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u.s. house of representatives
The Dems Could Have Shielded DC From Trump By Pushing for Statehood When It Mattered
As in so many arenas of American politics today, the Democrats’ inability or unwillingness to seize more power when the opportunity presents itself has led to disastrous downstream effects.
Aug 12, 2025
On Monday, August 11, U.S. President Donald Trump’s authoritarian gaze landed on Washington, D.C., the city of 700,000 people in the White House’s backyard. In a move of extreme overreach, he announced that he would be invoking Section 740 of the Home Rule Act, which gives the president the ability to command D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department for “federal purposes.” Trump claimed, despite much evidence to the contrary, that D.C. was in the midst of a crippling crime wave that necessitated a federal response. That Trump’s power grab is legally dubious and almost certainly outside the ambit of what the authors of the Home Rule Act had in mind is beside the point. Because of its lack of statehood, D.C. has been a sitting target for the right wing for decades.
D.C. statehood is often framed as a daunting, pie-in-the-sky goal, but making D.C. a state would only be as hard as getting a bill passed through Congress. D.C. could be granted statehood by an act of Congress, signed into law by the president, and immediately be given the rights to self-government which residents of all 50 states currently enjoy.
A bill granting D.C. statehood, HR 51, has already been introduced in this session by D.C. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. ( A companion Senate bill has been introduced by Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen.) In fact, bills granting D.C. statehood have been introduced consistently since 2017. In 2020, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter uprisings in D.C. and Trump’s deployment of the National Guard against protestors, the House of Representatives passed an act admitting D.C. as the 51st state. This bill, however, died in the Republican-controlled Senate.
These efforts have been largely ceremonial. Congressional Democrats should be well aware that these bills stand no chance of passing a Republican-controlled Senate chamber, nor is there any way such legislation would avoid a veto by a Republican president. The reason is simple: If granted the full benefits of statehood, D.C. would immediately become the bluest state in the country. (D.C.’s percentage of registered Democrats, 75%, is more than 20 points ahead of the next-bluest state by registration, Maryland.) That would mean two more reliably Democratic senators, and at least one more Democrat in the House.
If the shoe were on the other foot, it is hard to imagine the current Republican Party feeling any compunction about forcing through the establishment of a 51st state that would guarantee two more Republican seats in the Senate.
Instead of jumping at the opportunity to consolidate this advantage, however, Democrats have been gun shy at the prospect of pushing in earnest for D.C. statehood when the right conditions have arisen. In the first few months of Barack Obama’s first term in office Democrats held a filibuster-proof majority. This era is remembered largely for being the window that Obama and Democrats used to pass the Affordable Care Act. Democrats could have also used this moment to push through a D.C. statehood bill; no such legislation was introduced by the majority party in either chamber of Congress.
More recently, Democrats held control of both the House and Senate during the first half of Joe Biden’s term as president. Rep. Holmes Norton also introduced a statehood bill during that session of Congress, which passed the House along a largely party-line vote. However, the bill was not taken up in the Senate, despite Democrats’ control of that body. This had largely to do with then-Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema’s pivotal positions in determining what legislation had a chance at passage in the Senate. Manchin declared that he did not support the statehood bill while Sinema’s support was unclear. This effectively killed the legislation, which would have also required Democrats to make the politically risky move of scrapping the filibuster to realize D.C. statehood.
With inconstant support from Democrats in Congress, the statehood movement has stalled out again. While Democrats profess support for D.C. statehood, they have done little to prioritize it in practice. Their 2024 platform makes a single mention of the party’s support for statehood, and pins the responsibility entirely on Republicans for blocking statehood votes when, in reality, intransigence within the Democratic ranks shares equal blame in recent history.
If the shoe were on the other foot, it is hard to imagine the current Republican Party feeling any compunction about forcing through the establishment of a 51st state that would guarantee two more Republican seats in the Senate. As in so many arenas of American politics today, the Democrats’ inability or unwillingness to seize more power when the opportunity presents itself has led to disastrous downstream effects.
