DC Mayor Bowser dismisses Tucker Carlson comments: ‘People aren’t leaving DC in droves’

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) on Thursday dismissed a claim by Fox News host Tucker Carlson that residents of the District were “fleeing the city in huge numbers.”

“I only saw a snippet of Tucker Carlson’s comments, and the snippet I saw was, you know, it was erroneous. People are not leaving D.C. in droves. In fact, D.C. is still one of the hottest places to live in America,” Bowser said at a press briefing.

Carlson’s salvo against Bowser came Tuesday night, after the Washington mayor made an appearance at the virtual Democratic National Convention Monday night.

“Bowser’s city is falling apart right now, literally,” Carlson asserted.

“Been there? For centuries Washington, D.C., was a beautiful place. You might remember it from your sixth grade trip. Parks and trees and open spaces. A city the country was proud of. Now its open spaces are lined with tents and inside them, drug-addicted vagrants live and they emerge periodically to scare and harass visitors and local residents.”

Carlson added: “Under the leadership of Muriel Bowser, people who pay taxes in Washington are fleeing the city in huge numbers, but that’s OK with the Democratic National Committee because Muriel Bowser is on their team.” 

The most recent census numbers put D.C.’s population at 705,749 as of July 1, 2019, up 4,202 people from 2018.

This equates to a growth rate of 0.6 percent, continuing on a slightly downward trend of the annual growth for the city. However, the city’s growth rate is on par with the national population rate of 0.5 percent growth, according to the D.C. Policy Center, an independent nonpartisan think tank.