The Big Trouble if DC Becomes the 51st State

Could you imagine a president's family and staff being basically the only voters and then said president loses DC? I'm dead just thinking about it.

The president typically is not considered a resident of DC but instead maintains his or her residency from his original state, just like our members of Congress. This is why the sitting president always goes back to their home state to vote.

There would not be 436 representatives. The total is set by law at 435. The allotment would be reapportioned between the 51 states.

it may be easier to remove most of the federal district designation, return the land to Virginia and Maryland, and only have tiny enclave of a few federal buildings under federal control, not an entire city.

Fun fact: The Pentagon isn’t located in Washington DC: it’s located in Arlington, Virginia.

As someone who's lived in DC my whole life, I'm glad you finally covered this topic. However, not being a state doesn't just mean DC residents have no representation in Congress. It also means that the federal government can basically repeal any local law they don't like that we voted for ourselves (This has happened a few times and is pretty fucked up tbh). We also don't have our own state prison system meaning that people who are convicted are moved across the entire country to federal prisons.

If the issue was about representation, the residents of D.C. would be willing to join the State of Maryland or Virginia. There isn't any need for residential areas to be included in D.C. so an easy solution is to make the district smaller.

The federal district was carved out of Maryland and Virginia originally. The part across the river was given back to Virginia. If anything, the residents within the district should be considered citizens of Maryland as far as representation goes. Were out Capitol to ever move, it would be given back to Maryland and 10 miles square carved out of whatever state it was moved to. There's no provision to create a state out of what in essence belongs to Maryland. So no, it cannot ever be a state.

A correction. Carl B Stokes was the first elected African American mayor of a major US city in Cleveland. Cleveland at that time had around 800,000 residents.

⚠️ CORRECTION - With all due respect to Walter Washington, the first African American mayor of a major US city was Carl Stokes, elected in Cleveland in 1967.

The whole point of a district for Federal activity is that it is not a state, that it is under the firm control of the federal government. It was supposed to house federal institutions and not much else. If it has become too populous to do this, then most of it should be handed back to Maryland. Keep enough to work as it was designed.

The biggest issue with a state of Columbia is that it would mess up the nice even number of 50 states

Yes, the whole point of D.C. was so no state would host the nation's capital. Few people, aside from federally elected representatives and staff, were ever expected to live there.

Citizens of Washington D.C. get to vote for mayor for the first time, and they immediately vote in a guy named Washington EDIT: For the people saying that this is incorrect, 9:48 in the video blatantly explains DC residents were able to vote on mayor and elected Walter Washington.

The proposed area of the state of Douglas should just be given back to Maryland. All problems solved, all people should now be represented, and political parties maintain their "balance".

"One State to rule them all, one State to find them, one State to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them; In the Land of DC where the shadows lie."

Interesting fact, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands also all have non-voting Representatives in Congress and Puerto Rico has Congressional representation through a position called a Resident Commissioner who also does not have voting rights.

I'm not american so correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the whole point in DC not being a state was cause it was meant to be the neutral/apolitical administration area

The discussion of annexation of previous held territory made me think about how a lot of Wisconsinites want to 'take the Upper Peninsula back', mostly as a joke. But seriously it does bother some people that Michigan got the UP just because Ohio accidentally got Toledo and then refused to give it to Michigan. Like congress had to stop Michigan and Ohio from rallying their militias and going to war (The Toldeo War) so congress just was like, "Eh Wisconsin isn't a state yet so we will just cut off the UP from their territory and give it to Michigan." Seriously Wisconsin had so much of its territory eaten by every state around it... Illinois in 1818 was like, "Weeeeeell Milwaukee is technically closer in access to the Atlantic Ocean so can we please have the border scooted just up past Chicago so we can have our own port City?" then the railroads happened and Chicago became the biggest hub of transport at the time. AND THEN when Wisconsin was like, "Hey we would like to be a state and we were told that our Western border follows the Mississippi River to its source and then go straight north to Canada." They were handed a law to become a state that said, "Ha nerds you gotta stop at the St. Croix River, the rest of your territory is now Minnesota's." Funnily enough most Wisconsinites don't really want the Illinois land back because they're a bunch of F.I.B.s now and like Minnesota and Wisconsin are kind of like friendly rivals so they can keep St. Paul... BUT THE YOOPERS! THE YOOPERS SHOULD JOIN 'SCONSIN! Seriously they are culturally aligned with "Da Nort Woods" of Wisconsin, we both dislike the lower Michiganders coming up here drunk and boating, and honestly the UP and Wisconsin Border is basically invisible due to the amount of locations that crossover. However we can all agree... it is Ohio's fault.

Why doesn't Congress pass an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that creates a new form of "capital district"? This “capital district” could be treated as a full state without being called a state and would avoid the problem created by the 23rd Amendment.