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According to the list of US states and territories by area, DC is 22 times smaller than the smallest state (Rhode Island). Despite this fact, there is currently a push to turn DC into an independent state. Why is this the preferred option to grant DC voters the right to vote in Congressional elections (they can already vote in Presidential elections), rather than simply merging DC into Maryland?

There is already historical precedent where a part of DC was returned to Virginia, so we know it is constitutionally permissible. Federal buildings could continue to be managed by the federal government, similar to how the current DC statehood proposal intends to keep them under Federal control.

Martin Schröder
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JonathanReez
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    Small is a geographic term in this case. It would be bigger in population terms than two existing states. – Jontia Jul 01 '20 at 18:33
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    @Jontia territory does matter when it comes to statehood. Being an independent state is more important when you have a lot of land to manage. DC is just a city and not even a particularly big one. Also, the current argument about statehood is all about voting for Congressmen, so joining Maryland will resolve it perfectly. – JonathanReez Jul 01 '20 at 18:53
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    @JonathanReez - You're not wrong, but the country as a whole cares more about population amounts than geographic size. Population numbers are used for allocating Representatives (and thus electoral votes), for example. And I believe that a lot of federal programs are on a per-person basis. Also, there are many other cities which are also their whole county. It's only one step beyond that to have a city that's also its whole state. Strange? Definitely. But feasible. – Bobson Jul 01 '20 at 18:58
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    @Bobson yeah, but then doesn't NYC have a good argument for statehood? Same for Los Angeles or San Francisco, if you follow that logic. – JonathanReez Jul 01 '20 at 18:59
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    I happen to live in a federal state, which is also a city, which is also a capital (Berlin in Germany). A few years back there was a push to merge Berlin and the bordering state of Brandenburg. One problem with the idea was the the people in Brandenburg did not want to merge, and one reason for that was that they thought that having the nations capital in their midst would diminish the importance of their own capital. I think major cities in Maryland would feel similar (also Brandenburg would have needed to accepts Berlins debts, which was a no-go, no idea if that would apply here). – Eike Pierstorff Jul 01 '20 at 19:06
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    @JonathanReez It's been considered in NYC and in parts of LA. But the argument here goes the other direction - it's not "big city/counties can become their own state", it's that "making a state out of a big city/county is plausible". This is all besides the point, though. Comments are supposed to be about the question, and it's a good question. – Bobson Jul 01 '20 at 19:09
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statehood_movement_in_the_District_of_Columbia#Alternative_proposals_to_statehood – Martin Schröder Jul 01 '20 at 20:01
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    @JonathanReez Though in this case, it's not splitting a currently existing state, but formalizing a currently existing population into a state. – fyrepenguin Jul 01 '20 at 20:02
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    @JonathanReez not really because the size of the area or population is not the start of the logical process. The starting point being the ability to vote for House and Senate members, which residents of NYC can do, but residents of Washington DC cannot. – Jontia Jul 02 '20 at 07:08
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    @JonathanReez - There are many things where size does not matter. This is one of them. People vote. Land does not. If land voted, Wyoming would be underrepresented by a factor of 80 compared to Rhode Island. But since representation in the House of Representatives is based on population, Wyoming is overrepresented by a factor of 1.8 compared to Rhode Island; even smallest of states receive one representative. – David Hammen Jul 02 '20 at 19:06
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    @DavidHammen adding DC would only increase the disparities, as states like Texas or California would become even more underrepresented. And if we're granting statehood to cities, NYC seems like a far better candidate, given its 8 million population (10x of DC) and international clout. In fact, there are 20 metropolitan areas bigger than the DC metropolitan area. So DC would become the 71st state if we're being fair. – JonathanReez Jul 02 '20 at 21:36
  • @jonathanreez “Adding DC would only increase the disparities, as states like Texas or California would become even more underrepresented.” Texas or California would still have massive clout if DC was a state, and adding DC as a state would rectify a much larger existing disparity in representation. Why would it be fairer to deprive the state-sized population of DC of any Congressional representation whatsoever, than to decrease California or Texas’s representation by an objectively minor amount? – Rivers McForge Feb 01 '21 at 08:05
  • @RiversMcforge they're not deprived of anything if they're a part of Maryland, which is the obvious and fair solution to the voting rights of a medium sized city. – JonathanReez Feb 01 '21 at 16:22
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    @JonathanReez Even if we ignore the fact that DC's political status as the seat of American government distinguishes it decisively from any other major metropolitan area, it's not a "mid-sized city" by any stretch of the imagination. Wikipedia lists 317 US cities with populations over 100,000, and DC is in the top twenty. 90+ percentile rank by size ≠ "mid-sized". – Rivers McForge Feb 01 '21 at 18:03
  • @RiversMcforge you would be interested in my other question that explores the question of whether cities deserve to be states. Let's grant statehood to NYC first if we go down that path. – JonathanReez Feb 01 '21 at 18:35
  • The point was made once, but I feel the need to reiterate it. I don't think MD want's DC! Not only would it arguably lower the voting power of any existing MD resident but there is also the matter then MD is effectively a democratic state (we have a very liberal republican as a mayor, but in all other elections we vote democrat), If DC merged with MD it would weaken democrats, as the 3 presidential votes that always go democratic in DC would be lost, and there would be no chance for DC statehood which could swing things further democratic. Politically MD is better off without DC. – dsollen Feb 03 '21 at 18:45
  • @dsollen luckily there's Puerto Rico that actually has a very strong case for being a state and would grant the extra Democratic Congressmen that the Dems are looking for. Hopefully DC will never become one. – JonathanReez Feb 03 '21 at 18:53
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    @JonathanReez It's not an either-or situation. The Dems would prefer both Puerto Rico and DC to become states, and likewise Republicans are the key demographic resisting statehood in both cases for the same reason. Both political parties are going to grab up as much voting power as they can, just look at multitude of gerrymandering that's done. Of course political party considerations are only part of the factor, but for many reasons MD is highly unlikely to accept DC, even if DC wanted to integrate with it, rendering that option moot from the start. – dsollen Feb 03 '21 at 18:56
  • @JonathanReez by "20" I suppose you mean "5," since the DC MSA is at number 6 on that list, not number 21. Regardless, DC would only become the 56th state "if we're being fair" by a very shallow definition of fairness. – phoog May 03 '21 at 04:18

