The Georgia Senate runoffs sealed the fate of Democratic control over the U.S. Senate, albeit a tenuous control. With Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock set to join Senate Democrats, Kamala Harris -- currently the most liberal senator in the upper chamber -- will be the tiebreaker as she becomes vice president. Following the results, Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Browser wasted no time in renewing her call for D.C. statehood.
"Washingtonians have waited over 200 years for the representation we deserve as American citizens," said the mayor in a statement. "And it's not just the residents of DC who bear the burden of disenfranchisement."
The mayor went on to liken D.C. statehood to Martin Luther King's struggle to obtain civil rights for African Americans and called for legislation granting D.C. statehood to arrive on Joe Biden's desk during his first 100 days in office.
"With our seats at the table, we can help build back better than ever before," the mayor continued. "Just like the millions of Americans who voted nationwide and the thousands who organized and voted in Georgia, we are ready to build a more perfect union – one in which all voices are heard, one in which we work together to uplift families in cities, and suburbs, and small towns, and one in which the 712,000 residents of Washington, DC have full access to our nation’s democracy."
Statement on the path forward for making DC the 51st state in the 117th Congress.#DCStatehood pic.twitter.com/YoAhu8O7AU
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) January 6, 2021
The effort to make Washington, D.C. a state and give Democrats two additional senators certainly runs afoul of the U.S. Constitution, but that won't matter once Democrats pack the Supreme Court.
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