From today’s DailyKos Elections:
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have unveiled their own bill to grant statehood to Washington, D.C., following the lead of the House, where Democrats may vote as soon as next week to pass the “For the People Act,” which includes sweeping voting rights expansions, bans congressional gerrymandering, establishes a public financing system, and endorses the principle of D.C. statehood.
As of Thursday, a separate bill to formally grant statehood had 198 of the necessary 218 cosponsors needed for a majority in the House. In the Senate, 30 of the Democratic caucus’ 47 members have cosponsored the D.C. statehood proposal, so it still has a long way to go just to get every Democrat on board. You can find a list of supporters here.
Congressional Democrats also recently amended the For the People Act to include a clause that incentivizes states to acquire voting systems and technology that is capable of running elections using ranked-choice voting. While the provision wouldn’t require states use ranked-choice, it would make it easier for states or localities to choose to adopt it.
Of course, Senate Republicans will almost certainly use their majority to stop all of these bills from becoming law. However, by introducing and debating them now, Democrats can set the stage for a potential Democratic-run Senate to pass them if the party can also win back the White House and retain the House in 2020.