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Trump looms large over upcoming primary elections in Washington, DC

Washington residents head to pivotal primaries on June 16 to select candidates for Mayor and congressional Delegate, with Council Members Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie vying to replace Mayor Muriel Bowser and Robert White and Brooke Pinto competing to succeed Eleanor Holmes Norton.
The District faces a fraught relationship with the federal government, with limited autonomy squeezed under President Donald Trump, who deployed the National Guard on an open-ended crime-fighting mission last year and imposed major federal workforce cuts.
About 3,500 troops currently occupy the city, a number expected to climb to 5,000 as the 250th anniversary celebrations approach; Trump claims his intervention made Washington "one of the safest" cities, though residents face economic pressure from federal reductions.
Candidate Brooke Pinto warned that self-governance has "never been a true reality" for the District, noting that Republican Congress could easily impose a federal control board over the mayor.
This election represents a "big sea change" for the city, according to professor Amanda Huron; the delegate position grants the nearly 700,000 residents their only voice in Congress, making this race critical as Norton concludes her tenure.

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