Mayoral Candidate Vincent Orange
By • May 12, 2026 0 670
By Francis Rienzo
“I got 40 pieces of legislation passed,” Vincent Orange began, including minimum-wage legislation. Orange believes he does not need to start over like the other candidates, and can improve the systems already in place.
Orange understands the complicated relationship between D.C. and the federal government. “Just because this guy is bad news, he’s still the president,” he said about Trump. Important bills and legislation should still be initiated and passed. He bashed some of the decoupling legislation regarding the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Regarding concerns about young people engaging in disruption and crime, Orange believes that if youth do not want to engage in opportunities, they should suffer the consequences. He views the curfews as necessary for public safety, though this doesn’t prevent the District from opening up youth facilities and providing more pathways for students.
“It’s nothing wrong with the gathering, it’s your activity,” he said, commenting that the curfew hurts families who want to visit Navy Yard.
“We are not here to provoke people,” Orange said about the Metropolitan Police Department, now led by Interim Chief Jeffery Carroll. His campaign supports hiring new officers and overhauling relationships with youth. He wants to look to provide educational structure for younger students, mentioning kindergartners and fourth-graders in particular. To prevent a ripple effect into crime, he doesn’t want any child left behind.
“Every D.C. college will have an apprenticeship program,” he added. He wants the youth workforce to expand, with positions such as entry-level event planning and department jobs. This will not only give students employment but keep them off the streets.
Orange vows to build 1,600-square-foot units for first responders, minimum wage workers, seniors and recent high school graduates. He wants them built by local businesses, without raising taxes. This can help lower unemployment and increase affordable housing. He believes that the government needs to keep its integrity and be transparent, always working toward a better city.
In a landscape with fewer federal jobs, Orange sees a changing D.C. that could be an entertainment center, drawing large numbers of visitors to museums and restaurants. “We can jump-start our economy if you put that $600 million in our residents’ paychecks,” he said. He believes we can become a family town — a way to invite people to D.C. and simultaneously circulate revenue back into the city.
“We don’t have a money problem, we have a management problem,” Orange said of the D.C. budget. He would establish a Revenue Alignment Commission, looking at intended purposes, the money being spent and the money being received. “We’ve lost 22,000 federal jobs,” he noted. In his opinion, a strong, tough mayor is needed as the District shifts away from being a strictly government town.
“I can’t think of anything he’s really done,” Orange said about Kenyan McDuffie. Both served 13 years on the Council. When asked if you can be both strong on crime and anti-curfew, Orange said he doesn’t think so, the opposite of Janeese Lewis George’s view.
