# Statehood for D.C.? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 24, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442 "2020-09-24T21:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Buck\_Godot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buck_godot/32/6573_2.png) [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/241 "2020-11-20T02:08:40Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > For example, let’s say the entire federal government had been in Virginia, and made up of Virginia residents. How do you think that might have affected laws against the tobacco industry? Do you think the federal government just might be more hostile to anti-tobacco laws, and a little more prone to levying tariffs on tobacco imports? Not if that entire federal government was born and raised in raised in other states and only moved to Virginia for a job with the government, having never seen a Tabbacco plant in their life. What huge perks has the average DC resident reaped from their hosting the govenment. Near as i can tell the average lawmaker seethes with contempt for the residents of DC and goes out to their way to spend as little time their as possible. But even supposing you were right and the guy who sells hotdogs outside of Lefant plaza wields undue power on the national power by virtue of his place of residence. How much of a difference is there going to be if that person is also allowed access to his own personal Senators and voting representative in Congress? If the laws against fracking or Tobacco were going to be over turned because all of the law makers residence, then they would be over turned whether or not those residents could also vote. The two are entirely unrelated. If your worried about undue resdiental influence you need to de-centralize the federal offices, not cut off voting rights. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/242 "2020-11-20T15:02:18Z")
Exapno I’m honestly confused. If DC has representation in the House and two Senators and chooses their head executive (although nominally governed by Congress) then how do they not have power like every state? In that scenario what can state do that DC couldn’t (except elect the President in the House because that happens a lot)? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2020, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/243 "2020-11-20T17:51:05Z")
I’m unclear what you’re objecting to. My post was purely in response to Ponderoid’s proposal. Having DC residents scatter their votes randomly throughout 50 states makes them meaningless. They cannot affect any decisions anywhere. They would not have an actual representative in Congress looking out for their interests. They would not be eligible for the money that is doled out state by state. They would not get to choose their own laws. Representation is a large complex of responsibilities and rewards. Reducing it to the matter of getting a vote for President is destroying the notion and removing all the rewards. I’m against it. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 23, 2020, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/244 "2020-11-23T22:53:05Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’m unclear what you’re objecting to. My post was purely in response to Ponderoid’s proposal. Having DC residents scatter their votes randomly throughout 50 states makes them meaningless. OK. I thought you were referring to DCers having representation without statehood. > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Isn’t the entire point of statehood … ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/245 "2021-01-22T17:24:47Z")
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes (D-DC) just tweeted that she has 208 so-sponsors for DC statehood. No certainties yet, for sure, but this appears to have moved into the “now viable” category of possibilities. Especially if Senate Dems man up and nuke the filibuster. Time for Dems to recognize that they have the majority of the country behind them and do the right things. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/246 "2021-01-22T17:50:19Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Not okay with me and the downside is that I consider it philosophically silly. Just too fucking small and if you’re curious I feel pretty similarly about Rhode Island if you exclude the historical argument. RI should never have been a state. Hey we feel the same way, but too late man, we’re a state. We got a governor and senators just like the real ones. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/247 "2021-01-22T20:34:38Z")
Add one blue state by giving DC statehood. Subtract one blue state by splitting RI between CT and MA. Statehood for DC without changing the number of blue (or red) states! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/249 "2021-01-22T20:36:51Z")
> [@SCAdian](#): > > Subtract one blue state by splitting RI between CT and MA. Never! Neither of those states would have us. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/250 "2021-01-22T20:38:06Z")
I’m in CT and I wouldn’t object. But then I’m really from MI… 😆 ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/251 "2021-01-22T20:40:18Z")
