Full Congressional Representation for D.C. Residents

Issue Level: Medium

Issue: Many folks outside the Washington D.C. area aren't aware that residents of the District do not get to vote for a seat in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Many people (especially D.C. residents) agree that they should have those rights, but efforts to provide them have so far been unfruitful. The biggest problem lies in the fact that a very large majority of D.C. residents are Democrats, and the Republicans don't want to expand the number of seats in the House with a single new seat that would surely have a Democrat holding it. So, they periodically discuss adding two new seats, one for the District, and one somewhere else that is heavily Republican. So far none of those efforts have succeeded.

Policy Proposal: For purposes of Federal elections, treat the citizens of the District of Columbia residents as residents of the State of Maryland. Anytime the combined population of Maryland and the District exceeds the number required to trigger new House seats (or reapportionment), the combined group would be treated just like Maryland would otherwise be treated by itself. This will give District citizens one U.S. Representative and two Senators, like all other U.S. citizens.

Rationale: D.C. residents are U.S. citizens and should have the same voting rights as all other U.S. citizens, the District was originally carved out of Maryland, and the areas of Maryland around D.C. match the District with a majority of Democrats.