, a paycheck, and somebody who believes in their potential. Mayor Anthony Williams helped put our city's finances back on solid ground and laid the foundation for a stronger DC. Mayor Vincent Gray taught us to see ourselves as one city. and led the fight for universal pre-k and full brief and four and Mayor Muriel Bowser guided this city through a global pandemic who stood up for this community and made sure that we moved DC forward. Every generation of leadership has had its assignment. Every generation has had to meet its moments and tonight you that voted to pass the torch to our generation. Four years talking about what can't be done, not so we can settle for what has always been, but so we can take everything that this city has built, learn from where we have fallen short, and carry this work forward. Because it's our turn. Our generation loves D.C. We want to raise our families in D.C. We want to grow old in D.C. And we're ready to pour everything we've got Into this city we call home. So remember this, we're not the one making history tonight. We are. None of us are naive, and neither are you. Anyone who has ever organized a workplace or a building or a neighborhood knows that no victory is ever final. Our vision will face doubters. Our legislation will face roadblocks. Our city will face threats to its autonomy. There will always be another fight, y'all. And another campaign. And just like I did not win this race alone, I'm going to need all of you rested and ready for the next one. Ancestors call, ready to do the unfinished work. But together, no one can bully us. Together, no one can intimidate us. Together, we will govern with dignity and determination and with the unwavering faith that when the people remember their power, there is nothing they cannot do together. So here's what happens next. We don't wait for January. We keep doing exactly what got us here. Listening in every ward the way we did all fall. Because the people's government doesn't stop listening when the votes are counted and when the doors stop being knocked. That's when it listens harder and more closely and more intimately and shows up for every single person in this city. And so I want to make it clear today that I'll be the mayor of Ward 1 from Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street to the front stoops of Columbia Heights. I will be the mayor of Ward 2 from Georgetown to Chinatown. The mayor of Ward 3 from Cleveland Park to Tenleytown and the Palisades. I will be the mayor of Ward 4, the ward that first sent me to the to Tacoma. The mayor of Ward 5 from Union Market to the row houses of Brooklyn and Trinidad. From Eastern Market to the high rises of Navy Yard and the Southwest Waterfront. of ward seven. This is in Congress Heights, corner office, bus drive, the business owner, here for five generations and the family that got here just five weeks ago. Every block, every family, no exceptions, because that's what it means to put people first. So tonight, we celebrate. We turn up some go-go and we dance, and in the morning, we go to work. I promise you this. As long as I'm your mayor, you won't ever have to fight alone. You say one city, eight wards, one city. And when I say free, you say D.C., free, D.C., D.C., I love you, thank you.