The riot that stormed the Capitol has renewed calls for Washington, D.C., to become a state. But it’s still nothing more than a power grab by the Democratic Party.
Mayor Muriel Bowser revived the calls in the wake of the riot, pushing for statehood in the first 100 days of President-elect Joe Biden’s administration.
“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 District of Columbia,” Bowser said.
It is nice that Bowser now recognizes that the National Guard can help maintain order in the face of violent riots, a fact she seemed to ignore when Black Lives Matter riots broke out last June. But her opportunism once again betrays just how partisan the issue of the district’s statehood is.
It isn’t about enfranchising voters: If it were, we would be talking about the retrocession of the remaining parts of the city back to Maryland. But retrocession wouldn’t gift the Democratic Party two senators. Creating a brand new state where 90% of voters are Democrats would.
This is something Democrats are now convinced they can do, thanks to their victories in the Georgia Senate race, but in fact, it would require a constitutional amendment. Even so, centrist Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia is already changing his tune on the issue. There’s no doubt this is a fight Democrats want to pick with their first taste of unified government since 2008. After all, who wouldn’t go to the mat for two free senators?
Democrats have been frustrated by the Senate for years because they fundamentally misunderstand the role of states in the federal government. Much like the Electoral College, the Senate does not bend to their “popular vote” victories, which angers a party that has become dependent on highly populated cities to swing them elections.
Democrats have shown they will never let a crisis go to waste. They want to capitalize on this riot by giving themselves two free senators in perpetuity. The district’s statehood remains a power grab by Democrats, who are far less concerned about representation than they are of safeguarding their new, razor-thin Senate majority in the future.
