GDS parent and former Board member Kenyan McDuffie stepped down from his role as an at-large D.C. councilmember on Jan. 5, positioning himself to run for D.C. mayor.
Over the past month, news outlets such as The Washington Post and NBC Washington have speculated about whether McDuffie will run for mayor in the upcoming election. In an interview with the Bit, McDuffie said he is discussing whether to run with his family.
McDuffie served as councilmember for Ward 5 from 2012 to 2023. He began his term as an at-large D.C. councilmember in January of 2023.
Current D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser will step down after the upcoming 2026 election. Bowser served three consecutive terms as mayor. If McDuffie succeeds Bowser, his term will begin in January of 2027.
The D.C. Office of Campaign Finance lists 11 candidates who have announced that they are running for mayor. Some candidates, like Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, do not show up on the site because they have announced their candidacy but have not yet submitted their paperwork.
McDuffie said he believes the city is currently at an impasse between the local government and the challenges imposed by the federal government. “We are at a seminal moment given the challenges that we are experiencing as a city, with decisions happening at the federal level that are really negatively affecting Washington, D.C,” he said.
“The real decisions that are happening on the federal side are causing families to be torn apart because of the federal immigration enforcement,” McDuffie said.
McDuffie has two daughters, Kesi McDuffie ’25 and sophomore Jozi McDuffie. “It is truly a joy to have our kids attend a school that has been a leader around diversity, equity and inclusion; social justice; and civil rights since its founding,” McDuffie said.
McDuffie said he was not concerned about voters’ opinions on his decision to send his daughters to a private school rather than to a D.C. public school. “I’ll leave it [up] to the people who vote to decide what they judge candidates on, but I will never play politics with my kids’ education.”
Senior Leo Johnson-Goldfrank said McDuffie was representative of GDS’ history with political involvement. “I think [McDuffie’s potential candidacy] shows how committed we are as a school to making D.C. and this country as a whole a better place,” Johnson-Goldfrank said.
Although McDuffie has not officially announced whether he will run for mayor, he said he hopes to continue his work as a public servant even after stepping down from the D.C. Council. “By no means am I finished with my work in the fight to really expand opportunities in the District of Columbia,” McDuffie said. McDuffie said one way he fought to make D.C. more accessible to people of low socioeconomic backgrounds was by introducing the 2021 Child Wealth Building Act, which provides annual funding for children in low-income families.
McDuffie said he plans to continue to fight the cooperation between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations to make quality-of-life improvements for D.C. residents. “Our immigrant population in Washington, D.C. is woven into the fabric of everything that we do, and they deserve to live free of fear like anybody else in this city,” McDuffie said.
History teacher Patrick Scallen, who teaches 9th-grade D.C. history, said he hopes D.C.’s next mayor will fight against federal immigration enforcement. “I want to see a mayor who is gonna be more vocal in rejecting the Trump administration’s incursions into Washington, D.C., especially the presence of federal law enforcement officials that has been ubiquitous in the city for the past six months or so,” Scallen said.
“As a councilman, he’s been very committed to the betterment of the D.C. community,” Johnson-Goldfrank said. “I think he’d be a great mayor.”
Candidates for mayor can submit nominating petitions to officially join the race starting on Jan. 23. The D.C. Board of Elections will finalize the list of candidates on March 18.