If Gary Goodweather wins the Washington, D.C., 2026 mayoral election, he will become the District’s first Jewish mayor. But that doesn’t matter to the Democratic candidate, who said his primary focus is improving the nation’s capital.
“I am running because I fundamentally believe in service,” Goodweather told Washington Jewish Week.
He expects to run against multiple members of the city council — including Kenyan Duffie and Janeese Lewis George — and current Mayor Muriel Bowser, should she decide to pursue a fourth term in office.
Goodweather, 51, said he has what it takes to be a contender, having 30 years of experience in financial and operations management. After graduating from Bucknell University in Pennsylvania with his bachelor’s degree in political science and serving stints with the United States Army and National Guard, Goodweather worked in tenant representation for CBRE, a commercial real estate firm that serves the greater Washington area.
He’s also developed several hotels in D.C. and Virginia through a development startup company and served on the board of the business improvement district for Washington’s NoMa neighborhood.
“Over the past 30 years, I have worked with effectively every level of D.C. government,” he said. “I have led teams. And this is important because my view of leadership is, ‘It’s not just me.’”
A large button on his campaign site urges residents to “share [their] No. 1 issue,” exemplifying Goodweather’s willingness to hear from constituents. “I’m passionate about people,” he said.
Goodweather said he plans to use the city’s intellectual capital to create teams that bring the D.C. government to a “much higher level of competency.”
“I envision a city that actually works and serves its people, serves its residents and serves our community, and instead, I think what we’re experiencing is one that is just getting by — and in a lot of individual situations, it’s not even getting by,” Goodweather said. “I served our country, and now I want to serve our city.”
As evident from his campaign yard signs, his top three priorities are education, safety and prosperity. “They’re all interconnected,” he said. “You need to have one to have the other, and we have actionable ways to improve our education system, to create a truly safe city.”
The father of two said he believes every child in D.C. deserves a “great education.”
Goodweather aims to expand tutoring, make literacy a top priority, implement the science of reading, reduce class sizes and support teachers with better training.
That’s also part of his solution to the hot-button issue of antisemitism.
“No. 1, I believe education is the answer, in a lot of ways, [to] support the Jewish community to be able to fight antisemitism,” Goodweather said.
The second prong of his approach connects to his commitment to public safety. “We need the best trained [law enforcement] officers here in the city, the best trained local security to be able to keep D.C. Jews safe,” Goodweather said. “We need to work with all the groups that we’re partners with. At the end of the day, keeping Jews physically safe is ensuring that there is strong local security that is part of our community.”
In May of this year, two Israeli Embassy staff members, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, were killed in a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum on 3rd St. in Northwest Washington. The suspect was quickly arrested and has been charged with first-degree murder.
Goodweather’s run for mayor is personal. He was born in Sacramento but grew up in the DMV and raised his kids in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of D.C. As a child, Goodweather attended services and Sunday school at Fort Belvoir Jewish Congregation in Virginia. He is now an active member of Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue in the nation’s capital.
“I am Jewish and my values are driven by a lot of Jewish values, especially [by] tikkun olam,” the longtime D.C. resident said. “I believe that is an obligation to repair the world, and the way that I apply it is [through] service.”
Goodweather hopes to “create a city [where] anybody who chooses to can live here and work here and thrive and enjoy their lives.”
“We have a lot of work to do, but I want to be a role model that emphasizes service,” he said.
