House Democrats recommitted to D.C. voting rights Thursday as they chose their leaders for the next Congress.
A bill is pending in the House Judiciary Committee that would give D.C. one vote in the House.
It would also give Utah an additional vote — providing that state’s legislature agrees to a redistricting.
Bringing Utah in on the bill was a twofold compromise. It assuaged Republican fears that giving D.C. a vote would give the Democrats more power.
It also was designed to soothe Utah’s feelings after that state was denied an extra representative thanks to a glitch in the last census.
Some voting-rights activists have said they’re afraid the legislation will be lost in the Democratic reshuffle of Congress.
California Democrat Nancy Pelosi tried to dispel those worries Thursday at a news conference held shortly after her party nominated her for speaker.
She said she was committed to passing D.C. voting rights.
“I’m a co-sponsor of the legislation,” she said. “I’ll be supporting it.”
Albert Wynn, D-Md., said the voting rights bill would pass within the next six months — even with Utah given an extra, Republican seat.
“We’re practical politicians,” he said. “If that’s what it takes.”
Newly nominated House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., also pledged his support for D.C. voting rights.
“We believe that the country ought to take it as a moral cause to ensure the fact that every citizen of the District of Columbia has a vote in the Congress of the United States,” he said.
“It is the only capital in the free world that I know of whose citizens are disenfranchised.”
