Washington DC's population is larger than the state of Wyoming.

[Imallin4Joe]

DC 705,000

Wyoming 578,000

Let that sink in for a moment.

DC needs statehood.

[soothsayer]

1. Yes, and here's from today's always-excellent Heather Cox Richardson missive

Snip

Republicans are furiously arguing that this is a naked power play on the part of the Democrats, for D.C.’s inhabitants are presumed to be Democratic voters. In response, those in favor of D.C. statehood point out that the Republican Party, quite famously, admitted six states in twelve months between 1889 and 1890. They were not shy about what they were doing. The admission of North Dakota, South Dakota (they split the Dakota Territory in two), Montana, Washington, Idaho, and Wyoming, Republicans said, should guarantee to the Republican Party a permanent majority. (They were so blatant that they convinced a number of Republicans to turn against them.)

But today’s vote to admit D.C. to the Union is not quite the same as the power grab of the 1890s for the simple reason that Washington, D.C., in 2021 has a lot of people in it. Republicans pushed for the admission of their six new states as quickly as they did because they knew that the 1890 census would reveal that the new states did not have enough people in them to become states (unlike Arizona and New Mexico, which did have a lot of people, but those folks supported the Democrats).

In contrast to that push to create states purely for political power, today’s D.C. has people in it. A lot of them. It has more people today than Vermont… and Wyoming, one of the states the Republican brought in in 1890.

[Imallin4Joe]

2. A history lesson, no doubt.

Thanks for posting that article.

[Celerity]

3. bigger than Vermont too, and almost as big as North Dakota and Alaska

[Imallin4Joe]

5. Nice graph. Thanks for posting!!

DC is close to the Dakotas and Alaska. Larger than Vermont and Wyoming.

To me it is a clear violation of DC citizens right to representation in govt by denying them statehood.

Again, thanks for posting that graph!

[Celerity]

6. yw! cheers

[brooklynite]

4. Not clear that there's anyone here who needs convincing.

[Imallin4Joe]

8. Very true..

When I posted this OP, I knew that I wasn't trying to convince anyone here on DU. DU is fully behind statehood, as far as I can tell.

Just trying to put some "teeth" behind the argument.

[mackdaddy]

7. And the population of Puerto Rico is bigger than 6 of these states COMBINED.

With a population of about 3.2 million it is bigger than any of these states listed by several times.

But no real representation for all of these US Citizens?

[Imallin4Joe]

9. I thought about adding PR to this OP..

I just wanted to keep it as short as possible.

I'm thinking about doing a similar OP on PR.

Your stats are correct and I will use them and give a shout out to you!

Thanks for replying.

[genxlib]

10. You're just counting wrong

They only count "Real Americans"

After all, the counting of slaves as 3/5ths was a compromise. The White Supremacist Caucus didn't want to count them at all.

[Imallin4Joe]

13. I fully agree and get the sarcasm!

"Real Murkans" translates to GOP voters, in their eyes.

[Darwins_Retriever]

15. No, the white suprmacist cuacus as you call them

wanted slaves to count as a whole person, it was the non-slave states that didn't want them counted at all. Hence the compromise.

[genxlib]

17. My bad

I shouldn't try to do history so early in the morning

But they do have a history of counting in the way that benefits themselves.

[flying_wahini]

11. If we dropped the electoral college and did one person, one vote it would be a lot easier than this.

[Imallin4Joe]

12. Yes, I'm so on board with this!! nt

[Kaleva]

14. So you'd deny representation to a few million if the EC was dropped?

PR has about 3.5 million citizens.

[Salviati]

22. Not really.

Dropping the electoral college for real would require a constitutional amendment - which would require 2/3 vote majorities in both the house and senate and to be ratified by 3/4 of the states.

Admitting new states only requires an act of congress, which even if you consider the filibuster, is way easier than a constitutional amendment.

[StarfishSaver]

16. True. But DC has a lot of Black people who count as only 3/5 of white Wyomingites, so ...

[Historic NY]

18. And no antelope.

[mwooldri]

19. Population of Monaco (a sovereign state): 39,242.

Population of Luxembourg (part of the EU) - 626 thousand.

Surely DC can be a state.

[George II]

20. Vermont too.

[jobendorfer]

21. I think a strong argument exists for Puerto Rico statehood as well

The population of Puerto Rico is larger than that of 20 states.
Please see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_states_and_territories_of_the_United_States_by_population

J.

[cstanleytech]

23. Should all the other cities with populations over 700k be granted statehood as well?

Don't get me wrong, I think the people of DC should have a larger voice in our country but I think that voice can be just as easily served by making the city part of Maryland or Virginia both of which they adjoin.
Now as for the next state I favor Puerta Rico being granted it as they do not share a common border with any other adjoining state.

[Imallin4Joe]

24. Cities are already parts of a state and their citizens are represented.

That's the big difference between other cities and DC.

DC residents have no representation.

[Zeitghost]

25. They would

if they were considered residents of Maryland.

[cstanleytech]

26. Making DC part of Maryland or Virginia would

grant the people there more than fair representation.
Personally I prefer Virginia as that many potential Democratic voters could have a potentially interesting impact there.