Calls for DC statehood grow after riot at US Capitol. How could it become reality?
The Wednesday attack at the U.S. Capitol has renewed calls for Washington, D.C., to become a state.
A mob in support of President Donald Trump — who has continued to tout false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent — stormed the Capitol as Congress convened to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College vote.
Rioters scaled walls, smashed windows, laid siege on the U.S. Senate chamber and reached the doors of the House of Representatives chamber as Americans watched scenes unlike anything seen in the United States in centuries unfold on Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers were evacuated from both chambers, delaying the vote certification, but they returned around 8 p.m. to complete the process.
One woman was fatally shot in the Capitol building and three others died of medical emergencies in the area surrounding Capitol grounds, police have said. Dozens of officers were injured, and at least 82 rioters had been arrested as of Thursday.
Push for statehood in aftermath
Shortly before rioters descended on the Capitol, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser had released a statement via Twitter calling for statehood.
“Washingtonians have waited over 200 years for the representation we deserve as American citizens,” she wrote.
Some advocates for statehood pointed to the deployment of the National Guard as a process that would change if the district were to become a state, The Hill reports.
The National Guard doesn’t operate the same way in D.C. as it does in the 50 states, according to The Washington Post. While states can activate the National Guard, the president is the commander in chief of the D.C. National Guard and the Secretary of the Army has command authority over the Army National Guard.
The Pentagon had approved a prior request for Bowser to deploy 350 members of the National Guard ahead of expected protests in D.C. But there was about 30 minutes of delay after she requested additional troops as the chaos broke out at the Capitol, Politico reports.
“A lot of questions were asked, little bit of confusion but as we worked through it we made the determination about a half hour later to mobilize the entire D.C. National Guard,” Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during a news conference, according to Politico.
Trump was hesitant to send in the guard, so Vice President Mike Pence worked the Pentagon and congressional leadership to increase law enforcement on Capitol Hill.
Following the riot, Bowser is again calling for making D.C. statehood a priority in the upcoming Biden administration.
“We must get statehood on the president’s desk within the first 100 days of the 117th Congress,” she said in a video posted to Twitter on Thursday. “Congress must immediately transfer command of the District of Columbia National Guard from the president of the United States and put it squarely under the command and control of the mayor of the District of Columbia.”
She also said she was “upset” that the district doesn’t have representation in Congress given the events of the day before, referencing lawmaker’s certification of the Electoral College vote Wednesday.
“I’m upset that 706,000 residents of the District did not have a single vote in Congress yesterday despite the fact that our people were putting their lives on the line to protect our democracy,” she tweeted Thursday. “We should all be upset.”
How would D.C. become a state?
Efforts toward D.C. statehood are far from new.
Bowser and the New Columbia Statehood Commission previously decided to pursue statehood through the Tennessee plan. The plan, started by Tennessee in 1796, has also been used by Michigan, Iowa, California, Oregon, Kansas and Alaska to gain statehood.
Under the plan, residents of the prospective state vote on statehood and ratify a constitution, according to the Government of the District of Columbia. That is then used to petition Congress.
The Capitol, White House, Supreme Court and other buildings in the National Mall would remain separate.
District residents voted in favor of statehood in 2016. But for it to become a state, a bill must still pass Congress and then be signed by the president.
House Democrats passed such a bill in June 2020. But Trump has rejected the idea, saying “DC will never be a state.”
“You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No thank you. That’ll never happen,” he told The New York Post in May.
Other Republicans have also argued it would make it harder to get majorities in the Senate.
But proponents of statehood have pointed out that the district has a larger population than some states — Vermont and Wyoming — and that residents pay the highest per capita income taxes in the country.
The renewed push for statehood is more likely to be successful under Biden, who has expressed support, tweeting in June “DC should be a state. Pass it on.”
Additionally, Democrats will have control of the House and Senate after victories in Georgia’s two Senate runoff races, meaning statehood would likely face fewer hurdles.
This story was originally published January 7, 2021 at 4:39 PM with the headline "Calls for DC statehood grow after riot at US Capitol. How could it become reality?."
