Non-D.C. Residents Are Especially Needed for D.C. Statehood

By: Miriam Edelman

D.C. statehood can finally occur as a result of collaboration between D.C. residents and U.S. citizens who live in the nation’s fifty states. By voting for statehood by 86 percent in 2016, D.C. residents expressed their strong desire for statehood. However, without advocacy of U.S. citizens across the country, D.C may never become a state.

Americans should not tolerate D.C.’s disenfranchisement. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) said, “All Americans should care. Well, they should care that they have a capital city that doesn't have the same rights that everybody else in the United States has.” She also said, “I think that when people find that they live in a country where the people in their own capital do not have equal rights, that brings shame and, beyond that, determination to do something about it.” Former D.C. Council Chair Arrington Dixon remarked, “[y]ou don't want to have people in your country who are disenfranchised and do not have a right to influence their… lives.” D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp said, “There is something unamerican about that.” Columnist Colby King remarked, “[T]his is the nation's capital. This is their Capital. This is the reflection of who we are as a democracy.”

Non-D.C. residents may feel that since they do not live in the nation’s capital, they do not have a role in D.C. statehood efforts. They also may feel that as they do not live in D.C., they would not be affected by D.C. statehood.

In reality, non-residents are crucial to D.C. statehood. As every non-13 original colony state became a state through Congressional bills, D.C. could become a state though the same method. However, as D.C. residents have one non-voting delegate in the House and no representation in the Senate, D.C. residents cannot request that any voting Member of Congress support D.C. statehood. Generally, Members of Congress want to hear only from their constituents. However, all non-D.C. residents are represented in Congress by one voting Representative and two voting Senators. Thus, unlike D.C. residents, they can and should request that their Members of Congress support statehood for Washington, D.C.

D.C. statehood would affect every American. Through statehood, D.C. would gain two Senators and one Representative. These three votes may make a difference in the current times of close Congressional majorities and major Congressional votes. During her four years as Vice President, Kamala Harris made the most number of tie votes in the Senate: 33. She broke the record in December 2023, after being Vice President for almost three years. On July 1, 2025, current Vice President JD Vance cast the crucial tie-breaking vote on H.R. 1 – the budget reconciliation bill.

Non-D.C. residents can encourage their states’ legislators to introduce and/or support state resolutions calling for D.C. statehood. For example, in 2023, Nebraska State Senators George Dungan and Danielle Conrad introduced Legislative Resolution 146,  a resolution that urges Nebraska’s Members of Congress to support D.C. statehood. The resolution’s powerful WHEREAS statements include:

“WHEREAS, as of 2021, the United States Bureau of the Census data estimates that the District of Columbia's population at approximately 689,545 residents, which is comparable to the populations of Wyoming (576,851), Vermont (643,077), Alaska (733,391), and North Dakota (779,094); and

WHEREAS, residents of the District of Columbia share all the responsibilities of United States citizenship, including paying more federal taxes than residents of twenty-two states, service on federal juries, and defending the United States as members of the United States Armed Forces in every war since the War for Independence, yet they are denied full representation in Congress; and

WHEREAS, the residents of the District of Columbia themselves have endorsed statehood for the District of Columbia and passed a District-wide referendum on November 8, 2016, which favored statehood by eighty-six percent;

WHEREAS, no other democratic nation denies the right of self-government, including participation in its national legislature, to the residents of its capital; and

WHEREAS, the residents of the District of Columbia lack full democracy, equality, and citizenship enjoyed by the residents of the fifty states; and

WHEREAS, the United States Congress repeatedly has interfered with the District of Columbia's limited self-government by enacting laws that affect the District of Columbia's expenditure of its locally raised tax revenue, including barring the usage of locally raised revenue, thus violating the fundamental principle that states and local governments are best suited to enact legislation that represents the will of their citizens; and

WHEREAS, although the District of Columbia has passed consecutive balanced budgets since Fiscal Year 1997, it still faces the possibility of being shut down yearly because of Congressional deliberations over the federal budget; and”

“WHEREAS, the United Nations Human Rights Committee has called on the

United States Congress to address the District of Columbia's lack of political

equality, and the Organization of American States has declared the

disenfranchisement of the District of Columbia residents a violation of its

charter agreement, to which the United States is a signatory.”

Dungan, who had lived in the nation’s capital, discussed the importance of “making sure people have their voices heard.” In addition, Conrad eloquently said, “I think that each state has a part to play, as do our federal representatives to try and correct a historic wrong in regards to the legal status of the residents in our nation’s capital.” Likewise, every American can play a role by urging their Senators and Members of Congress to support D.C. statehood.

Non-D.C. residents can also encourage their local legislators to introduce and/or support similar resolutions calling for D.C. statehood. For example, in 2021, then-Philadelphia Councilmember Derek Green introduced a resolution “[c]alling upon the United States Congress to admit Washington, District of Columbia as the 51st state in our Union.” Some of his resolution’s powerful WHEREAS statements are:

“WHEREAS, The City of Washington, District of Columbia (“D.C.”) is the only political and geographic entity within the United States of America whose citizens bear all of the

responsibilities of citizenship, including taxation and Selective Service registration, without sharing in the full rights and privileges of citizenship through voting representation in Congress; and”

“WHEREAS, The courts, budget, and laws that govern local decisions affecting the residents of D.C. must go before Congress for special approval, though the citizens of D.C. have no voting voice there; and”

“WHEREAS, The unprecedented violent attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6th of this year dramatized the dangers to the residents of D.C. from having no authority over their own National Guard units in preparing for and responding to extraordinary threats to public safety; and”

WHERAS, D.C. is a historically Black city, and if admitted as a state would be the only plurality Black state, raising the appearance that the unique resistance to D.C. statehood is related to our shameful national history of unequal treatment of Black and other Americans of color; and”

“WHEREAS, When the DC Council reviewed the work of that most recent statehood commission in preparation for the final vote authorizing the constitution and proposed boundaries, they concluded their report with the following: ‘Statehood is the only practical way that District citizens can participate in a fully democratic government as part of the United States. It is the only way to ensure that our local government will never be subject to a shutdown because of Congress’ quibbling over purely federal matters. It is the only way to give District residents local elected representatives to enact purely local laws that will not be subject to national debates over divisive social issues. It is the only way to create a justice system that is representative of, and sensitive to, our community values. Statehood is the only way to give residents a full, guaranteed, and irrevocable voice in the Congress of the United States- the same voice enjoyed by all other citizens across the country. Statehood is the most practical solution to right the historical wrong of denying voting rights to citizens of the District and to guarantee the right to local self-governance.’”

Non-D.C. residents can help D.C. statehood by expressing support for this major democracy issue by:

-          Contacting their Members of Congress.

-          Contacting their state legislators.

-          Contacting their local officials.

Like D.C. residents, residents across the country can help by:

-          Writing op-eds and Letters to the Editor

-          Educating their contacts about D.C. statehood.

Residents around the U.S., please help D.C. become a state. As your Members of Congress and other state and local elected officials want to hear from you, you could be pivotal.