United States Senate elections in the District of Columbia

The District of Columbia is a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.[1] According to the Article One of the Constitution, only states may be represented in the United States Congress.[2] The District of Columbia is not a U.S. state and therefore has no voting representation in the United States Senate. However, it does have a non-voting delegate to represent it in the House.[3]

The majority of residents want the district to become a state and gain full voting representation in Congress.[4] To prepare for this goal, the district has elected shadow senators since 1990. The shadow senator emulates the role of representing the district in the Senate and pushes for statehood alongside the non-voting House delegate and shadow representatives.[5] The district has held 11 shadow senator elections.

The Democratic Party has immense political strength in the district; in each of the shadow senator elections, the district has overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate, with no margin less than 58 percentage points.

  1. ^ Grogg, Robert (2013). "Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?". White House Historical Association. Archived from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
  2. ^ "Equal Representation of States in the Senate". Constitution Annotated. Library of Congress. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
  3. ^ Ellis, Jessica (December 9, 2022). "Does Washington DC Have a Governor, Senators and Representatives?". United States Now. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
  4. ^ Davis, Aaron C. (November 8, 2016). "District Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Referendum to Make D.C. the 51st State". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
  5. ^ "What does DC's 'Shadow Delegation' to Congress Actually Do?". WUSA9. November 2, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2022.

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