Originally published in The Washington Post by Paul Schwartzman
John Fredericks, the conservative radio host who has built a large following as a cheerleader for President Donald Trump, is setting his sights on a far narrower audience: D.C. voters.
Fredericks is on the city’s June 16 primary ballot, running unopposed to become chair of the local Republican Party in Ward 2, an area encompassing deep-blue neighborhoods like Georgetown, Dupont Circle and Logan Circle.
The ward also includes the famous address occupied by the man whom Fredericks recently introduced on his radio show as “the greatest president in, maybe, history.”
Why a so narrowly focused political perch would appeal to Fredericks is something of a puzzle for the rarefied few who follow the machinations of D.C.’s local GOP. For more than a decade, the “Godzilla of Truth,” as Fredericks is known on the air, has built an audience of several million on radio stations in states such as Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, as well as on an array of social media platforms.
No one could ever confuse D.C. for Trump country, though. Republicans account for just over 5 percent of the city’s electorate, according to D.C. Board of Elections data from 2025. Trump only got 6 percent — or 21,000 votes — in D.C. in the 2024 presidential race.
Since returning to the White House, he has infuriated many Washingtonians by dispatching National Guard troops and immigration enforcement agents to the city’s streets and, for a time, placing the police department under federal control.
Not to worry, says Fredericks. No matter how disliked the president is locally, the radio host sees an opportunity to give residents an alternative to the Democratic Party, which has dominated D.C. politics for generations. “I’m going to get Republicans engaged so we can build the party,” Fredericks, 68, said during an interview in his K Street NW office, a couple of blocks from the White House. “We get 7 percent of the vote here. Come on. I’d like to change that. I’d like to give Republicans a chance to be viable.”
Good luck with that, say Democrats.
“He’s just a prop for Trump,” said Howard Garrett, chair of Ward 2’s Democratic Party. “It’s alarming. He’s moving into a city without taking the time to understand its culture and history.”
Some local Republicans, as it turns out, are also not too thrilled about Fredericks, who relocated to D.C. after Trump’s 2024 reelection. “He has no idea where his ward stands,” said Patrick Mara, chair of D.C.’s Republican Party.
Mara asked Fredericks last year whether he was interested in running for mayor on the Republican line, both men say. “We needed someone who understood public safety, and it’s hard to find Republican candidates to run for anything here,” Mara said. “He was looking to make a name for himself, so I thought, ‘What the heck.’”
After studying a potential citywide race, Fredericks decided it was not feasible. Mara then appointed Fredericks as the GOP chair for Ward 2 last fall after the seat became vacant. Explaining his choice, Mara said: “We don’t have long lines of people who want to do these things. It’s not like I’m appointing someone to the U.S. Senate.”
Fredericks’s tenure as chair, though, lasted only a couple of months. Mara said he removed him in February after members of the Republican National Committee complained about Fredericks’s behavior at the RNC’s winter meeting in Santa Barbara, California. Fredericks became upset when RNC organizers would not allow him into the meetings because, as a radio host, he is considered a member of the media.
“He was in the lobby and angry about not getting in, which was relayed to me multiple times by RNC members,” Mara said, characterizing his conduct as confrontational. “It’s just not how we treat people. It was weird.”
Fredericks acknowledged that he became angry when he wasn’t allowed in. But, he said, he had spent money to fly himself and his wife to California because Mara had invited him to the conference. “I was totally upset,” he said. “You’re told on the phone your credentials are approved, then they’re revoked. They should have told me before I went all the way out there.”
Fredericks decided to campaign for chair after Mara removed him. Since he’s running unopposed, he is already spreading the word about his victory party, designing an invitation that promises an appearance by Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager.
Fredericks raised $6,139 for the race as of March 10, according to his latest available campaign finance report. His 30 donors include 25 who don’t live in D.C. Fredericks himself has contributed $1,200, plus loaned the campaign $1,000 more, the report shows. “I’m trying to build something,” he said. “If you’re going to run, you’ve got to spend.”
Fredericks’s base of operation is the K Street office where he records his eponymous radio show. His decor includes a banner for his own race that features a dated photo of him and the slogan, “Make DC Great.”
His office is where he filmed a campaign video in which he bemoans the lack of Republicans in the city — “zero representation, zero respect, zero results” — and promises to promote an “agenda that’s going to make your life better: Get rid of the rats, lower rents.”
Fredericks had an apartment in D.C. during the first Trump administration, along with press credentials to attend White House news briefings. He lost his access in 2021 — after Joe Biden defeated Trump — and relocated to Pittsburgh, a period he refers to as “self-exile.”
Now he’s back, renting an apartment near McPherson Square, which he features in another campaign video, mistakenly referring to it as “McPherson Park” and celebrating its transformation from when it was a site of a homeless encampment.
The encampment was dismantled during the Biden administration. Fredericks said the cleanup is an example of how Trump has restored the city, arguing “the metamorphosis has been one of the most stunning turnarounds in the history of urban America.”
“I want to showcase what the president has done in revitalizing this city,” Fredericks said. “You look at the Democrats running for mayor. They walk around with T-shirts that say ‘Free DC.’ Free D.C. from what? He has turned basically one of the most disgusting areas into the Disneyland of the Northeast.”
Fredericks said he is well aware that his opinion may not reflect that of the majority of Washingtonians. But he thinks he can pull in a significant number of converts in Ward 2, home to 3,852 registered Republicans, according to a 2025 elections board count. (There are 36,531 registered Democrats in the ward.)
For those who think he’s suffering from an acute case of wishful thinking, Fredericks has an answer: He was a Trump supporter more than a decade ago, before the then-developer and reality television host announced his presidential campaign, and was at the bottom of the polls.
“He had a mission, he had a vision, he started a movement,” Fredericks said, adding that he’s trying to do the same.
“I’m not ready to say this city is a lost cause,” he said.