The case for Washington, D.C. statehood

Many of us have heard the rumblings about adding Washington D.C. to the Union as the 51st State, and we have probably formed at least a preliminary opinion based primarily on our party affiliation, with no real understanding of the facts or arguments. 

We may know that the Democrats are in favor and the Republicans opposed, and for most people, that’s good enough.  We don’t live there and we really don’t care, so whatever our party supports is okay with us.  

Washington, DC, was founded in 1790 as the capital of the United States. It’s only 68 square miles and is bordered by Maryland and Virginia and was chosen as a compromise between Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and Thomas Jefferson.

Today there are approximately 700,000 permanent residents living in D.C., more than Vermont and Wyoming and very close to the populations of North Dakota and Alaska.  While both Vermont and Wyoming have two Senators and one Representative, the residents of Washington, D.C. do not have representation in either the U.S. House or Senate, in spite of the fact that residents of Washington D.C. pay federal taxes and register for the draft, just like all other American citizens.

Interestingly, DC residents have only been able to vote for the President since 1964 and elected their first mayor in 1973. In 2016 D.C. the voters in Washington D.C. voted 86% in favor of joining the union as the 51st state.  The rest of the country was and is nonplussed.

When the Capitol hill rioters stormed the Capitol on January 6, the mayor had little if any power to do anything.   While the governor of any state can call up his State’s National Guard, DC's Mayor had no authority to summon military forces.  There is a National Guard unit in Washington, but it was controlled by President Trump.

Here's the rub, and why the Republicans DON’T want D.C. to become a state.  

According to 2019 US Census, almost half of D.C.s residents are Black.   If the district was granted statehood, it would be the only Black-plurality state in the Union.   Black voters are typically Democrats and the Republicans don’t want to allow the Democrats to have that political advantage.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump said “DC will never be a state,” during an exclusive interview in the Oval Office. “You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen.”  I have to wonder. Is the motivation for this ultimately because the residents are Democrats, or because they’re black? It wouldn’t be the first time that white men in power have conspired to restrict the black vote.

If D.C. was to become a state, it would be allocated 3 electors at the electoral college and 2 Senators.  The Reapportionment Act of 1929 limits the number of House of Representative seats to 435, so another State would have to relinquish a Representative to D.C.  It is likely that those Senators and Representative would be Democrat, so therein lies the reason that D.C. statehood cannot be allowed by the Republicans. 

In order to Washington D.C. to be granted statehood, all 50 Democrats would need to vote in favor of the bill and convince 10 Republicans to join them, an idea very unlikely to happen in the hyper-polarized political climate in which we find ourselves today.

This entire affair is patently unfair for the residents of D.C.  One only needs to remember back to grade school, where we were taught the rallying cry that led to American Independence.  “No taxation without representation”.   Since D.C. residents have no say in how their tax dollars are spent, and no vote in foreign policy, health care or Social Security, despite the fact that, on average, residents of D.C. pay higher local and federal taxes than the rest of the country, this is EXACTLY the position in which these Americans have been subjected to for some 230 years. 

Perhaps partisan politics should be set aside, so that the rights of all Americans, including those residing in Washington D.C.  can be protected.   

As I’ve said before, if one party finds that they are unable to attract a majority of voters come election time, perhaps it’s time to change their message and platform to appeal to more voters.    

If you’re worried about the flag and how we squeeze in another star, it’s not a problem. You probably wouldn’t even notice the difference.

51 star American flag