Happy Wednesday, aka post-Election Day!

🌤️ Today's weather: Patchy fog then mostly sunny. High of 75, low of 61.

🌊 Situational awareness: Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress, on track to gain as many as 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats in one of the biggest midterm election waves in modern American history. 5 takeaways, via Axios

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Today’s newsletter is 1,161 words — a 4.5-minute read.

👋🏼 Cuneyt here, with my post-election Town Talker column.

Janeese Lewis George's biggest job will be rebuilding D.C.'s economy.

Why it matters: After 12 years, Washingtonians will look to a new mayor to solve their problems. And the list's a doozy: A hellish job market, record restaurant closures, crashing condo values, billion-dollar budget gaps.

👀 The big picture: The effects of DOGE are still being felt; coming after the pandemic, it's been a double whammy for a city that boomed in the 2010s.

• After President Trump's return to the White House, D.C. lost 45,600 jobs through August, 62% of which were government positions.
• The fallout has rippled through city life, with laid-off workers and families getting squeezed, neighborhood bars losing customers amid inflation and downtown landlords watching office values plunge.
• There's no quick rebound: The city won't return to pre-DOGE growth rates until fall 2030, according to D.C. chief financial officer Glen Lee's projections.

🏗️ It's up to JLG — the city's youngest mayor in a generation — to reinvent the city's growth engine.

• The democratic socialist easily won yesterday's general election, per the AP, after sweeping the competitive June primary amid frustration with the city's direction and rising cost of living.
• Her ideas include a childcare-for-all subsidy, which will be difficult to fund if there's a $680 million budget gap, and a goal to build 72,000 homes in five years — more than the city added over the past decade.
• Lewis George, 38, ran to make government work better, from improving services for residents who rely on food stamps and rental assistance to speeding up business permits.

What she's saying: "Our city must work for the people who live here in addition to the people who commute in for work and their employers," her economic development policy paper says.

⚡️ Yes, but: The hard part will be jump-starting major projects, including the Union Station redevelopment, which she wants to make into her version of RFK Stadium — a legacy-defining project. Or attracting new companies to begin replacing lost federal jobs.

• She'll also walk a tightrope with President Trump, balancing opposition to policies deeply unpopular in D.C. with her promise to find areas of cooperation, a la Mamdani.

What's next: Clues about how Lewis George will govern will come as she assembles her transition team in the weeks ahead.

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D.C. voters appear poised to I-86 foie gras. But the luxury liver won't be disappearing from city menus just yet — and a legal fight is already brewing.

Why it matters: Yesterday's vote sets up a potentially messy next chapter: funding the ban, enforcing it, and defending against legal challenges that have stalled a similar prohibition in New York City for years.

Driving the news: Initiative 86 appears poised to pass with over 73% of the vote as of this morning, according to AP, following a campaign by Pro-Animal DC that collected a record 31,726 valid signatures to qualify for November's ballot.

• The measure prohibits force-feeding birds to enlarge their livers, along with the commercial sale and distribution of foie gras and other fattened bird liver products.

The big picture: What started as a niche D.C. ballot initiative became an unlikely national election story — drawing condemnation from celebrity chef José Andrés, attention from the likes of Bon Appetit, and a dedicated New York Times foie results needle.

What they're saying: "Tonight D.C. decided that force-feeding a bird has no place here," Cady Witt, campaign director of Pro-Animal DC, said in a statement shared with Axios.

• JLG also voted for the initiative.

The other side: Hudson Valley Foie Gras, one of America's two major producers, is already consulting attorneys about challenging the ban, as Axios first reported. Hudson Valley helped stall NYC's 2019 foie gras ban.

• Butterworth's chef Bart Hutchins plans on supporting Hudson Valley and adding even more foie to the menu, including his newly famous foie gras twinkie.

How it works

District residents voted yesterday to fill seven D.C. Council seats that will serve alongside the new mayor.

Why it matters: The results will help shape the city's direction on issues such as housing, public safety, taxes and spending.

By the numbers: Seven of the Council's 13 seats were on the ballot — the chair, two at-large seats and four ward seats.

The winners, according to the AP:

Council chair: Phil Mendelson

At-large Council members: Oye Owolewa

• Elissa Silverman was following with 20% of the vote as of this morning, although the AP hadn't called the second seat.

Ward 1: Aparna Raj

Ward 3: Matthew Frumin

Ward 5: Zachary Parker

Ward 6: Charles Allen

✅ In the burbs: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Virginia Sen. Mark Warner also won reelection last night, per AP.

• In NoVA: Democrats Don Beyer, James Walkinshaw, Suhas Subramanyam and Eugene Vindman won House races, per AP.
• In Md.: Democrats Glenn Ivey (Prince George's) and Jamie Raskin (Montgomery) won House races, per AP. Dems Will Jawando (Montgomery) and Aisha Braveboy (Prince George's) won county executive races.

⚖️ A new lawsuit was filed against the District yesterday alleging unsanitary conditions at the D.C. jail, such as mice, cockroaches, mold, and exploding, sewage-filled toilets. A previous lawsuit filed last month claimed that the jail fed inmates mice- and bug-contaminated food. (Washington Post)

🪞 D.C. is getting another lookalike contest — this one for Nathan Fielder and Elizabeth Holmes. Head to Malcolm X Park on Sunday to see hordes of people wearing black turtlenecks and headsets.

🦆 Party fowl! Meghan Abrego held Olivia, her four-year-old pet duck, inside Pro Animal DC's election night party at Solly's on U Street, where crowds noshed on pizza and chatted over live music.

• Olivia hears it all, "but she's used to city life," says Abrego.

🕺🏾 Robert White danced into "The Delegate" — the aptly-picked downtown venue for his party — to celebrate becoming D.C.'s next congressional delegate.

• Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who's held the office since 1990, greeted supporters early in the night.

🤳🏼 Behind the scenes: At Sycamore & Oak near Congress Heights, Cuneyt found himself in a media scramble as Janeese Lewis George moved through her party crowd to talk to reporters.

😴 Cuneyt is catching up on sleep.

📚 Mimi is reading "All That's Unseen" by Emilee Hackney.

🌊 Anna is impressed that the Q Street Barbies predicted the midterms.

Today's newsletter was edited by Alexa Mencia Orozco.