Muriel Bowser
Muriel Elizabeth Bowser is an American politician who has served as the mayor of the District of Columbia since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously represented the 4th ward as a member of the Council of the District of Columbia from 2007 to 2015. She is the second female mayor of the District of Columbia after Sharon Pratt. Since taking office in 2015, she has secured three consecutive mayoral victories—the first African‑American woman to do so.
Elected to the Advisory Neighborhood Commission in 2004, Bowser was elected to the council in a special election in 2007 and re-elected in 2008 and 2012. She was elected mayor in 2014 after defeating incumbent Vincent C. Gray in the Democratic primary. Bowser was re-elected in 2018 and in 2022. Bowser declined to run for re-election in 2026.
Early life and education
Muriel Bowser was the youngest of six children of Joe and Joan Bowser. Her father was a D.C.-based public advocate who worked as a public servant and employee in D.C.-area schools. Bowser was born in Washington, D.C., and grew up in North Michigan Park in northeast D.C. In 1990, she graduated from Elizabeth Seton High School, a private all-girls Catholic high school located in Bladensburg, Maryland. She received a college scholarship because of her above average grades. Bowser graduated from Chatham College in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a bachelor's degree in history, and she graduated from the American University School of Public Affairs with a Master in Public Policy degree. According to Bowser, she never envisioned herself as an elected politician, but possibly an appointed agency administrator.Political career (2004–2014)
Advisory Neighborhood Commission
Bowser began her political career in 2004, running unopposed for the Advisory Neighborhood Commission. She represented district 4B09, which includes the neighborhood of Riggs Park. She was unopposed again in 2006 when she ran for re-election.Council of the District of Columbia
2007 election
, member of the Council of the District of Columbia representing Ward 4, ran for mayor of the District of Columbia. Bowser was his campaign coordinator for Ward 4. When Fenty was elected mayor in 2006, a special election was called to fill his council seat. Bowser, among many others, announced her candidacy.While an ANC commissioner, Bowser had voted in favor of a zoning variance for a condominium development to be built by a developer who had contributed several hundred dollars to her campaign, which some critics derided as a conflict of interest. Bowser maintained that she had supported the development project before running for council.
The editorial page of The Washington Post favored Bowser in the election. The local councils of the AFL–CIO, Service Employees International Union, and the Fraternal Order of Police also endorsed Bowser in the election, but the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees endorsed her opponent, Michael A. Brown.
Bowser won the special election with 40% of the vote.
2008 election
In 2008, Bowser announced her reelection campaign for the council. Three people ran against her in the Democratic primary: Baruti Akil Jahi, former president of the Shepherd Park Citizens Association; Malik Mendenhall-Johnson, then serving as Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner of 4B04; and Paul E. Montague, who had been Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner of 4B07 before being recalled in 2004.No candidates' names were on the ballot for the Republican or D.C. Statehood Green primaries. The Washington Posts editorial department endorsed Bowser's candidacy. The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club also voted to endorse her reelection.
Bowser won the Democratic Party primary election, receiving 75% of the votes. Jahi received 19%, Montague received 3%, and Mendenhall-Johnson received 2%. With no one else appearing on the subsequent general election ballot, Bowser won the general election with 97% of the vote.
In 2011, Bowser was appointed to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority board of governors, a position she held until 2015.
2012 election
Bowser ran for reelection in 2012. She said she would accept donations from corporations. Candidate Max Skolnik criticized Bowser for receiving campaign contributions from developers, corporate bundlers, and lobbyists, saying that she would favor the interests of these corporate donors. She said she was not in favor of banning corporations from making political donations altogether, saying that doing so would make it more difficult to track where campaign donations come from. She also said that corporations are banned from donating to federal elections, but that corporations still find ways to give to campaigns.Bowser's candidacy was endorsed by the editorial boards of The Washington Post recognizing her qualifications and vision for the district. She was also endorsed by the Washington City Paper. Bowser would go on to win the Democratic primary with 66% of the vote, to Renee L. Bowser's 13%, Max Skolnik's 9%, Baruti Jahi's 5%, Judi Jones' 3%, and Calvin Gurley's 2%. Unopposed in the general election, she was elected with 97% of the vote.
