The following report was given to the CPUSA National Committee by the leadership of the District of Columbia on October 11, 2025.

Since we last gathered, the District of Columbia’s economic and political crisis has become more acute. In early August, Trump declared a “crime emergency” in the District, invoking a large surge of federal law enforcement. In addition, seven Republican-led states sent in their National Guard at Trump’s request to militarily occupy the city. Since the emergency ended, the District’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has directed local police to continue to collaborate indefinitely with federal law enforcement, leading to the continuation of ICE raids, arrests of Black youth for fare evasion or being in curfew zones. The National Guard remains on our streets armed and in uniform.

The fightback has been strong from D.C.’s residents, with over 80% disapproving of the military occupation of the District. The Free DC project, a campaign to defend the district’s limited home rule, has organized nearly 30,000 residents into its network and held a massive rally and march in early September in coalition with immigrant rights organizations and labor unions. 20,000 people participated. “Free D.C.” is now a slogan being shouted all across the country, in solidarity with the 700,000 residents who have long been denied full citizenship and representation.

Neighborhoods have organized community ICE watch strollers, who monitor immigration and federal law enforcement activity — learning directly from the experiences in Los Angeles. Our comrades in D.C. have been deeply involved with all of these efforts. Furthermore, the MAGA-led Congress and White House has introduced several bills and executive orders to charge youth as adults, intensify collaboration between local and federal authorities on immigration, and to reinstate the death penalty. These moves need to be blocked at every step and we need as much solidarity as possible from party districts across the country. Our ask is that you buy a Free DC shirt and wear it to engage in conversation about why we want a “Free D.C.” Organize local collectives that can engage your congressmembers at their local offices on why they should not interfere with D.C.’s local affairs, since we do not have representation.

Elections are beginning to heat up, with a major shakeup likely to take place in our local government. Two council members have announced their intentions to replace our longest serving nonvoting congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who is the oldest in Congress at the age of 88. Many are urging her to step aside and let someone younger take the mantle. More city-wide frustration is building against Mayor Bowser’s leadership and handling of Trump’s occupation of the district, especially given the fightback from other Black mayors from around the country. Brandon Johnson in Chicago, for example, is making efforts to protect his residents. A challenger has yet to rise for the occasion to challenge Bowser’s reign. Many progressives are urging Socialist Councilwoman Janeese Lewis George to throw her hat in the ring, especially given that D.C. will have ranked choice voting for the 2026 elections. Furthermore, the Working Families Party in D.C is being revived on the basis of the struggle against the occupation and strengthening the local government. The Party is working in coalition with other forces, like DSA, to build an independent ballot line in the District outside of the Democratic Party.

In addition, part of the struggle outside of the elections and street fights is the struggle for the dignity of the African American community and the fight against racism. Since March, over 300,000 Black women have been removed from work, due to cuts in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) efforts and in federal jobs. The D.C. metropolitan area has the most wealth per capita of African Americans in the United States due to federal jobs. The Trump administration has been on a full fascist offensive to remove Black people from government and stable jobs. The private sector has also taken note by joining the anti-DEI fray and is dropping DEI programs enacted during the George Floyd uprising in 2020. In March, the Black faith community in D.C. organized a coalition to join the national effort in boycotting Target. The club, in coalition with these partners, has been picketing the largest Target store in D.C. for over 28 weeks, raising consciousness of the boycott in the Columbia Heights neighborhood.

Furthermore, D.C. organized labor has played an important role in all of the struggles mentioned. The central labor council in D.C. is playing a leading role in the Free D.C. Project. They have united large sections of the labor and community movements for a massive Labor Day weekend march. In the fightback against federal layoffs, the Federal Unionists Network (FUN) has begun campaigns to stop reorganization of key agencies like USDA. FUN is organizing a Labor Notes training to better organize the federal locals who have had difficulties in organizing their membership against these attacks. Just last night, there was a “late night massacre” removing thousands of federal workers as a MAGA response to the Democrats holding the line on the government shutdown. The CDC was hit the hardest. Additionally, Unite Here Local 25 has organized a section of large restaurants in the district without union recognition from the owner Stephen Starr. In response, Local 25 has called for a boycott of all of the Starr restaurants in D.C.

The Party District has played a key role in these resistance efforts, countering the MAGA administration, coordinating the boycott movement, and engaging on several issues within the labor movement, including the genocide in Gaza. We aim to continue our work in building a mass fightback movement in our neighborhoods, in our workplaces, and on our campuses to quell the offensive of this fascist project from the White House.

Images: Free DC demonstration by the Free DC project / billleephotography (Facebook).