The District of Columbia is a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States.[1] According to the Article One of the Constitution, only states may be represented in the United States Congress.[2] The District of Columbia is not a U.S. state and therefore has no voting representation in the United States Senate. However, it does have a non-voting delegate to represent it in the House.[3]
The majority of residents want the district to become a state and gain full voting representation in Congress.[4] To prepare for this goal, the district has elected shadow senators since 1990. The shadow senator emulates the role of representing the district in the Senate and pushes for statehood alongside the non-voting House delegate and shadow representatives.[5] The district has held 11 shadow senator elections.
The Democratic Party has immense political strength in the district; in each of the shadow senator elections, the district has overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate, with no margin less than 58 percentage points.
Shadow senator elections
| Key for parties |
|---|
Democratic Party – (D) D.C. Statehood Green Party – (STG) D.C. Statehood Party – (ST) Independent candidate – (I) Republican Party – (R) Umoja Party – (U) |
Initial
| Year | Winner 1 | Winner 2 | Runner-up | Ref. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| 1990 | Jesse Jackson (D) | 105,633 | 46.80% | Florence Pendleton (D) | 58,451 | 25.89% | Harry T. Alexander (I) | 13,983 | 6.19% | [6] | |||
Class I
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Other candidate[a] | Ref. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| 1994 | Florence Pendleton (D) | 117,517 | 74.04% | Julie Finley (R) | 24,107 | 15.19% | Mel Edwards (ST) | 15,586 | 9.82% | [7] | |||
| 2000 | Florence Pendleton (D) | 143,578 | 88.97% | Janet Helms (R) | 16,666 | 10.33% | — | — | — | [8] | |||
| 2006 | Michael Donald Brown (D) | 90,336 | 84.16% | Joyce Robinson-Paul (STG) | 15,352 | 14.30% | — | — | — | [9] | |||
| 2012 | Michael Donald Brown (D) | 206,911 | 79.78% | David Schwartzman (STG) | 26,614 | 10.26% | Nelson Nimensnyder (R) | 23,935 | 9.23% | [10] | |||
| 2018 | Michael Donald Brown (D) | 178,573 | 82.89% | Eleanor Ory (STG) | 33,016 | 15.32% | — | — | — | [11] | |||
Class II
| Year | Winner | Runner-up | Other candidate[a] | Ref. | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | |||||
| 1996 | Paul Strauss (D) | 107,217 | 76.01% | Gloria R. Corn (R) | 19,044 | 13.50% | George Pope (U) | 13,148 | 9.32% | [12] | |||
| 2002 | Paul Strauss (D) | 91,434 | 77.32% | Joyce Robinson-Paul (STG) | 13,966 | 11.81% | Norma M. Sasaki (R) | 11,277 | 9.54% | [13] | |||
| 2008 | Paul Strauss (D) | 183,519 | 80.82% | Nelson Rimensnyder (R) | 18,601 | 8.19% | Keith Ware (STG) | 16,881 | 7.43% | [14] | |||
| 2014 | Paul Strauss (D) | 116,901 | 76.41% | David Schwartzman (STG) | 15,710 | 10.27% | Glenda Richmond (I) | 10,702 | 6.99% | [15] | |||
| 2020 | Paul Strauss (D) | 251,991 | 81.17% | Eleanor Ory (STG) | 31,151 | 10.03% | Cornelia Weiss (R) | 24,168 | 7.78% | [16] | |||
Graph
The following graph shows the margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the runner-up in the 11 shadow senator elections the District of Columbia has held, excluding the initial 1990 election that had two winners.