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The bulk of the argument seems to be that DC is determined to have self-rule, rather than be folded into the existing political situation of another state. From this article

With retrocession, DC and its Democratic allies would permanently sacrifice the substantial power and clout that full statehood offers while Marylanders would invite a sizable political shakeup by adding a deeply blue city to their somewhat purple state. Also, while Washingtonians would gain true representation in both Congress and the Maryland state legislature, and would maintain a local government, the dream of true DC home rule would die with retrocession.

This was echoed by Former Mayor Muriel Bowser

The residents of the District of Columbia really want to forge a new path towards statehood. And we can start with budget autonomy, unhooking our government from the federal government.

And Maryland doesn't seem to like the idea either. From this 2016 poll *

Q22 Would you support or oppose Maryland annexing Washington DC?

  • 28% Support Maryland annexing Washington DC
  • 44% Oppose Maryland annexing Washington DC
  • 28% Not Sure

* Note that this was a general interest poll, and there were a lot of non-political questions asked

Machavity
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You seem to miss the really obvious answer. If DC becomes a state, it gets two Senators and at least one Representative. If it merges into Maryland, it just gets to vote for the Senators & Representatives of those states.

There are also cultural & political issues. Would Maryland even WANT DC back, given that it would exacerbate the current urban/rural divide, and perhaps* saddle the state with the costs of administering the city?

*I don't know exact finances, but a quick search suggests that spending exceeds tax revenue, so the rest of Maryland would see increased taxes.

