How D.C.'s next delegate would handle Trump

Zoom in: If he got Trump on the phone, White said he'd propose a Puerto Rico-style federal tax incentive to court businesses.

• "These are things that you can work on with us, and we'll put your name on it if you want," White told me on the latest episode of the "Dream City Podcast."
• Plus: A public-private partnership for future upkeep on the fountains and parks that Trump is rehabbing.

"If you've got to flatter him sometimes, flatter him sometimes," White said. "What I'm not going to negotiate away or give up is human rights and civil rights."

Pinto criticizes federal agents operating in D.C. "without any oversight," but she also counts improving public safety as an area of overlap with the Trump administration.

• Negotiating with Republicans "takes different strategies," she told me in March on the podcast, and that she'd play both "defense and offense" to push D.C.'s priorities.

More takeaways from our interviews...

On casinos: A federal law bans them in D.C., but both candidates were open to the idea, especially as D.C. leans into its tourism economy.

• "It seems paternalistic to say, 'we're going to allow alcohol and cigarettes, but not casinos,'" White said.

• Pinto thinks "there is room for movement."

On taller buildings: Both want to relax the Height Act, preserving views in the monumental core but allowing for more housing in certain areas.

• But not while Trump is here, White says: "I guarantee you the first building that's going to go up is going to be a big Trump building."

On statehood: A more energetic, aggressive push is in the offing.

• "We have to take the show on the road," Pinto said, to win over more people nationwide.
• White sees an opportunity with the redistricting wars to convince other Democrats that making D.C. the 51st state is their best shot at winning more power.