Mayor Muriel Bowser argues for D.C. becoming 51st state

Making Washington, D.C., a state, despite President Donald Trump's plan to overhaul the city, was a key subject when Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser was featured at a National Press Club Headliners Coffee and Conversation event on Friday, Feb. 21.

"We don't have the same rights as American citizens," she pointed out in a conversation with Club President Mike Balsamo of the Associated Press. "We are the same as American citizens. We pay taxes -- more than most, more per capita than any place in America. We're larger than two states. We're literally down the street from the Congress, but we have no representation."

The District of Columbia, larger in population than Vermont and Wyoming, elects a non-voting delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton. Under a 1973 law, the city gained its first elected mayor and city council but has limited "home rule." Congress can override its laws and budget.

"The question for us," Bowser said, "is how do we maintain the pathway to the 51st state? And why not? We're Americans. We pay taxes. We go to war. We have all of the responsibilities of citizenship but we don't have all of the rights."

Trump has described Washington as filthy and overrun with crime and homelessness. Bowser said Trump's impression was formed in the COVID-19 era during his first term. "The Washington he has returned to is coming back," she said. City figures show violent crime down 35% in 2024, compared with 2023.

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Andrew Ogles, R-Tenn., on Feb. 6 introduced legislation in each chamber of Congress to repeal the 1973 Home Rule Act. The Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident (BOWSER) Act is named after the mayor.

Still, the White House and the District have some common interests, Bowser said.

"The president is very focused on making our nation's capital the most beautiful capital in the world," she said. "And it turns out that's our focus too."

In other mutual concerns, the federal government has a big role in public safety and operating the city's national parks, she said, and requiring federal workers to return to their offices has an economic effect on the District and cities throughout the country.

When Balsamo asked about a shrunken police force in light of three officers being shot recently, Bowser said the city is keeping enough officers on the streets but at the cost of paying too much overtime. She plans to beef up a diminished force to a level of 4,000 officers.

Bowser also addressed the longstanding issue of the city's old RFK stadium property -- the District owns the stadium but it sits on land leased from the federal government for stadium use only. The lease was extended by an act approved in the Senate and signed by then-President Joe Biden in December, and the D.C. Council unanimously approved the extension. The House approved companion legislation this month. The stadium hasn't been used for regular NFL games for nearly three decades, since the Washington football team moved to a stadium constructed nearby in Maryland. The lease for that stadium ends in 2027, and the team has indicated it's looking for a new site to play in. The task before Bowser and the city council is to decide how to redevelop the RFK property to include a new stadium facility and whether it will bid to have the Washington team return to the District as its home base.

"Now we control it for the next 99 years," she said. As for the push to bring the Commanders back to Washington, "We are either going to have a great development with an NFL stadium or we're going to have a great development without an NFL stadium."

"Why we want the NFL to go there is because this is our team," Bowser said. "I believe that great cities have their sports teams, they have great entertainment, great arts and culture, wonderful restaurants, number one parks system, like us. So all of those things can happen in our city."