Critics slam Bloomberg on race, gender. D.C.’s black, female mayor has his back.

Ask D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser if she encountered sexism in her rise to power, and her response is immediate: “Yes.”

“Every day. Are you kidding?” Bowser, the only woman elected to a second term as mayor of the nation’s capital, says with a chuckle. “The way to deal with them is just to work hard and to prove them wrong.”