> [@Ponderoid](#): > > What if everyone in D.C. or any other territory who desires full representation was allowed to register to vote in some other state of their choice and have that be their legal residence for voting in statewide and federal elections? States should be allowed to collect their taxes from those legally declared citizen ‘residents’ who never actually lived in their state which might make them happy. I can guess how happy Wyoming would be if all the DCers declared it as there state of residence and made it a blue state by about 2-1. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/252 "2021-01-24T09:50:46Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes (D-DC) just tweeted that she has 208 so-sponsors for DC statehood. > > No certainties yet, for sure, but this appears to have moved into the “now viable” category of possibilities. I think your optimism is misplaced. The previous House of Representatives passed a D.C. statehood bill with _227_ cosponsors last June. > [@Max\_S](#): > > An interesting note, on June 26 the House of Representatives voted to admit Washington, D.C. as the 51st state of the Union. Washington, D.C. Admission Act. [H.R. 51](https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/51), 116th Cong. (2020). > > ~Max ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/253 "2021-01-24T10:23:57Z")
The House wasn’t the issue anyways. The bill will pass there with 220 or 221 votes. The tiny new glimmer of optimism is that the change of control in the Senate has moved the chances there away from the former 0.00%. Maybe not _very_ far, but anything is better than zero. (If the bill _somehow_ came up for final passage in the Senate, I think it would definitely get the bare 50 needed, or maybe even 51 since Lisa Murkowski has repeatedly expressed lukewarm openness toward the idea, but the filibuster is the gigantic elephant in the room.) ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/254 "2021-01-24T11:26:58Z")
Is it possible for DC to become a state by ordinary statute without a constitutional amendment? How do the proposals deal with the 23rd amendment which grants three electors to the federal district? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/255 "2021-01-24T11:49:33Z")
> [@ctnguy](#): > > How do the proposals deal with the 23rd amendment which grants three electors to the federal district? The laws for those three electoral votes are made by Congress (in the same way that state electors are controlled by the state legislatures) and the bill that passed the House last year (and presumably is the basis for any efforts this year) would simply repeal any provision for their election. It would also provide for expedited consideration of a constitutional amendment repealing the 23rd Amendment, but until and unless that happened those three electors would simply not be elected. The remaining capital district would have no legal residents, with anyone physically residing in its boundaries being assigned to their last state. ---
**Author:** ![ctnguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@ctnguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ctnguy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2021, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/256 "2021-01-24T21:26:25Z")
That makes sense, thanks for explaining. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/257 "2021-01-25T00:06:44Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > > [@Ponderoid](#): > > > > What if everyone in D.C. or any other territory who desires full representation was allowed to register to vote in some other state of their choice and have that be their legal residence for voting in statewide and federal elections? States should be allowed to collect their taxes from those legally declared citizen ‘residents’ who never actually lived in their state which might make them happy. > > I can guess how happy Wyoming would be if all the DCers declared it as there state of residence and made it a blue state by about 2-1. That would be… Hilarious. The wailing and gnashing of teeth would keep me up at night, but it would be worth it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/258 "2021-01-28T04:25:58Z")
> **[D.C. statehood, finally? Inside the effort by a new generation of savvy...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2021/01/27/dc-statehood-activists/?arc404=true)** > > Thanks to a changing political calculus among leading Democrats, statehood isn't as far-fetched as it once seemed. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/259 "2021-01-28T04:31:58Z")
I missed this story four years ago: > **[EU Greets Vice President Pence With 51-Star American Flag - Washingtonian](https://www.washingtonian.com/2017/02/21/eu-greets-vice-president-pence-51-star-american-flag/)** > > Vice President Mike Pence walked on stage to a European Union summit in Brussels to a backdrop featuring a version of the US flag with 51 stars, instead of the traditional 50. The flag featured three rows of nine stars and three rows of eight stars,... ---
**Author:** ![damuriajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac8455/32.png) [@damuriajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/damuriajashi)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/260 "2021-02-04T21:21:55Z")
> [@Red\_Wiggler](#): > > Especially if Senate Dems man up and nuke the filibuster. Time for Dems to recognize that they have the majority of the country behind them and do the right things. Have you met Manchin and Tester? because what you think of as the the “right thing” their constituents might think of as the “wrong thing” > [@OldGuy](#): > > I can guess how happy Wyoming would be if all the DCers declared it as there state of residence and made it a blue state by about 2-1. I’d rather than those votes in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2021, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442/261 "2021-04-23T12:14:24Z")
The United States House of Representatives decided yesterday that DC can and should be a state. There appears to be five Dem senators still unwilling to commit to voting for statehood. I hope they don’t miss the twofold opportunity of doing the right thing while sticking it to the GOP at the same time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/statehood-for-d-c/921442.md?page=14)