The District of Columbia is a political division coterminous with Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. According to the Article One of the Constitution, only states may be represented in the United States Congress. The District of Columbia is not a U.S. state and therefore has no voting representation.

In 1871, Congress reorganized the District of Columbia into a single territorial government that was partially elected. It also permitted the district to elect a delegate to the House of Representatives, a type of non-voting member. Norton P. Chipman served two terms as the district's delegate until Congress abolished the territorial government in 1874. The city went nearly 100 years without any representation in Congress. With the enactment of the District of Columbia Delegate Act in 1970, its at-large congressional district was established. Constituents are again authorized to elect a delegate House. The district has held 29 delegate elections in total.

In 2009, the Senate passed the District of Columbia House Voting Rights Act, which would allow the district to elect a voting member to the House. However, an amendment added by John Ensign would repeal most of the district's gun laws and prohibit it from restricting gun rights any further. This took place eight months after the Supreme Court's ruling on District of Columbia v. Heller, which declared a D.C. gun law unconstitutional. The Democratic leaders in the House admitted that they could not support the bill if it included the Ensign amendment, and the never voted on it.

The majority of residents want the district to become a state and gain full voting representation in Congress. To prepare for this goal, the district has elected shadow representatives since 1990. The shadow representative emulates the role of representing the district in the House and pushes for statehood alongside the delegate and shadow senators. The district has held 17 shadow representative elections.

The Democratic Party has immense political strength in the district; in each of the delegate and shadow representative elections (excluding the 1870s elections), the district has overwhelmingly voted for the Democratic candidate, with no margin less than 33 and 56 percentage points, respectively. In two delegate and two shadow representative elections, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed.

Delegate elections Key for parties

+ Year Winner Runner-up Other candidate Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % 1871 15,196 57.78% 11,104 42.22% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 1872 12,443 63.86% 7,042 36.14% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 1971 68,166 58.44% 29,249 25.08% 15,427 13.23% 1972 95,300 60.64% 39,487 25.12% 18,730 11.92% 1974 66,337 63.78% 21,874 21.03% 9,166 8.81% 1976 12,149 77.18% 1,076 6.84% 545 1978 76,557 79.59% 11,677 12.02% 3,886 4.04% 1980 111,631 74.44% 21,021 14.02% 14,325 9.55% 1982 93,422 83.01% 27,590 15.32% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 1984 154,583 95.56% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 1986 101,604 80.09% 17,643 13.91% 6,122 4.83% 1988 121,817 71.27% 22,936 13.42% 13,802 8.07% 1990 98,442 61.67% 41,999 26.31% 8,156 5.11% 1992 166,808 84.78% 20,108 10.22% 7,253 3.69% 1994 154,988 89.25% 13,828 7.96% 2,824 1.63% 1996 134,996 90.00% 11,306 7.54% 2,119 1.41% 1998 122,228 89.64% 8,610 6.31% 2,323 1.70% 2000 158,824 90.43% 10,258 5.84% 4,594 2.62% 2002 119,268 93.01% 7,733 6.03% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2004 202,027 91.33% 18,296 8.27% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2006 111,726 97.34% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2008 228,376 92.28% 16,693 6.75% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2010 117,990 88.94% 8,109 6.11% 4,413 3.33% 2012 246,664 88.55% 16,524 5.93% 13,243 4.75% 2014 143,923 83.73% 11,673 6.79% 9,101 5.29% 2016 265,178 88.13% 18,713 6.22% 14,336 4.76% 2018 199,124 87.04% 9,700 4.24% 8,636 3.77% 2020 281,831 86.30% 9,678 2.96% 7,628 2.34% 2022 174,238 86.54% 11,701 5.81% 9,867 4.90% 2024 251,540 80.09% 21,873 6.96% 19,765 6.29%

Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the runner-up in the 29 U.S. House delegate elections the District of Columbia has held, excluding the two during the 1870s.

Shadow representative elections Key for parties

+ Year Winner Runner-up Other candidate Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % Candidate Votes % 1990 92,764 73.53% 17,867 14.16% 15,535 12.31% 1992 135,592 69.96% 25,399 13.10% 25,035 12.92% 1994 104,532 68.65% 18,756 12.32% 14,147 9.29% 1996 111,413 83.37% 20,240 15.15% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 1998 86,546 76.75% 14,637 12.98% 9,479 8.41% 2000 120,700 74.53% 20,960 12.94% 15,382 9.50% 2002 95,159 84.71% 15,611 13.90% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2004 168,693 86.30% 25,077 12.83% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2006 82,759 77.47% 13,511 12.65% 9,700 9.08% 2008 187,362 85.87% 28,703 13.16% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2010 101,207 82.35% 11,094 9.03% 9,489 7.72% 2012 206,996 85.78% 31,190 12.93% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2014 114,073 77.61% 19,982 13.59% 11,002 7.48% 2016 252,992 97.33% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2018 197,299 96.94% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2020 240,533 81.60% 27,128 9.20% 22,771 7.72% 2022 151,182 83.63% 26,530 14.68% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;" 2024 267,661 90.75% 25,040 8.49% colspan="2" style="text-align:left; border-left:3px solid darkgray;"

Graph The following graph shows the margin of victory of the Democratic Party over the runner-up in the 17 U.S. House shadow representative elections the District of Columbia has held.

See also Elections in the District of Columbia United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia United States Senate elections in the District of Columbia List of United States House of Representatives elections (1856–present)

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