Home > News > Energy

D.C. vote in House might come with Obama

McCain opposes House rights

By Gary Emerling (Contact) | Sunday, November 2, 2008

Article
Comments ()

Legislation to grant the District a full vote in Congress for the first time likely would be enacted.

Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama and Republican opponent Sen. John McCain split along traditional party lines on the issue, but those lines have been blurred by growing Republican support for a D.C. House seat.

A significant number of Republicans in Congress supported a D.C. voting rights bill last year, but the measure lacked the 60 Senate votes needed to move forward.

Those votes might be in reach if Democrats substantially increase their congressional majority in Tuesday's vote as expected.

"I think Democrats are more likely to give it, because it's a Democratic seat," said Rep. Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia Republican and D.C. voting rights advocate who said he expects legislation granting the privilege to be passed soon.

Republicans have long blocked the District's efforts for full representation in the House, citing constitutional concerns as well as the fact that it would add a reliably Democratic seat to Congress.

The District is now represented by a single nonvoting delegate - currently, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat. Her office carries a full vote in committee, but not on the House floor. The nonvoting delegate position was reinstated in 1970, a century after it was created, according to a timeline on the Web site of advocacy group D.C. Vote. The position had been eliminated in 1874 after a local presidential appointee grossly misspent federal funds.

Mr. McCain, in a statement to The Washington Times, said the Constitution only allows for states to have representation in the House. D.C. residents cannot gain such representation unless the Constitution is amended or portions of the city are ceded to Maryland, he said.

"I do not support legislation to give the District a vote in Congress because I believe that such a law would be unconstitutional," Mr. McCain said.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, earned the endorsement of D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty in this year's Democratic primary, partly because of the senator's pledge to support the District's quest for congressional representation.