jamesqf
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    So DC is being disingenuous when they claim they simply want to cast a vote for Congress and in reality they just want two "free" Democratic senators? – JonathanReez Jul 02 '20 at 05:34
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    Sure, if by "free" you mean won in an open and fair election by advancing policies that the voters of the region support. Local Republicans support DC Statehood as well, though wikipedia's source link is dead. – Jontia Jul 02 '20 at 07:20
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    Virginia got it's portion of DC back in 1847; the border between DC and Virginia follows the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac, rather than the center channel, but the same is true of the Maryland/Virginia border both upstream and downstream of DC. – user4556274 Jul 02 '20 at 08:38
  • @Jontia, the article linked from wikipedia states that the DC Republican party supports "budget autonomy and voting rights" (in their 2016 platform proposals), which is not necessarily supporting statehood. – user4556274 Jul 02 '20 at 15:05
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    Downvoted for "or more sensibly, into Maryland and Virginia (splitting along the Potomac River, which forms the rest of the border between the two)". That split occurred 174 years ago. What are now Arlington VA and Alexandria VA were once a part of a 100 square mile District of Columbia. – David Hammen Jul 02 '20 at 22:54
  • I believe more in the second paragraph than in the first. Arguably, Washingtoners would have more electoral national leverage by shifting the lean-Democrat state of Maryland to solid Democrat, with its 2 senators and 10 great electors (would be 11 or 12 with the inclusion of DC's population), than with 2 Senators and 3 or 4 great electors on their own. – Evargalo Jul 03 '20 at 10:39
  • @David Hammen: Now why was that never mentioned in history class? The books just mention the square ceded by Virginia & Maryland... – jamesqf Jul 03 '20 at 16:27
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    @DavidHammen Not to seem overly pedantic, but only parts of Alexandria, VA were part of the District of Columbia. If you examine Google maps (might have to zoom out some) you can see that Arlington VA is entirely in the original 10-mile square of the original District border, but that about half of Alexandria (the southwestern portion) lies outside of the original District border – Just Me Jul 03 '20 at 22:10
  • @JustMe - The original version of this answer, which I downvoted, read "If it merges into Maryland, or more sensibly, into Maryland and Virginia (splitting along the Potomac River, which forms the rest of the border between the two) ..." jamesfq, the author of this answer, wasn't aware that the portion of the original 100 square mile portion of the District south of the Potomac had been retrocessed to Virginia 170+ years ago. An earlier comment regarding the same wasn't specific enough to catch his attention. My naming names (Arlington and Alexandria), apparently did the trick. – David Hammen Jul 04 '20 at 03:04
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    I retracted my downvote after jamesfq edited the answer. That Virginia decided to expand the boundaries of the city of Alexandria after the retrocession is irrelevant. What is relevant is that the District of Columbia has been smaller than 10 miles by 10 miles square for over 170 years. – David Hammen Jul 04 '20 at 03:07
  • @David Hammen: Oh, the comment did catch my attention, I just didn't get around to correcting my answer right away :-) – jamesqf Jul 04 '20 at 17:27
  • "t gets two Senators and at least one Representative. If it merges into Maryland, it just gets to vote for the Senators & Representatives of those states." If it merges into Maryland, it would probably still have its own representative. – Acccumulation Feb 01 '21 at 04:21
  • @Jontia It's not dead, it just takes a while to load. Here's a direct link you can use: https://imgur.com/a/kbfXXKy – Lordology Feb 01 '21 at 16:44
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    @Acccumulation: Of course that depends on how the Maryland legislature decides to re-draw the Congressional districts. Sure, they could make DC a district of its own, but they could just as well apportion pieces of it among the current 8 districts. Or anything in between. – jamesqf Feb 01 '21 at 18:57
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I would imagine most of the Puerto Ricans who want to be a state don't want to be merged into Florida, and most of them who want to be independent of the US don't want to be merged into Cuba. DC is a distinct community, and there isn't much support for making it part of Maryland because it's not a part of Maryland. It's not like there a push to make Rhode Island part of Connecticut. And the whole point of having DC in the first place was to not have a particular state control the capital. Technically, making DC a state would mean that there's a state that controls the capital, but only because it is the capital. Also, according to the US constitution, adding DC to Maryland would require the consent of Maryland.

And it is a bit misleading to speak of DC as "wanting" something. That can be interpreted as meaning "the majority of DC residents", but if so, then just saying that is more clear. And it's really the US Congress' desires that are more relevant.

Acccumulation
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    Puerto Rico is 50 times bigger than DC, is located on a relatively distant island and has a much larger percentage of Spanish speakers than Florida. Completely different situation from DC, which is not even that big of a city in the first place. – JonathanReez Feb 01 '21 at 05:14
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    @jonathanreez Why is acreage so important to you in terms of who gets a say in their own government? Land doesn’t vote, so why does a small population spread out over a big territory deserve more representation than a big territory? This isn’t an abstract question—Wyoming has less population than DC, yet you seem to think it’s righteous for the people of Wyoming to get Congressional representation while simultaneously denying it to the people of DC. We can debate who should get more, but for one group of people to get none, not even indirectly, is an obvious injustice. – Rivers McForge Feb 01 '21 at 07:51
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    I think Johnathan’s argument was more along the lines of ‘merging something that’s extremely far away and has a very different population into the state that happens to be closest by light of flight is ludicrous (and is thus a bad example for what to do or not to do with DC)’. That said, even by population PR is five times as large as DC if I estimated the maths correctly. – Jan Feb 01 '21 at 13:08
  • @RiversMcforge Wyoming having that much influence over the Federal government is a historical relic that creates a massive imbalance against the people living in the largest states. No need to further deepen that imbalance, just merge them into Maryland instead. – JonathanReez Feb 01 '21 at 16:24
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    @JonathanReez Partisans of DC statehood would argue that it counterbalances, rather than "deepens the imbalance", the impact of Wyoming and other small, mostly rural states in the Senate and the Electoral College. It's also not clear to me that Maryland wants to absorb DC or that DC wants to be absorbed by Maryland, and why should two distinct political entities be forced to merge against the wishes of the people that live there? – Rivers McForge Feb 01 '21 at 18:08
  • @RiversMcforge for now it would reduce the imbalance as DC is a democrat city. But what's going to happen in 100 years when parties change up a bunch of times? The imbalance will only be fixed in the short term. – JonathanReez Feb 01 '21 at 18:32
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    I'm not sure DC having a distinct culture means anything. That's pretty much true of any city compared to the rest of the state it's in. When I lived in northern New York state the attitude was nothing like NYC. In fact it seemed like Albany and NYC are completely different from the rest of New york. – RWW Feb 08 '21 at 22:27