2014 election
On March 23, 2013, Bowser announced that she would run for Mayor of the District of Columbia in the 2014 election. Her campaign's chair was former council member William Lightfoot.Bowser emphasized that she could connect with longtime residents concerned about the rapid changes occurring in the district, while still celebrating the changes. She disdained business-as-usual and corruption in the District's government. She favored free Metro fares for students. She was against increasing the minimum wage only for employees of large retailers. Bowser was criticized for being too inexperienced for the position, with too few legislative accomplishments while on the council, and for having a platform that was short on details. She limited the number of debates by only agreeing to participate after the field of candidates had been set, which postponed the first debate until August.
Bowser was endorsed by EMILY's List and the editorial board of The Washington Post. She won the Democratic mayoral primary election with 43% of the vote. To raise funds for her campaign she accepted contributions in excess of legal limits, for which she was fined after winning the election. Lightfoot, Bowser's campaign chairman, called the excess campaign contributions mistakes and said the mayor was accepting responsibility and would not appeal the fines.
In the general election, Bowser was on the ballot with Independents David Catania, Nestor Djonkam and Carol Schwartz, D.C. Statehood Green Faith Dane and Libertarian Bruce Majors. No Republican filed. Bowser won the election with 80,824 votes to Catania's 35% and Schwartz's 7%, and took office on January 2, 2015.
Mayor of the District of Columbia
Animal control
In 2017, Bowser proposed several animal regulations, including a ban on backyard chickens, a requirement that all cats be licensed, and a provision that seemed to outlaw leaving dog feces in private yards for more than 24 hours. Following public backlash, the city administrator clarified that "this is not a war on pets" and the proposals were withdrawn. Later the same year, the Department of Health began to enforce an existing law banning dogs from outdoor bar patios. Following public objections, the D.C. Council changed the law to allow business owners to decide whether or not to allow dogs.Arts and culture
Though expressing support for the arts community, Bowser's actions regarding the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities were met with controversy.Asserting legal authority that was questioned by the D.C. Council, in 2019 her administration took control of the art collection owned by the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities and sought to bring the organization under her control. Her power struggle saw staff of the Commission locked out of their jobs without warning. Bowser used her third ever veto to block legislation that would have preserved the independence of the organization, which also provides grants to hundreds of artists.
Autonomous vehicles
In February 2018, Bowser announced the formation of a work group, with members drawn from various agencies, to explore the benefits of, and prepare the district for autonomous vehicle technology. The city and the Southwest Business Improvement District were also exploring possibilities for a pilot shuttle program along 10th Street, S.W., possibly to supplement an existing service that connects visitors to popular District destinations. A "Request for Information" was released to firms with expertise in autonomous vehicle development.Budgeting
Bowser released the first budget of her second term in March 2019. The budget increased spending by 8.2% though revenue growth was expected around 3%. D.C. auditor Kathy Patterson said the budget was not sustainable and fiscally irresponsible. Bowser responded by hailing her plan to make the DC Circulator free of charge.On multiple occasions, D.C. government agencies under Bowser's authority and led by her appointees lost millions in federal money because deadlines were missed. Over the course of Bowser's first administration, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development offered the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development millions for lead remediation of its aging housing supply. The DHCD target of remediating lead paint in 225 homes was not met, federal grant money was not spent, and eventually the program closed.
In 2019, local organizations providing assistance to at risk populations missed out in $3.75 million when the responsible D.C. Government body failed to submit a timely application. Eleanor Holmes Norton and other D.C. officials pleaded with federal authorities to grant D.C. leniency so that local programs including Reading Partners D.C., The Literacy Lab, and City Year D.C. could receive funding.