Nearly 80 percent of D.C. voters said yes to statehood

America&#039;s capital votes to become a state.

(Image credit: AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

published 9 November 2016

Residents of Washington, D.C., on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of becoming the nation's 51st state. NPR reported "79 percent of voters cast votes in favor of the ballot measure, which splits the district into a residential state with a small federal district in the middle of it for government buildings and monuments." The measure also includes the approval of a Constitution of the State of New Columbia and the guarantee of an elected representative.

Now that the nation's capital has voted in favor of the referendum, the measure will go to Congress and the next president for the final stamp of approval. Though Congress has the power to deny the petition, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has already pledged to have a petition for D.C. statehood ready to go by Inauguration Day.

Bowser said many of the district's voters are frustrated by their lack of representation in Congress. "We need equality, and the only way to get there is with statehood," she told The Washington Post.