Janeese Lewis George holds a slim lead over Kenyan McDuffie, according to our poll. But one in four voters is still undecided, and Lewis George’s 39-to-35 lead may not hold up once second choice votes are factored in under D.C.’s new ranked-choice voting system. Which is just to say: It’s going to be a wild month, both before the June 16 election and afterwards, when the ranked-choice tabulations start.

What’s almost as interesting as the poll results is the novel kind of coalition politics propelling both candidates. According to our results, the younger, better-educated, and newer to D.C. you are, the more likely you are to support Lewis George. McDuffie, on the other hand, holds an edge among Black voters, older Washingtonians, and people without a college degree.

This suggests the old D.C. habit of viewing political divides through a racial prism may not be right for 2026. Both candidates, in fact, have multiracial bases. The real chasm may be age: Where McDuffie leads by 27 points among baby boomers and older, Lewis George is preferred by 24 points among Gen Z and 19 percent among millennials.

That’s especially true among white D.C.ers. Those under 46 support Lewis George by 28 points; those above 46 prefer McDuffie by 22 points. It’s a much smaller divide among Black voters. Likewise, people who said they had grown up in D.C. prefer McDuffie by 17 points; people who moved to town in the past decade favor Lewis George by a whopping 42 points.

It all makes D.C.’s other big election, for nonvoting Congressional Delegate, look anticlimactic. According to our poll, D.C. Councilmember Robert White holds a 38-21 lead over colleague Brooke Pinto. White is strongest among the same younger progressives who back Lewis George — but is doing a lot better with many of the demographics who support McDuffie.

Guac ‘Em Up! McDuffie did a photo op in front of the Navy Yard Chipotle where a massive brawl broke out over the weekend. The brawl has become right-wing social-media fodder; U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro has called in the FBI. That’s dangerous company for a Democratic candidate, but McDuffie — whose campaign has focused more and more on public safety — used it as a chance to slam Lewis George for opposing youth curfews. Lewis George responded that McDuffie was a hypocrite because he once opposed curfews, too. Related: WAMU’s Alex Koma reports out a piece on the criminal justice pasts of the two candidates, finding that their views were once fairly similar.

Negative Ads Arrive. Lewis George is on the air personally narrating a TV spot that hits McDuffie for taking “thousands of dollars from Pepco, lobbyists, big out of state developers, corporations, and even Trump donors.” It’s a major theme for her campaign — but still rare for a candidate to go negative in their own voice.

Museum Morass. The bill to create the Smithsonian American Women's History Museum on the National Mall has overwhelming bipartisan support and sponsors from across the aisle. But even if it passes, it might not lead to the museum supporters want. An amendment quietly added to the bill last month would allow Donald Trump to select a new site if he wants. “A museum about women, fought for and supported by women, should not be controlled by one man,” thundered U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes, a longtime supporter who has vowed to oppose the bill.

Potomac Fever Hasn’t Broken. Residents of Glen Echo, the tony Montgomery County neighborhood along the Potomac, had a message for local leaders at a town hall meeting nearly six months after the sewage leak: The river still stinks! “I always open the window and it’s putrid!,” one neighbor said, according to WTOP. A Maryland Department of the Environment official had a less-than-convincing response: “Overall bacteria levels, specifically e-coli, are very very low in the water column,” he said.

Coming Next to Hill East: Jail. D.C. is seeking bids for a new jail building as it looks to redevelop the Central Detention Facility whose grim living conditions are the rare issue that has united MAGA loyalists (detained there after January 6) and District progressives. The project could eventually cost more than $1.5 billion.

Finally: The Social Security Administration released its annual list of the most popular baby names by state. In D.C., the top boys' names were Noah, Theodore, Henry, Liam, and William. The top girls’ names were Emma, Sophia, Charlotte, Lucy, and Zoe.

Did someone forward you this email? To subscribe, visit https://dc.citycast.fm/newsletter

While most of our poll focused on the big issues facing Washington, like affordability, crime, and the effect of Trump-era federal cuts, we made room for some weird questions too. The logic: In an age when your lifestyle and cultural tastes affect your politics, maybe we could learn something by asking people what football team they support or how they commute to work?

Here’s a sampling.

First: Bike commuters favor Lewis George far more than McDuffie.

But McDuffie holds the lead among Commanders fans.