Local government officials and civil rights groups said they are preparing for the possibility that President-elect Donald Trump and a new Republican congressional majority will interfere with the District’s right to self-govern.
Several times during his 2024 campaign, Trump vowed to “take over” D.C. to “clean it up” and reduce crime, claiming Mayor Muriel Bowser has “horribly run” the nation’s capital during her tenure. Trump and the Republican majority in the House of Representatives and Senate have the power to wield broad authority over D.C.’s law enforcement, limit access to abortion and cannabis and replace the District’s elected officials and nonpartisan federal workers with Republican appointees, according to federal law.
“Republicans will reassert greater federal control over Washington, D.C. to restore law and order in our capital city, and ensure federal buildings and monuments are well-maintained,” Trump’s campaign platform states.
The federal government retains ultimate authority over D.C. because it is not a state, deriving its self-governance powers through the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973. While the bill allows the District an elected mayor and legislature, Congress must review and approve or block D.C. laws, control its budget and can repeal the Home Rule Act under the Constitution’s Enclave Clause.
Congress has also delegated some of its constitutional authority over D.C. to the executive branch through laws like the Home Rule Act and the National Defense Authorization Act, granting the president oversight of federal law enforcement in D.C. and control of the D.C. National Guard.
Bowser said Tuesday that her administration has spent “many months” preparing in case the District has to “defend itself” from threats to its system of self-governance, or home rule, whereby D.C. residents elect the mayor and D.C. Council to govern the city.
“As your mayor, I have worked with three presidents, including President-elect Trump, and congressional leaders of both parties to advance the priorities of the District — infrastructure, housing affordability, downtown revitalization and our self-determination,” Bowser said in the letter.
Here are some ways Trump and congressional Republicans could exercise their authority in the District over the next two to four years:
Deploy National Guard, federalize police
Once sworn in as president, Trump has the power to take control of the Metropolitan Police Department for up to 30 days if he determines it necessary to manage an emergency, according to D.C. law.
Robinson Woodward-Burns, an associate professor of political science at Howard University, said Trump considered seizing control of the MPD to quell Black Lives Matter protests during his first term in 2020. Woodward-Burns said it is unclear how federalizing MPD — which no president has ever done — would affect policing crime in D.C. but that Trump could do so in an effort to “score points” in front of his Republican constituents.
Woodward-Burns said Trump could deputize the D.C. National Guard to act as law enforcement to curb crime in the District, which has dropped by about 15 percent this year after a 2023 spike. Trump deployed the D.C. National Guard to clear BLM protestors for a photo-op in front of St. John’s Episcopal Church in 2020, a move which sparked rebukes from local and state executives, congressional lawmakers, faith leaders and foreign governments.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.’s nonvoting delegate in Congress, said a second Trump presidency presents “risks” for the District — including to D.C. officials’ authority over MPD — because it lacks statehood and full control over its local government.
“During his first term as president, Trump considered federalizing D.C.’s police force for his own purposes,” Holmes Norton said in an email. “The first priority and responsibility of the D.C. Police must be to the residents of the District.”
Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission Chair Trupti Patel said Trump’s threats for a federal takeover of the District are “appalling” and that ANC commissioners should stand in solidarity with D.C.’s elected government to defend home rule. She said federalizing MPD may embolden officers to act in “extremely dangerous” ways.
“They’re going to be able to literally militarize and weaponize an entity that is supposed to keep communities safe,” Patel said.
Restrict access to abortion, cannabis
Under the Home Rule Act, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability reviews laws proposed by the D.C. government before they can become law.
Woodward-Burns said House Republicans can use this mechanism to make it more difficult for the District to receive federal funding for reproductive care. Trump in 2019 imposed and expanded a domestic gag rule attempting to cut federal Title X funding to organizations that perform or refer abortion services.
He said Trump could also impose more “stringent” regulations on cannabis in D.C. because cannabis is subject to federal criminal prohibition. While D.C. legalized recreational marijuana in 2015, Congress has continued to block the legalization of weed sales in the District.
Francesca McDaniel, the assistant vice president of policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood Metropolitan Washington, D.C., said the District’s stateless status makes the city vulnerable to federal anti-abortion policies and legislation.
She said PPMW is preparing for the new administration by “uplifting” D.C. organizations dedicated to protecting reproductive rights and home rule, like GW Reproductive Autonomy and Gender Equity, the D.C. Abortion Fund, ACLU and Neighbors United for D.C. Statehood.
“Please make sure that you’re taking care of yourself, that you’re not alone with these feelings,” McDaniel said. “It will be difficult, but it will not be impossible to fight back, and I think that’s important.”
Appoint D.C. officials, eliminate thousands of federal positions
Congress has the power to reinstate the D.C. Financial Control Board, an authority made up of economists and local leaders appointed by former President Bill Clinton to tackle the District’s economic struggles from 1995 to 2001.
Woodward-Burns said it is unlikely that Congress would pursue reinstating the Control Board because D.C.’s economy is not as bad as it was when the city faced a deficit of hundreds of millions of dollars. Republicans drafted the 1995 bill, backed by key congressional Democrats and Norton.
“While the board is on the books and would allow Congress broad authority over important things in the District, like its budget, D.C. is not in a state of financial insolvency, so it would be hard to justify,” Woodward-Burns said.
He said Congress can create a control board to regulate crime and policing, but that would be a “novel” idea. Trump in August 2023 called for a “federal takeover of this filthy and crime ridden embarrassment to our nation,” in reference to the District.
Patel also said Trump’s plan to fire and relocate thousands of federal workers would result in less money coming in to Foggy Bottom businesses that rely on their foot traffic. There are 300,000 federal workers concentrated in the D.C. metro area.
Trump plans to fire “rogue bureaucrats” and move up to 100,000 government positions out of D.C., according to his campaign platform. On Wednesday, Trump announced Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy would co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency intended to “dismantle government bureaucracy,” cut regulations and restructure federal agencies.
“This man will render thousands of people without a job overnight,” Patel said. “That also impacts D.C.’s ability to survive and weather economic storms.”
ACLU-D.C. Executive Director Monica Hopkins said firing federal civil servants would raise due process and First Amendment concerns if federal workers are fired because of their personal political views. Hopkins said the ACLU is preparing for the incoming administration by informing people of their First Amendment rights and working with legal advocacy experts, their nationwide affiliate network and millions of supporters to protect civil rights in the District.
“Together, we can meet this moment,” Hopkins said. “We can defend our values. We can assert our power. And we can build a more just and free D.C.”
