For more than 25 years, I had no representation in Congress because I lived in DC. That’s changed because of my caregiving responsibilities, so it will be bittersweet on Tuesday when I cast a straight Democratic ballot in Conway, NH. Yes, I have representation now, but that doesn’t change anything for my wife, friends, and former colleagues and neighbors in DC. A territory in the United States with more than 700,000 residents,1 DC has more people than Vermont and Wyoming. That’s why its license plates read “Taxation without Representation.” Other DC PR work has included these 2006 posters.2

Digital political poster for voting rights with a teacher reading to three children. Text: 'Trusted with kids, not with a vote Chandrai Jackson-Saunders has been teaching and counseling students in D.C. public schools for 17 years. She has lived in Washington, D.C. all her life. She pays federal taxes. Yet, like all 600,000 D.C. residents, Chandrai is denied a vote in Congress'
Photograph shows political poster for voting rights with two fire fighters: Larry Chapman of Washington, D.C., and Jayme Heflin of Maryland. Text: 'Both will save your life. Only one has a vote in Congress Washington, DC's nearly 600,000 residents include firefighters, nurses, teachers and small business owners. They pay federal taxes like all Americans, but are denied representation in Congress. That's taxation without representation - and it's still wrong'

Rubbing DC residents' noses in it, representatives sent by the rest of the country interfere in the city’s local life.3 In particular, Republicans who don’t approve of local measures or have a social experiment in mind can interfere with local policies. I remember school vouchers and condoms for high school students. Democrats are not immune to such behavior either, however, as this 2023 tweet by President Biden demonstrates.4

I support D.C. Statehood and home-rule—but I don’t support some of the changes D.C. Council put forward over the Mayor’s objections—such as lowering penalties for carjackings.

If the Senate votes to overturn what D.C. Council did—I’ll sign it.

  1. DC Statehood website. ↩︎

  2. “Trusted with kids, not with a vote…” (DC Vote, 2006), Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010650572/; “Both will save your life. Only one has a vote in Congress…” (DC Vote, 2006), https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010650571/. ↩︎

  3. Ike Allen, “A History of Congress Messing With DC: 50 years of home rule—and federal meddling," Washingtonian, November 8, 2023. ↩︎

  4. President Biden will allow Congress to overturn new D.C. crime law, NPR, March 2, 2023. ↩︎