District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser has called for a citywide vote to determine if the District should become the 51st state. Bowser argues that the residents of D.C. deserve full congressional representation.
“I propose we take another bold step toward democracy in the District of Columbia,” Bowser (D) said at a breakfast attracting hundreds of city residents, Democratic members of Congress and civil rights leaders marking the 154th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation of slaves in the nation’s capital.
“It’s going to require that we send a bold message to the Congress and the rest of the country that we demand not only a vote in the House of Representatives,” she said. “We demand two senators — the full rights of citizenship in this great nation.”
Bowser intends to follow a similar model used by Tennessee in 1796. Then, Tennessee residents voted to ratify a constitution.
However, the path to statehood would not be an easy one. To do so, the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution would have to be repealed, and Article 1 would have to be examined as well.