Washington, D.C. is neither a state nor a city inside one, it's its own federal district

Washington, D.C. is the capital city of the United States and a federal district unto itself. It is not one of the 50 states and does not belong to any state. Congress created it in 1790 from land ceded by Maryland and Virginia to give the federal government a home no single state could control. The short answer: capital city, not a state.

What D.C. actually is

Washington, D.C., officially the District of Columbia, is the federal capital city of the United States and its only federal district. The "D.C." does not stand for a state name. It stands for the District of Columbia, a jurisdiction the Constitution set apart from day one.

The Constitution itself created D.C.'s unusual status. Article I, Section 8, Clause 17 gives Congress the power to "exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever" over a district that would serve as the seat of government.

The District sits between the states of Maryland and Virginia, along the banks of the Potomac River. It was carved from 63 square miles of Maryland and 37 square miles of Virginia, though Virginia got its portion back in 1847. That's why D.C.'s modern shape looks like a truncated square instead of the original diamond.

Not a state, not a city within a state

D.C. is different from both a normal city and a state. A normal city answers mainly to its state. A state answers directly to the Constitution and federal law, with its own senators and a voting House delegation. D.C. sits between those categories.

Unlike states, Washington D.C. does not have full congressional representation. It has a non-voting delegate in the U.S. House of Representatives and no voting senators. While D.C. has a locally elected mayor and city council, Congress retains ultimate authority over the district's laws and budget.

Washington, D.C. operates as a state while also performing functions of a city and a county, and is treated as a state in more than 500 federal laws. But that's a practical arrangement, not a constitutional one.

How D.C. got its own elected government

On December 24, 1973, President Richard Nixon signed into law the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, which created a local government for Washington, D.C. The act enables Washingtonians to elect their own mayor and council, but Congress retains authority over the city's budget and has final approval on all legislation passed by the D.C. Council.

District citizens elected a mayor and council for the first time in the fall of 1974. Current Mayor Muriel Bowser holds that office today.

Presidential votes: yes. Congressional votes: no.

The Twenty-Third Amendment was ratified on March 29, 1961. It gives electors to the District of Columbia so that it may participate in presidential elections. The situation was partially rectified in 1961 with the 23rd Amendment, which gave the District's residents the right to participate in the Electoral College. However, the allocation of votes was not based on D.C.'s population but was limited to the same number of electoral votes as the least populous state. The amendment also did not address the issues of D.C. home rule, nor did it extend representation in Congress.

D.C. gets three electoral votes. The 23rd Amendment does not grant D.C. statehood or full congressional representation. D.C. residents pay taxes and can be drafted but lack voting representation in Congress. That's the core grievance behind D.C. license plates carrying the phrase "End Taxation Without Representation."

The population point that statehood advocates make

The U.S. Census Bureau's data shows the District of Columbia's population reached 702,250 residents as of July 2024. Washington, D.C.'s population is larger than two states, Vermont and Wyoming. Statehood supporters point to that number constantly.

The statehood debate, briefly

The main statehood bill would turn most of present-day Washington, D.C. into a new state called Washington, Douglass Commonwealth. The new state would have two senators and one representative. A small capital district comprising the Capitol complex, White House, National Mall, and other federal grounds would remain under congressional authority as the seat of the federal government.

In 1979, the D.C. Voting Rights Amendment, which would have awarded D.C. the same status as a state in Congress, passed both houses by the necessary two-thirds majority. In the end, however, the measure was only ratified by 16 states, well short of the 38 needed to take effect. The statehood push has continued ever since, running into constitutional and political roadblocks each time.

Sources

• DC.gov Statehood FAQ
• Brennan Center for Justice: DC Statehood Explained
• Smithsonian Magazine: The 1973 DC Home Rule Act
• Council of the District of Columbia: DC Home Rule
• Congress.gov / Library of Congress: Governing the District of Columbia
• Office of Mayor Muriel Bowser: 2024 Population Data
• Wikipedia: Washington, D.C.