The
District of Columbia
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is a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. According to the
Article One of the Constitution, only states may be represented in the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
. The District of Columbia is not a U.S. state and therefore
has no voting representation.
In 1871, Congress
reorganized the District of Columbia into a single territorial government that was partially elected. It also permitted the district to elect a delegate to the
House of Representatives
House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...
, a type of
non-voting member.
Norton P. Chipman
Norton Parker Chipman (March 7, 1834 – February 1, 1924) was an American Civil War army officer, military prosecutor, politician, author, and judge.
Biography
Early years
Born in Milford Center, Ohio, to Vermont-natives Norman and Sarah Wilson ...
served two terms as the district's delegate until Congress abolished the territorial government in 1874. The city went nearly 100 years without any representation in Congress.
With the enactment of the District of Columbia Delegate Act in 1970,
its at-large congressional district was established. Constituents are again authorized to elect a delegate House. The district has held 29 delegate elections in total.
In 2009, the
Senate passed the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, which would allow the district to elect a voting member to the House. However, an amendment added by
John Ensign
John Eric Ensign (born March 25, 1958) is an American veterinarian and former politician from Nevada. A member of the Republican Party, Ensign was a Congressman and United States Senator from Nevada; he served in the latter seat from January 2001 ...
would repeal most of the
district's gun laws and prohibit it from restricting gun rights any further. This took place eight months after the
Supreme Court's ruling on ''
District of Columbia v. Heller
''District of Columbia v. Heller'', 554 U.S. 570 (2008), is a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, unconnected with service i ...
'', which declared a D.C. gun law unconstitutional. The Democratic leaders in the House admitted that they could not support the bill if it included the Ensign amendment, and the never voted on it.
The majority of residents want the district
to become a state and gain full voting representation in Congress. To prepare for this goal, the district has elected
shadow representatives since 1990. The shadow representative emulates the role of representing the district in the House and pushes for statehood alongside the delegate and shadow senators.
The district has held 17 shadow representative elections.
The
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
has immense
political strength in the district; in each of the delegate and shadow representative elections (excluding the 1870s elections), the district has overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate, with no
margin
Margin may refer to:
Physical or graphical edges
*Margin (typography), the white space that surrounds the content of a page
*Continental margin, the zone of the ocean floor that separates the thin oceanic crust from thick continental crust
*Leaf ...
less than 33 and 56 percentage points, respectively. In two delegate and two shadow representative elections, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed.
Delegate elections
Graph
The following graph shows the
margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the runner-up in the 29 U.S. House delegate elections the District of Columbia has held, excluding the two during the 1870s.
Shadow representative elections
Graph
The following graph shows the margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the runner-up in the 17 U.S. House shadow representative elections the District of Columbia has held.
See also
*
Elections in the District of Columbia
**
**
United States Senate elections in the District of Columbia
*
List of United States House of Representatives elections (1856–present)
Notes
References
{{United States House of Representatives elections