Can the president grant DC statehood? A look at the facts

WASHINGTON - At the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Mayor Muriel Bowser said a President Kamala Harris could help make the District of Columbia the 51st state. But is that even possible? 

Depends on who you ask, but before we get to how D.C. could become a state – why does it matter?

Washington, D.C. is a federal district. That means people who live here pay taxes, vote, and serve on juries and in the military just like citizens who live in states, but D.C. residents do not have voting power in Congress. D.C. has a delegate in Congress who can sit on and vote in committees but cannot vote on bills that are considered by the House. D.C. does not have a Senator. The Senate confirms people appointed by the president to do all kinds of jobs – from Secretary of Education to Supreme Court justice. That means D.C. residents have no voice in the national government. 

It also means Congress — where D.C. has no voting representation — has the final say on D.C. law.

That's why D.C. license plates say, "Taxation without representation."

There is one exception. The 23rd Amendment, ratified in 1961, gives residents the right to vote in presidential elections.

So that brings us back to the original question: Can the president help D.C. become a state and how would that work?

One camp says all it takes is a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate to pass a bill that gets signed into law by the president. Their argument? That's how every state in the nation got statehood except for the original 13 colonies. By that logic, D.C. should be no different.

The other camp says the only way D.C. can become a state is through a constitutional amendment – and that's a tall order.

That requires either Congress to propose the amendment with a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate or a constitutional convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Then it has to be ratified by three-quarters of the states.

This side argues that when the founders created a federal seat of government in the Constitution — Article 1, Section 8, Clause 17 if you're curious — they envisioned a district that was outside any state and under Congress' exclusive control. 

Constitutional amendment advocates argue that the only way to change the status quo is to change the constitution. 

They also point to the language of the 23rd amendment — granting D.C residents the right to participate in presidential elections. 

Constitutional amendment advocates say the 23rd amendment makes it abundantly clear that D.C. is a federal district and under the direction of Congress. The 23rd amendment would have to be repealed before making D.C. a state.

Opponents say the 23rd amendment doesn't specify the geographic region for the District. What if you cut the District down to the two square miles that includes the Supreme Court, Capitol, and White House? Then make everything else a state, which would cover almost all of DC's 700,000+ residents.