It is no secret that Washington, D.C., has pushed for statehood for years, but could this dream become a reality under the Biden administration? In an article written by The Guardian, the movement for D.C. to become a state is “bigger and better organized than ever before.” 

The U.S. currently has five territories: Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Besides American Samoa, the people in these territories are American citizens, who pay taxes and can even send a delegate to the House, but they do not actually get a vote. D.C. has better representation than the territories with the passage of the 23rd Amendment, which allows those residing in D.C. the right to vote in presidential elections. If D.C. can vote in presidential elections, why can it not become a state? The U.S. has had these territories since the 19th century, why can these areas not become states? 

In the article by The Guardian, it is argued that race is an issue for why these areas cannot become states. The article describes the residents of these territories with, “most of them people of color-effectively treated as second-class citizens.” The article goes even further to question if America has a true democracy, if so many people of color do not have a seat at the table but are a part of the American “empire.” I think it is very counterproductive and mindless that the territories can send delegates but cannot actually vote on any matters; likewise, it is even more senseless that D.C. can vote in presidential elections, but it is not an actual state. 

I do not think it is far off to describe this issue as an issue of race, but the overall picture here is that adding these territories as states would result in an upset of the “balance of power” that has been established. 

It is true that more and more states are becoming more blue or are becoming more red, but it is hard to deny that most states are set in their ways about how they vote. We still use the electoral college for a reason: it benefits traditionally red states. D.C. is a city and urban areas traditionally vote blue, and it should come as no surprise that last year, even though the D.C. statehood passed the House, there was absolutely no chance it would get past the Republican Senate. With Biden in office and these institutions now in Democratic majority, can we potentially see D.C. become a state in the next four years? I think there is a very high probability of that happening, but unfortunately I do not see statehood in the future of American territories. 

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