She defeated incumbent mayor Vincent C. Gray in the Democratic primary and won the general election against three independent and two minor party candidates with 55% of the vote.

[55] In the general election, Bowser was on the ballot with Independents David Catania, Nestor Djonkam and Carol Schwartz, D.C. Statehood Green Faith Dane and Libertarian Bruce Majors.

[57] In 2017, Bowser proposed several animal regulations, including a ban on backyard chickens, a requirement that all cats be licensed, and a provision that seemed to outlaw leaving dog feces in private yards for more than 24 hours.

[63] In February 2018, Bowser announced the formation of a work group, with members drawn from various agencies, to explore the benefits of, and prepare the District for autonomous vehicle technology.

[67] In 2019, local organizations providing assistance to at risk populations missed out in $3.75 million when the responsible D.C. Government body failed to submit a timely application.

Eleanor Holmes Norton and other D.C. officials pleaded with federal authorities to grant D.C. leniency so that local programs including Reading Partners D.C., The Literacy Lab, and City Year D.C. could receive funding.

The excess contributions totaled more than $11,000 from more than a dozen developers and contractors, as well as from landlord Sanford Capital, whom the Bowser administration had been slow to fine despite being responsible for more than 1,000 housing code violations.

In 2017, Cheh's report found that in addition to the questionable firings, a city employee had illegally shared confidential information with Fort Myer about a competitor's bid on a separate project.

The report found that the D.C. City Administrator - the top Bowser appointed official - had urged quick settlement of unresolved contract disputes with Fort Myer in an attempt to appease it.

[79] In a rush to reopen the District in June 2020, her administration removed data from the government's website to avoid displaying how it had failed to meet a key metric.

[83][84] Bowser went under scrutiny for her actions during the COVID-19 pandemic for attending protests to "defund the police" while restricting people of faith from meeting in religious gathering as a congregation, even outside.

[86] Bowser sought to address the spike by proposing legislation allowing law enforcement officials to perform warrantless searches of violent ex-offenders.

[97] Bowser later deleted the tweet, claiming that it was scheduled to go out before the death, but did not apologize or immediately offer any condolences to Anwar's family or condemnation of his killers, who are black, sparking backlash and accusations of racial bias.

Approved by Gray, the project involved a privately funded conversion of the historic but unused Franklin School and had its first event planned for September 2015.

During her earlier period as director, the city's 911 system fell short of national standards and resulted in fatal consequences when first responders were sent to the wrong address.

In March of that year, on the advice of the Director of Health Care Finance, the D.C Council awarded the management of UMC to Veritas, a two-year-old politically connected firm.

[124] The husband of the Veritas CEO was a major donor to the Bowser campaign in 2014, and a longtime health care executive with experience overseeing troubled hospitals.

In September, the nurses union voted "no confidence" in the hospital's leadership and said that it had failed to address unsafe nurse-patient ratios and a lack of proper equipment.

[128] Bowser administration officials refused repeated requests to disclose the specific medical lapses, and ultimately the council voted to remove Veritas.

[130] In December 2018, the District announced an "ambitious" plan aiming to cut opioid deaths by half within about two years, using a combination of treatment, tracking and education.

[142] In April 2018, Lopez held a loudspeaker at a rally while a representative of the Nation of Islam spoke, calling Councilmember Elissa Silverman "a fake jew".

[143][144] In October 2021, the Chair of the D.C. Housing Authority, Neil Albert, abruptly resigned after it was revealed that he had channeled multiple contracts to a romantic partner.

[145] Bowser's replacement for Albert, Dionne Bussey-Reeder, owed thousands in unpaid income taxes leading the government to place liens on her property, in violation of DCHA bylaws.

[149][150][151] In January 2017, following Trump's inauguration and the issuance of an executive order threatening to withhold Federal funding from sanctuary cities, Bowser affirmed that the District would maintain its status as such.

[152] In November 2017, Bowser announced that the District was joining seven other cities in a partnership with the National Immigration Forum to assist some 2,000 green card holders who work for the D.C. Government, as well as family members, in applying for U.S. citizenship.

[153] In 2022, the governors of Texas and Arizona instituted policies to offer migrants released by federal authorities in their states free bus rides to Washington, D.C.

[165] On January 6, 2021, pro-Trump rioters and insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol, in protest of the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Democrat Joe Biden defeated incumbent Republican President Donald Trump.

[173] Community activists raised ethics concerns, claiming that Bowser was swayed by a $25 million pledge to rename the future MLS Soccer Stadium as Pepco Park.

[193] In April 2016, the D.C. Trust, a government-funded entity that disbursed grants throughout the District to non-profits providing youth services, declared bankruptcy and announced plans to dissolve.

Then in January 2016, the agency's board, four of whom had been appointed by Mayor Bowser, learned that a former executive director and a former senior financial officer had used funds to pay tens of thousands of dollars in credit-card charges, including some for personal use.