The DC Democrats statehood committee held an emergency post-election call Wednesday, November 6 and provided the following summary statement:
Pundits will be analyzing what happened for weeks or months. But here's what we know:
We needed the Presidency, the Senate, and the House in order to move forward on Statehood.
We don't have the Presidency or the Senate. And we may lose the House.
Republicans have pushed anti-DC bills and rhetoric for over a year now, up to and including a bill to repeal Home Rule.
The threat is real. So what can we do?
We learned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expressed confidence that the filibuster will stand and promised "there won’t be any new states admitted to give a partisan advantage to the other side" - that last part definitely prompted some conversation including about Puerto Rico's 2024 statehood referendum.
We reviewed how incoming members of Congress fared on the Statehood Scorecard.
We remembered that there are so many upcoming opportunities for action, including advocacy at the Feb 2025 DNC Winter Meeting and World Pride 2025 in DC, GOTV for Virginia elections in 2025, and of course the mid-terms in 2026 as well as the 250th anniversary celebrations for our country.We identified a couple of opportunities for immediate action:
Help identify a PR firm to adapt our Statehood approach to this new post-election reality. If you have pathways to a firm or statehood-supporting individual, or want to team up with us on this effort, please reach out: statehood@dcdemocraticparty.org.
Volunteer to organize statehood education at the DNC Winter Meeting. Please reach out to statehood@dcdemocraticparty.org and our co-chair Jim Bubar will be in touch.
We need outreach leads to help engage our fellow Statehood supporters, improve these emails, and update our website with talking points, materials, and guidance to help everyone navigate a more aggressively anti-DC environment. If you're organized and love communication, we could really use your help. Reach us at statehood@dcdemocraticparty.org.
Join the next monthly call, Wednesday, November 20 at 6:30 p.m.: https://www.mobilize.us/dcdems/event/655269/
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