Now, D.C.’s residents are entirely exposed to Trump’s capricious and volatile brand of politicking. He has vowed to clear encampments of the unhoused, arrest children, and target the undocumented using the full force of the Metropolitan Police Department and the National Guard. He has encouraged police to brutalize citizens if they wish, and raised the specter of calling active duty military into the city. These actions are clearly designed to create a spectacle and shore up his strongman image, at the expense of 700,000 people who are American citizens without political recourse or representation.
Whatever happens in the coming days and weeks, it is important to remember that D.C. residents don’t have to live like this. The Democratic Party should put D.C. statehood at the front of its political platform, in 2028 and beyond, and ensure that no wannabe despot can ever use the city as his punching bag again.
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Texas AG Paxton Files 'Baseless' Lawsuit to Unseat 13 Democratic State Lawmakers
"This seat doesn't belong to him or me—it belongs to the people," one targeted legislator defiantly declared.
Aug 08, 2025
Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday sued former Congressman Beto O'Rourke and his political action committee in what critics called a "baseless" bid to oust 13 Democratic lawmakers who left the state in an effort to thwart a GOP gerrymandering scheme.
Paxton's office claimed that O'Rourke, a Democrat, and his Powered by People PAC illegally solicited donations to cover personal expenses for Democratic state legislators who fled Texas in an effort to block a Republican plan to rig the state's congressional map at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Paxton is seeking a temporary restraining order and an injunction to stop O'Rourke and Powered by People from raising or distributing funds to support the more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who left Texas. The attorney general argued that 13 state legislative seats "have been vacated due to continued unlawful absences."
"Democrat runaways are likely accepting Beto Bribes to underwrite their jet-setting sideshow in far-flung places and misleadingly raising political funds to pay for personal expenses," Paxton alleged in a statement. "This out-of-state, cowardly cabal is abandoning their constitutional duties. I will not allow failed political has-beens to buy off Texas elected officials."
This, after Paxton and Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows (R-83) asked an Illinois court to enforce civil arrest warrants issued Monday in a bid to compel Democratic state legislators to return to Austin to vote on the legislation. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) also enlisted the FBI's assistance to track down and arrest the absconding Democrats.
O'Rourke said Friday that Powered by People filed a retaliatory lawsuit accusing Paxton of using "the power of the state of Texas to try and intimidate Mr. O'Rourke from challenging defendant in a free and fair election."
"The guy impeached for bribery is going after the folks trying to stop the theft of five congressional seats," O'Rourke told KVUE. "Let's stop these thugs before they steal our country."
Targeted Democratic lawmakers also waxed defiant, backed by officials in the states to which they fled including Illinois, where Gov. JB Pritzer asserted that "there literally is no federal law applicable to this situation."
Texas state Rep. James Talarico (D-50) said on social media that "Ken Paxton just filed a lawsuit to remove me from office. But this seat doesn't belong to him or me—it belongs to the people."
Advocacy groups also denounced Paxton's lawsuit, with Brett Edkins, managing director of policy and political affairs at Stand Up America, contending that the attorney general and Texas Republicans "are so desperate to pass their partisan redistricting scheme that they're launching a baseless legal assault to unseat democratically elected lawmakers."
"It's just the latest threat against lawmakers who refuse to carry out Trump's demands and rig congressional maps to bank five new Republican congressional districts," Edkins added. "The courts shouldn't entertain this undemocratic attack for even one second."
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With Texas Dems on the Run, Vance Urges GOP Gerrymandering in Indiana
"We're in a knife fight for our democracy here in Indiana," said Democratic state lawmakers. "Trump is trying to bully the Indiana GOP into tearing apart our democracy."
Aug 07, 2025
Amid the specter of federal agents hunting down absconding Democratic state lawmakers resisting a Republican bid to gerrymander Texas' congressional map, U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday traveled to Indiana, where his pitch for rigging that state's House districts was met with raucous opposition.
Vance met with Republican Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, who was reportedly "noncommittal" about redrawing the state's congressional map. In a Thursday interview on Fox News, Braun said that Indiana has "become more Republican over time, and these maps probably need to be looked at"—even as he admitted that a mid-decade redraw not linked to the decennial census would be "unusual."
Indiana Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith, a Republican, took to social media to thank Vance for his visit and voice support for redistricting.
