Written by: Michael Shalonov
Edited by: Sean Tonra
For decades, countless U.S. lawmakers have made the case to institute Washington D.C. as the 51st state of America. These lawmakers consist primarily of Democrats for obvious reasons. The nation’s capital is an overwhelmingly Democratic city that has voted blue in every presidential election since the beginning. Roughly ninety percent of the vote always goes to the Democrats. If given state status, Washington D.C. would send two additional Democrats to the senate who would rarely face a serious political challenge. Congressional Democrats are actively pushing to alone confirm the city as a new state, then sending the bill to President Biden’s desk. Regardless of my own view on D.C. statehood, anyone can easily perceive these actions as a partisan grab on power. Proposing a constitutional amendment admitting Washington D.C. as a state would be more legally acceptable since the measure deals with the structure of our republic (Peterson). Nevertheless, Republicans have signaled their unwillingness ever to pass such a proposal. As a result, awarding the District of Columbia voting representation within the government is the only constitutionally legal avenue that can be undertaken at the moment.
With three electoral college votes and a population of over seven hundred thousand people, Washington D.C. currently does not have any voting power in Congress. To this date, the city includes “taxation without representation” on its license plates (Little). Lawmakers actually have the constitutional power by a simple majority to award D.C. a congressional voting seat that is no different from any other member in Congress. Given they are all law-abiding American citizens, residents of the capital should not only have their voice heard in Congress but also have the means to make a difference through a vote. Not being part of any state should not exclude these citizens from having an equal role in government. Skeptics may refer to such a measure as a watered-down partisan grab. The reality is actually far different.
As opposed to a certification of statehood for the district, a measure to award voting representation in Congress would only grant Democrats one seat in the House of Representatives. This one congressional representative would be voting on behalf of more people than in the state of Wyoming. Recall, as a result of the 2020 census, Republicans gained another congressional seat in Montana. This reality merely upholds the notion of fairness. With a growing abundance of people in Montana, Republicans rightfully were practically given another seat in Congress. With the state-size enormity of people living in the District of Columbia, the residents also deserve an ordinary congressional seat, even though it may skew heavily to the left. To reiterate, Washington D.C. may very well deserve to have two senators as its population exceeds that of Wyoming. Nevertheless, such an action which deals with the structure of the union should only pass through a constitutional amendment with bipartisan support. With a tremendously polarized government, rather than doing nothing, Democrats through a slim majority should be able to award the district voting power at the lower house level.
Adequate representation and fairness have been fundamental democratic principles to our electoral system. No American citizen should be left behind regardless of the area they reside in within the country. Washington D.C. finds itself in a unique situation, being within the mainland but without voting representation. To lawmakers who actually want to bring about real change, award House congressional voting power to the District of Columbia, so the hundreds of thousands of residents can finally have proper representation in their government.
[The views expressed in this article are those of the author and the author alone; they do not necessarily represent the views of all members of the first RULR Editorial Board and Rutgers University.]
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