A local ride-hailing company that has been fighting a cease-and-desist order in the District for years has seemingly found two new ways to stay active: offering free rides and prompting customers to pressure local lawmakers for support.
At a hearing in D.C. Superior Court on Friday, Joshua Sear, chief executive of Empower, said the platform has been compliant with the District’s order to stop operating as a private vehicle-for-hire company since updating its software late Monday to ban drivers from taking payment for D.C. rides. The D.C. Attorney General’s Office countered that Empower’s free rides are another tactic for it to continue as an unregulated ride-hailing company.
Sear said most D.C. drivers for Empower, which markets itself as a cheaper alternative to other ride-hailing services, have stopped accepting rides as a result of the payment ban and users are effectively down a ride-hailing option. Sear said he wasn’t sure how many free rides have actually been taken, but expected very few.
“People are hurting out here,” he said.
Empower began operating in the District in 2020 and was soon issued a cease-and-desist order by the Department of For-Hire Vehicles for failing to register as a private sedan business and digital dispatch service. The parties have been going head-to-head in court since 2024, when D.C. Superior Court Judge Shana Frost Matini ordered Empower to cease operations until the company successfully registers with the city.
As Empower fights to keep operating, it has begun urging users of its app not to vote for certain candidates in D.C.’s June primary elections.
“If you want Empower to stay in DC, leave Kenyan McDuffie off your ballot!” said one message in the app, urging voters to reject the mayoral contender and former council member.
A similar in-app message implored voters not to vote for council member Robert C. White Jr. (D-At Large) in the congressional race to replace D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D).
Empower did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday evening about why it is specifically urging users not to vote for McDuffie and White. The council, including McDuffie and White’s opponents, has been unanimous in its votes on Empower.
In a video posted on social media Friday, McDuffie said Empower had essentially given him an ultimatum: Meet with the company and support a bill that would allow it to keep operating, or Empower will urge its customers not to rank him on their ballots in the mayoral race.
McDuffie also shared that his daughter had received a death threat against him on Instagram, referencing the ban on Empower.
“Let me be clear: I will not be intimidated, I will not reward threats, and I will not agree to meet with any organization that believes it can pressure public officials into looking the other way while it violates the law for political gain,” McDuffie said in the video. “And let me be absolutely clear: I will do everything humanly possible to protect my family.”
The company said in a statement Friday that it “condemns any harassment” of McDuffie or his family.
“Empower made repeated good-faith requests to meet with former Councilmember McDuffie regarding a critical pocketbook issue affecting hundreds of thousands of District residents,” Empower said. “When those repeated requests went unanswered, the company informed Mr. McDuffie that it would publicly communicate where he stands on this issue and encourage DC residents to communicate to him where they stand.”
Amanda Gomez, campaign spokesperson for McDuffie’s chief rival in the race, council member Janeese Lewis George, said the threat sent to McDuffie’s child was “unconscionable.”
“These type of tactics are not welcome in DC and do not represent our DC values,” Gomez said in a text message.
White said the company had approached his office in a similar way. His chief of staff “told me that they demanded a meeting or something, and if I didn’t do it, they were going to run or keep running these attack ads,” White said in an interview Friday.
Empower has previously tried to pressure D.C. officials to support its operations. The company has organized public protests at the Wilson Building, the home of the mayor’s office and the D.C. Council, with demonstrators once clashing with police outside a council meeting.
Empower also pushed an unsuccessful attempt to recall Attorney General Brian Schwalb (D) last year. It sought to pressure council member Brianne K. Nadeau (D-Ward 1), who chairs the committee overseeing for-hire vehicles, with a truck outside the Wilson Building that portrayed her as a marionette. Text on the side of the vehicle read, “The Uber Puppet” — a reference to the popular ride-sharing app.
Messages from Empower drivers and supporters have flooded the inboxes and phones of Wilson Building staffers. One of Nadeau’s staffers tallied more than 7,000 such emails, according to David Connerty-Marin, a spokesperson for Nadeau.
Council members and D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) have stood firm.
“All companies operating in the District are required to follow DC law,” a Bowser spokesperson said in a statement Friday.
Sear has repeatedly adjusted Empower’s business model in an attempt to keep the app afloat in the city and argue that the company is not operating as a private vehicle-for-hire company. He and Empower have racked up millions in fines.
In court Friday, District attorneys said that the platform still offers subscription services to District drivers and that Empower is still operating for hire: A notice of infraction was issued at 7:43 that morning to an Empower driver who allegedly accepted a ride for money, the lawyers said.
“That’s not our app,” Sear said, suggesting the driver could have been using a different ride-hailing app in response to photos included in the notice of infraction.
Christopher Southcott, an assistant attorney general, said other jurisdictions, including Virginia and Maryland, have issued cease-and-desist orders against Empower. Users can still pay for rides there, but Sear said the app makes clear that if riders want to be picked up or dropped off in the District, the D.C. portion of the ride is free.
Empower attorney Matthew Madden argued that District law makes clear that a for-hire transportation service requires payment. Sear likened the app to carpooling.
District attorneys said in a court document that D.C. code dismisses the idea that not charging a fare is equivalent to not providing for-hire transportation.
The parties will appear in court again next Thursday.
“This is an issue that’s important to the District, to Mr. Sear,” said Matini, the judge. “I just want to be in compliance with the law.”
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