Democratic candidate Joe Biden has strongly endorsed statehood for both Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.
If he wins the November election, he may sweep into power with a Democrat-led House and Senate, giving his party the ability to make state extended statehood a fact.
Adding one or two new and Democrat states could be cataclysmic for the GOP’s future in controlling Congress and future presidential elections.
Statehood for both Puerto Rico and the District would add four senators to Congress, all likely to be Democrats.
“Electorally speaking, it would be an earth-changing event,” Tampa Bay-based political consultant Anthony Pedicini said of the possibility of two new states becoming part of the country. “It would change the game and majorly upset the electoral balance of the U.S.”
Trump 2020 advisory board member Jason Meister told Newsmax that if Democrats push forward with their radical agenda “Republicans will never win another election.”
“The American people have to understand that this election is the most consequential election in modern history,” he said. “If the Democrats win, they are going to pack the courts, nuke the filibuster, end the Electoral College, and make D.C. and Puerto Rico states.”
Roadway to statehood
Lawmakers have already started to lay the groundwork for granting statehood to D.C. and Puerto Rico.
On June 26, the House voted 232-180 to add Washington, D.C. as the 51st state.
Under the plan, the National Mall, the White House, Capitol Hill, and several other pieces of federal property would continue to be under congressional jurisdiction. The rest of the capital would become a new state.
In a 2016 referendum on statehood, D.C. voters backed statehood by an overhwelming majority, rhoughly 86 percent to 14 percent.
Biden has expressed his support for the capital, which has a population of about 720,000 and votes overwhelmingly Democratic, becoming a state.
Trump has vehemently opposed the idea.
Back in May, the president told the New York Post that D.C. would never become a state.
“You mean District of Columbia, a state? Why? So we can have two more Democratic — Democrat senators and five more congressmen? No, thank you. That’ll never happen,” Trump said.
The White House also announced it would veto any bill welcoming D.C. in as a state if it were to take it through the Senate.
Plans for Puerto Rico to follow suit -- it's been a U.S. territory since 1898 -- are also in the works.
On Election Day, Puerto Ricans, who have been considered U.S. citizens since 1917, will cast their votes on a referendum regarding statehood.
If the majority want to join the U.S., the territory can file a petition for statehood.
Currently, Puerto Ricans are not permitted to vote in presidential general elections and they do not have any representation in Congress.
If Congress passes a resolution granting statehood for the island, it'll join the Union. Now considered a commonwealth under local self-governance, the island also benefits from some tax and other exemptions that presumably could disappear with statehood.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told MSNBC that “everything is on the table” if Democrats win back the Senate, including granting statehood to D.C. and Puerto Rico.
“I would — believe me, on D.C. and Puerto Rico, particularly if Puerto Rico votes for it, D.C. already has voted for it and wants it. I’d love to make them states,” he told host Joy Reid.
Determining Representation
If two states are added to the union, the number of senators will increase from 100 to 104, as each state receives two senators.
According to the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, Puerto Rico, which has a population of more than 3 million people, would receive four representatives who would serve in the House. D.C. would receive one seat based on population count.
The House would remain at 435 representatives, according to UVA’s Center for Politics.
Each state automatically receives one seat in the House. The rest are divided based on population via an apportionment method known as Equal Proportions.
If the number of seats isn’t increased, that means five states will have to lose a seat to compensate for the new ones.
States likely impacted by the change would be New York, Florida, Texas, Montana and Illinois.
If statehood occurs after the planned 2020 apportionment of the House, the number of representatives will total 440 until 2030. A similar situation occurred when Alaska and Hawaii were added to the union.
Political Implications
According to Meister, the addition of the states would effectively eliminate the country’s two-party system.
If Puerto Rico and D.C. are granted statehood, Meister said, “America, as we know it, is gone.”
This summer, Republican Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona warned of the dangerous implications of a Democrat takeover in an interview with NBC News.
"They're going to make D.C. and Puerto Rico a state and get four new Democrat senators,” she said. “We'd never get the Senate back again.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has also warned about the Democrats' plans to win more representation.
"They want to nuke the Senate to pack the Senate,” he said during a recent floor speech, in which he predicted the Democrats would eliminate the filibuster as a way to easily make D.C. a state. “It is naked politics."
He called out a “coalition of left-wing special interests” that are “explicitly campaigning for, quote, '51 for 51.'"
"They want senators to vandalize the rules to pass legislation with a simple majority, and then use that ill-gotten power to cement a presumed advantage by awarding the District of Columbia two seats,” he said.