D.C. Mayor Bowser says Harris would help make D.C. the 51st state

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser believes Vice President Kamala Harris will help D.C. become a state. “We have to deliver a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate and we have to keep focused on our democracy agenda, that includes the John Lewis Voting Act, D.C. statehood, and filibuster reform,” she says.

While D.C. residents are American citizens, Washingtonians do not enjoy the full rights of states. Residents of D.C. do not havevoting members in the House of Representatives and do not have representation in the Senate.

D.C. has home rule, which allows the city to have a locally elected government that can draft its own laws — but those laws can be overturned by Congress.

A November 2016 referendum found that 86% of D.C. residents support statehood, but the idea has not found adequate support in Congress.