Washington, D.C., has a crime problem. As the editors of National Review put it last month (since which time figures have worsened):
D.C. police have reported 49 carjackings and nine homicides so far in the new year. In 2023, overall crime increased 26 percent over 2022. That includes major increases in property crime (24 percent), violent crime (39 percent), and motor-vehicle theft (82 percent). The city also saw more homicides in 2023 than in any year since 1997.
Crime has become so widespread and random that it can strike in seemingly safe places at seemingly secure times . . .
Now, things have gotten bad enough that Democrats in the overwhelmingly blue jurisdiction are beginning to turn on on one other over the issue. The New York Times reports on an effort to recall D.C. city councilman Charles Allen, described by the times as “a Democrat who has staunchly backed progressive criminal justice overhauls.” Allen represents Ward 6, which encompasses Capitol Hill and adjacent areas. One of the recall’s organizers is Tonya Fulkerson, an experienced Democratic operative who has had enough.
She’s not alone, in either her disgust or her political affiliation. The Times reports that other participants in the effort include Moses Mercado, a Barack Obama superdelegate, and Rich Masters, who worked for former Senator Mary Landrieu, a Louisiana Democrat. The politically one-sided nature of this fight has given a fascinating character to the arguments. Allen, himself a victim of crime, denies that the increase in crime is grounds to recall him. He and his supporters accuse recall organizers of playing into Donald Trump’s hands and of taking Republican money. Recall advocates counter by arguing that, by failing to address crime properly, their opponents are the ones playing into Trump’s hands by affirming his message that cities run by Democrats are spiraling out of control.
As a D.C. resident, I have a little too much at stake simply to sit back with some popcorn. Whatever happens to Allen, who is hardly the only Democrat in the city who is wrong about crime, it is heartening to see some Democrats getting mugged by reality. Especially if that’s what it takes to prevent them and all D.C. residents from getting mugged in reality.