Haisten Willis of the Washington Examiner ponders the potential electoral impact of crime in the nation’s capital.
Naomi Biden is the latest high-profile person to have a brush with rising crime in the nation’s capital.
The oldest granddaughter of President Joe Biden, Naomi Biden, was at home in Washington’s upscale Georgetown neighborhood when an attempted carjacking took place outside her residence Sunday night. Luckily for her, a Secret Service detail charged with her protection opened fire on the suspects, who promptly fled the scene.
It was far from an isolated incident, proving again that even Washington, D.C.’s elite are not safe from its violent crime wave. The political question is whether voters will be fed up enough to vote in new leadership next November.
“Crime rates all over the country are up right now, and in some places, there is no accountability for these criminals,” said Richard Marianos, a Georgetown University professor and former Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives officer. “Many of these individuals are being charged only to have their cases dismissed. There has to be some accountability.”
That’s what Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN) said after she was assaulted in the elevator of her Washington apartment building in February. Her assailant had been arrested and released a dozen times before the incident.
“If you throw somebody in jail for 10 days and think, ‘There’s your punishment, and we’re gonna let you right back on the street,’ what the hell do you think’s gonna happen?” she said.
Craig later joined with Joe Biden and her Republican colleagues to overturn a Washington crime bill that would have lowered penalties for murder, carjackings, armed robberies, armed home invasions, and sexual assault offenses.
Last month, Rep. Henry Cuellar (R-TX) was the victim of an armed carjacking in Washington’s Navy Yard neighborhood. Earlier this year, a staffer for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suffered a deep knife wound to the head that required surgery in a district attack.
