District of Columbia Voters Want Statehood

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Residents of the District of Columbia do not have the same rights as citizens elsewhere in the country. They do not get to elect senators or representatives to serve them in Congress, which is especially ironic considering the district hosts those bodies.

With that in mind, a measure on the Washington, D.C. ballots proposed petitioning Congress to allow the District of Columbia to become the 51st state in the Union, the State of New Columbia.

The measure was supported by 79 percent of D.C. voters, which is significantly more than the percentage of voters who actually voted for either presidential candidate, and could certainly be considered a mandate from those voters.

The District’s mayor, Muriel Bowser, has said that she will have the petition for statehood ready by Inauguration Day next January.

While Washington, D.C. does count for three electoral votes in presidential races, they do not have the two senators and a representative guaranteed to other citizens, because D.C. is not part of any other state.

The chances of the petition being heard, much less voted upon by Congress, is likely pretty slim given the current political climate. Republicans will have a bare minimum majority in the House and Senate after this election. Representatives from D.C. would likely be Democrats and remain that way for some time, as residents of the city are about two to one in favor of the Dems.

President-elect Donald Trump, however, might be more open to the idea, though it would not be his decision and it would have to go through Congress first. However, when asked about the idea of admitting New Columbia, he has stated that he would try to come to a decision that works for the people of D.C., though that was back in 2015.

It’s clear that full statehood is the only thing that would make D.C. residents happy.

“This is what I’ve heard from D.C. residents all over the city … They want to be treated like every American. They want two senators,” Mayor Muriel Bowser told The Washington Post. “We need equality, and the only way to get there is with statehood.”

D.C. resident Kathy Jasper cast her vote in favor of statehood. “We pay federal taxes like we’re a state. We need to see some of the benefits of being a state,” she said.