President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the Metropolitan Police Department in the District of Columbia has Democrats renewing calls for D.C. statehood, while Republicans cite the takeover as grounds to revoke Washington’s home rule.
Trump announced on Monday that he will, in addition to taking control of MPD, activate the National Guard in coordination with several federal law enforcement agencies to combat violent crime in the nation’s capital.
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Democrats have been quick to blast Trump’s decision to federalize the MPD, which is expected to last 30 days, as an unnecessary overstep of his authority, though Washington has unique control over the capital. The president’s move also has reignited calls from national and local leaders, as well as voters, to grant Washington statehood.
While city officials have pointed to D.C. police reports showing a 30-year decline in violent crime rates, the rise of crimes committed by juveniles in several Washington neighborhoods — some not even a mile from the Capitol building — has prompted the president to take action and “take our capital back.”
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), a longtime advocate for statehood, criticized both Trump’s federal takeover of Washington and his suggestion that Congress repeal the D.C. Home Rule Act, which would abolish the D.C. Council and the office of the mayor and effectively leave governing the district to Congress.
“Even if crime in D.C. weren’t at a historic low point, President Trump’s comments would be misguided and offensive to the more than 700,000 people who live permanently in the nation’s capital,” Norton said in a statement.
“Federal interference is the problem, not the solution,” she added. “The only permanent remedy that will protect D.C.’s ability to govern itself is enactment of my D.C. statehood bill into law.”
DC statehood starts trending again after Trump federalization
Nearly 700,000 voters in Washington do not have full representation in Congress. Norton is allowed to serve on and vote in committees, but she cannot vote on the final passage of legislation on the House floor.
Congress has exercised its power over the district more over the last few years than it has in decades. In 2022, then-President Joe Biden signed a law that overturned the D.C. Council’s overhaul of the criminal code that would reduce penalties for homicides, robberies, and carjackings — the three areas that the district suffers from the most. It was the first time in 30 years that Congress repealed a local law passed by the council.
Earlier this year, the latest spending deal slashed $1 billion in the district’s funding, reverting Washington to its 2024 budget as congressional Republicans began cracking down on spending. Trump has called on the House to take up a funding fix bill, which passed the Senate unanimously. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said the fix hasn’t made it to the floor yet due to the chamber’s extensive work on the “big beautiful bill,” but no plans have been announced to bring the bill up for a vote when members return in September.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that the president would continue to push the House to pass the funding fix bill.
The national Democrats and local activists have begun amplifying calls for statehood on social media as rallies and protests start creeping up across the district.
“STATEHOOD FOR D.C.,” the Democrats wrote on X.
The Free DC Project, which launched in January, has amplified the Democrats’ and many others’ posts over the last 24 hours that advocate for statehood. Several local groups, such as the NAACP, have urged “Hands off DC!” and “Free DC” at demonstrations and rallies occurring on Monday.
“Trump’s actions over the last several days are increasingly dangerous for the people of DC and for American democracy,” Free DC Project said in a post. “DC belongs to the people who live here.”
The activist group’s Instagram urged residents to “get loud” by going outside at 8 p.m. every day of Trump’s “occupation” of Washington and “bang pots and pans, sing, chant, or make noise for five minutes.” The group has also asked residents to make posters, flags, and clothing with the #FreeDC “visible everywhere.”
The national Democrats and local activists have begun amplifying the call for statehood on social media as rallies and protests start creeping up across the district.
“STATEHOOD FOR D.C.,” the Democrats wrote on X.
Though Mayor Muriel Bowser offered a more neutral response to Trump’s takeover than her Democratic colleagues, she did call the president’s decision “unsettling and unprecedented” during a press conference.
“We know that access to our democracy is tenuous,” Bowser said. “That is why you have heard me, and many, many Washingtonians before me, advocate for full statehood for D.C. We are citizens. Our families go to war. We pay taxes and uphold the responsibilities of citizenship.”
Republicans see opportunity to repeal DC Home Rule
Republicans, on the other hand, are rallying around Trump’s federalization of the MPD and takeover of the district. While the president has threatened to do so since he arrived in office in January, the assault on a member of the Department of Government Efficiency by a group of juveniles appeared to be the last straw ahead of the president’s declaration on Monday.
“Two of my staffers’ cars have been stolen. Another was stabbed in the throat while his car was being broken into,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) posted on X. “DC crime is out of control and local leaders have failed to protect the public. [Trump] is right to take decisive action and bring DC police under federal control.”
Some Republicans argue that Trump’s takeover of D.C. should serve as a warning to other Democratic-led cities.
“Hopefully what every other blue city mayor will do is look at what Trump’s doing here and change. I’m optimistic that this will show DC you can have safety,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) told reporters on Tuesday.
Others are hoping to see the federalization of D.C. extend past the 30 days. To do so, both the House and Senate would need to pass a joint resolution authorizing the extension, due to the rules of the D.C. Home Rule Act.
“You should be able to walk down the street with your little girl or your little boy and feel safe in any street in America,” Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) told reporters. “And that’s not the case. It seems like, over the past four years, our folks on the other side believe that criminals are good, police are bad, and no one cares about the victims. And there’s so much evidence.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) is advocating to get rid of the D.C. Home Rule Act altogether.
“We revoke DC Home Rule. We govern Washington through Congress, as the Constitution originally provided,” Lee wrote on X. “Our nation’s capital deserves to be a shining example to the world, not a national embarrassment.”
Lee and Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) introduced the Bringing Oversight to Washington and Safety to Every Resident, or BOWSER Act, in February, which would repeal the D.C. Home Rule Act.
When asked if Trump is interested in ending the DC Home Rule Act, Leavitt said Trump is “very much still interested in working with Congress to address many of the issues that have plagued Washington D.C., such as the cashless bail policy, which has been a complete disaster for the city. Juvenile delinquency is another major problem in the city that Congress can address.”
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Can D.C. ever achieve statehood? Unlikely.
The House of Representatives has passed the D.C. statehood bill twice: once in 2020, the first time in history, and again in 2021 when Democrats had control of the lower chamber. However, the real hurdle is in the Senate, where a 60-vote threshold must be reached in order to pass the statehood bill.
Given the GOP majority in the Senate, that statehood bill is all but assured to be dead on arrival if it manages to skate through the narrow margins in the House this Congress, though it is unlikely Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) would allow the bill to come to the floor. Democrats would likely need to turn to a discharge petition, but slim margins mean a few Republicans would need to join the minority in order to push the measure onto the floor.
D.C. is considered to be a solid blue territory, and its residents earned the right to vote in presidential elections in 1961. Republicans would be unlikely to support a measure that would grant D.C. statehood as the 51st state and likely two new blue Senate seats.
In the meantime, Norton and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) said they will reintroduce their legislation to grant the District of Columbia full control over the MPD and D.C. National Guard when Congress comes back into session in September.
“Trump’s raw authoritarian power grab in D.C. is part of a growing national crisis,” Van Hollen said in a statement. “He’s playing dictator in our nation’s capital as a dress rehearsal as he pushes democracy to the brink. While we continue to fight for statehood for D.C., Trump’s assault on D.C.’s autonomy makes it all the more critical that we give the District full control over its own National Guard and police department. This is not just about self-governance for D.C. – it’s also about preventing authoritarian overreach by a lawless president like we are witnessing today.”
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.