"Redistricting isn't just politics—it's about ensuring the voice of We the People is heard loud and clear," Beckwith said. "Indiana is proud to play a key role in shaping a stronger, freer future for our nation and as lieutenant governor I fully support this effort!"
According to the Indianapolis Star, protestors organized by the nonprofit group MADVoters booed for more than a minute after learning that Vance was in the State House. Opponents of gerrymandering, led by Democratic state lawmakers, staged an hourslong sit-in protest.
"This is clearly a power grab," state Rep. Cherrish Pryor (D-94) told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. "This is simply an attempt by the president to stay in power forever."
Julia Vaughn, executive director of the advocacy group Common Cause Indiana, said Republicans should be prepared for a legal fight over any redistricting.
"We will see you in court, Gov. Braun," she said. "Leave our congressional maps alone!"
More than 100 demonstrators also rallied outside the Indiana Governor's Mansion to protest Republican gerrymandering machinations.
Via IndyStar:Close to 100 people have gathered outside of the Indiana Governor’s Mansion to protest the state government, who floated the idea of redistricting the state in favor of Republican candidates.Indiana GOP already hold 7 of the state's 9 US. House seats. #indianapolis #hoosiersky
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— Noe Padilla (@noepadilla.bsky.social) August 7, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Republicans already occupy seven of Indiana's nine House seats. Any redistricting would likely target the state's 1st District, which is represented by Congressman Frank Mrvan, a Democrat.
"The Trump administration has recognized that their harmful policies to benefit wealthy elites at the expense of working families are wildly unpopular. They know that their only hope to maintain control is to pressure the Indiana General Assembly to violate the Indiana Constitution and redistrict U.S. House of Representative seats mid-decade," Mrvan said in a statement.
"My mission throughout my career as a public servant and as a member of the U.S. House is to advocate for the most vulnerable in our communities," Mrvan added. "Any attempt to redistrict now is simply an attempt to silence those very voices."
Indiana's other Democratic congressman, André Carson of the 7th District, said: "Redistricting attempts in Indiana are a power grab. It's unethical and the move of a dictator."
"We won't accept our democracy turning into a dictatorship," Carson added. "Attempts to silence our vote exist right now. We want our Republican friends to do the right thing."
Democrats in the Indiana House of Representatives also issued a statement, saying that "we're in a knife fight for our democracy here in Indiana."
"We're getting the word out that President [Donald] Trump is trying to bully the Indiana GOP into tearing apart our democracy—but we're not letting this happen without a big, public fight," the Democrats added.
Responding to the vice president's gerrymandering pitch, Brett Edkins, managing director for policy and political affairs at the pro-democracy group Stand Up America, said in a statement that "Vance didn't visit Indiana for a friendly chat—he was there on marching orders from Donald Trump to strong-arm and intimidate state leaders into rigging the electoral maps in his favor so that congressional Republicans can avoid accountability from the voters in next year's midterm elections."
"Hoosiers deserve leaders who listen to them—not bullies from Washington, D.C. doing Trump's bidding behind closed doors," Edkins added. "Gov. Braun and Indiana's leaders should reject any effort to redraw Indiana's political maps for partisan ends."
Republicans are weighing plans for congressional redistricting in other states, including Florida, Missouri, and Ohio, ahead of next year's midterm elections. Governors and lawmakers in some Democrat-controlled states have vowed to respond in kind, with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul saying earlier this week that members of her party should "fight fire with fire."
Vance's Indiana visit came amid an escalating standoff between Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled the state in a bid to stymie a vote on a GOP-grerrymandered congressional map and Republican officials who ordered their arrest and enlisted the FBI to help track them down and force them back to Austin.
"Let's call this what it is: a clear attempt to rig federal elections and cheat the American people out of a voice," National Democratic Redistricting Committee president John Bisognano said Thursday of the GOP gerrymandering push in Indiana and other states.
"Republicans in the Hoosier State have a choice," he added. "They can stand up against the authoritarian regime in Washington and help stop this attempt to steal an election—just as Republicans in Georgia and Arizona did in 2020—or they can roll over to Donald Trump, sacrificing the rights and freedoms of all Americans, and see the wall of resistance Texas Republicans are seeing right now."
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