United States Senate elections in the District of Columbia

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

U.S. shadow senator elections (Class I) in the District of Columbia in 1990

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

U.S. shadow senator elections in the District of Columbia from 1994 to present

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

U.S. shadow senator (Class II) elections in the District of Columbia from 1996 to present

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.

See also

• Elections in the District of Columbia
  • United States House of Representatives elections in the District of Columbia
  • United States presidential elections in the District of Columbia

Notes

1. For purposes of these lists, other candidates are defined as those who were in third place. Write-in totals are not represented.

References

1. Grogg, Robert (2013). "Introduction: Where Oh Where Should the Capital Be?". White House Historical Association. from the original on July 4, 2017. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
2. "Equal Representation of States in the Senate". Constitution Annotated. Library of Congress. Retrieved March 8, 2021.
3. Ellis, Jessica (December 9, 2022). "Does Washington DC Have a Governor, Senators and Representatives?". United States Now. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
4. Davis, Aaron C. (November 8, 2016). "District Voters Overwhelmingly Approve Referendum to Make D.C. the 51st State". The Washington Post. Retrieved December 24, 2022.
5. "What does DC's 'Shadow Delegation' to Congress Actually Do?". WUSA9. November 2, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
6. "DC Shadow Senator Race - Nov 06, 1990". OurCampaigns. September 16, 2010. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
7. "November 8 General Election". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 18, 1994. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
8. "November 7 General Election". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 17, 2000. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
9. "Certified Official Results Report" (PDF). District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 21, 2006. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
10. "General Election 2012 - Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. April 14, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
11. "General Election 2018 - Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 15, 2018. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
12. "November 15 General Election". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 15, 1996. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
13. "Certification Summary - Candidate". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 21, 2002. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
14. "Certified Election Results" (PDF). District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 24, 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
15. "General Election 2014 - Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. December 3, 2014. Retrieved December 26, 2022.
16. "General Election 2020 - Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. December 2, 2020. Retrieved December 26, 2022.