The status of Washington D.C. has been a subject of debate for decades. The movement seriously began to take root in the 1980’s when voters started to take more action, more statehood bills were proposed in the house, and a state constitution was drafted, but not of these succeeded. Although the overwhelming majority of D.C. residents support their city becoming the 51st state, there has been little action to achieve this status.
The first main obstacle for Washington D.C. statehood is partisan politics. The city has historically polled to be majority Democratic, meaning that if D.C. was granted statehood, there would very likely be two more Democratic representatives in the Senate and three more in Congress; this has resulted in Republicans opposing statehood and Democrats favoring it. It is almost certain that D.C. would send only Democrats to Congress as their city council is made up of 11 democrats out of 13 members, 76 percent voted for a democratic mayor and 91 percent of the city voted for Hillary Clinton in the last presidential election.
However, important decisions like the political status of Washington D.C. should not be made based on party politics, but instead on what would benefit residents and what follows Constitutional principles.
A clear majority of D.C. residents support statehood. This can be seen through a 2016 referendum, when 86 percent of the voters approved of statehood in the District. Unfortunately, the wants of D.C. residents must be balanced with the constitutionality of DC statehood and effects on national politics. Because of this, Washington should not become a state; it should become an entirely new type of political entity with representation in Congress.
Turning Washington D.C. into a state is not so easy; in fact: many argue that it is not constitutional. The Constitution says that Congress must establish a capital that is not larger than 10 square miles, and one that is not part of any state. The latter is especially important because the founders did not want the national government to ensure federal sovereignty. Given the current construction of the Constitution, granting DC statehood entirety of is most likely unconstitutional. In order to change the city’s political status, the best way is to do it by a constitutional amendment. Nevertheless, since amending the constitution requires way more votes than approving statehood, this process is even more difficult and therefore unlikely.
In life and politics we must compromise. Washington D.C. is no different; we must compromise on its political status if we want it to get any sort of representation in Congress. Washington D.C. should have a representative in Congress with full voting rights. Adding one congressman to the House of Representatives will not really affect its political make up that much and will not really make a difference at all when it comes to which party has control. However, adding two senators to the Senate will be much more controversial. It’s hard to believe that the GOP would allow two more senators that are likely to be Democrats into Congress. While this is morally problematic, it is simply the reality of the country.
Furthermore, instead of having two senators, they should just have one. This might have a better chance of being approved by the Republicans. Some might say that one senator is still not fair. However, one senator in Congress is still better than none. It is better to get something rather than nothing. Republicans in Congress and state legislatures would be more likely to vote for it because it will not change the party makeup of congress as much. Washington D.C. can get the autonomy it wants if it sacrifices some representation in Congress.
This idea of the national capital having representation in the legislature is seen internationally. London sends MPs (members of parliament) to the UK parliament, Berlin has representation in the Bundestag, and Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, sends representatives to their congress.
The main issue that causes division between political parties is not whether Washington D.C. is a state or not but whether it has representation in Congress or not. Our national capital deserves to have autonomy and representation in Congress, but tying up statehood with representation makes it only harder to achieve. More success would be achieved from different avenues. Washington D.C. would still be a “district”, but it would have representation Congress, and no longer under its control and require its approval for laws that are passed.
Article by Justin LaFontaine of Walter Johnson High School
Graphic by Katherina Hua of Robert Frost Middle School