Powering change

As tourists and business travellers return to Washington DC, new hotels, infrastructure, meeting venues and museums are ready to greet them

-  LINDSEY GALLOWAY

It's midterm election season in the US - the weeks where candidate signs dot front lawns and windows, television ads loudly proclaim each party's virtues (or vices), and citizens debate each other on issues in restaurant booths. But here in the nation's capital of Washington DC, the seat of the federal government, residents stand ready to welcome whoever gets elected, regardless of party affiliation.

After all, DC has seen a "changing of the guard" many times throughout its 232-year history as the country's capital, and a switch of presidential administration or Congressional control rarely changes the public service-oriented demeanour of the District. Residents liken it to a A Tale of Two Cities - the federal government side, which creates the laws and policies for the whole country, and the District itself which continues to run like any other major American city, regardless of who currently sits in power at the national level. In fact, in a city where most businesses are directly or indirectly tied to government work, it often helps to leave politics at the door.

"The perception is all we do is talk about politics and what you see on the news, but that's the last thing even those folks who work on the Hill want to talk about," says Elliott Ferguson, president and chief executive of Destination DC. "Several senators and members of Congress live on my block, and it never comes up," he adds.

Of course, the November 2020 election unsettled centuries of precedent when Donald Trump refused to concede the election to the newly elected President Joe Biden. The world watched as Trump's supporters rallied at the Capitol building on January 6, when Congress was set to formalise the election results and broke through the police force to unlawfully enter the building.