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Like 90 percent of her constituents, Mayor Muriel Bowser cast her Clinton-Kaine ticket yesterday, only to have to reckon with the unfathomable alternate reality. Still, the mayor managed to congratulate president-elect Donald Trump during a press conference this afternoon and said she plans to attend his inauguration.
Listening to President Barack Obama’s remarks earlier today, Bowser said was “heartened to hear” him say, “keep your heads up” because that’s the same thing she told her team, she said. While she’s an “unabashed supporter” of Hillary Clinton and the values that her campaign represented, including “the promise that it would help break a final glass ceiling in our country,” Bowser said, “the people have spoken.”
As such, D.C. is kicking into full gear preparing for the presidential inauguration.The Metropolitan Police Department is coordinating with more than 3,000 law enforcement personnel from across the country, in addition to more than 7,000 national guardsmen for the swearing-in ceremony, said Christopher Geldart, director of D.C.’s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency.
Other preparations are already taking place, including construction around the White House and Capitol, the Washington Post reported earlier this week.
“I encourage everyone to begin planning now for the inauguration,” Geldart said, whether that’s finding out about charter bus parking rules, vending licenses, or alcohol permits.
While D.C. came out overwhelmingly in favor of a statehood referendum, getting it enacted was always a long shot. With Trump’s election, and Republican control of the legislature, it is all but certainly off the table.
“The Congress and White House isn’t looking exactly the way we want it to look,” D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson acknowledged at the press conference.
Still, the New Columbia Statehood Commission says they’re pressing forward. “I am not giving up, there’s still a path forward,” said Shadow Senator Paul Strauss, who first greeted members of the press with a pro-statehood statement from vice president-elect Mike Pence, when he “rose as one of the few Republicans to support what was then our house voting rights act” in 2007.
With a couple months to gain more support, the city needs to ramp up its efforts to educate the nation “about what we need to achieve full equality for the people of the District of Columbia,” Bowser said.
And that’s going to take money, said Shadow Senator Michael Brown. “If we can spend $2 million on a streetcar line, we can spend some money promoting D.C. statehood.”
Meanwhile, the city will also now have to assess what’s known about Trump’s agenda, from healthcare to infrastructure, to see what it means for D.C. residents.
Bowser said she found common ground in Trump’s acceptance speech about rebuilding the country’s infrastructure. This could be an opportunity to get funding for D.C.’s Metro system “that carries federal employees,” as well as crumbling bridges, and national parks, she said.
Though the mayor didn’t take part in the grand opening festivities for the Trump International Hotel, Bowser said she will indeed attend inauguration. “I will be participating in the inauguration—I’m the mayor of the District and I will represent the District.”
And while she’s taken issue with Trump’s description of inner cities. If he wants to do better, Bowser said, “he should start with his new hometown.”
