Lawmakers rip Republican plan to make DC 'square again'

Source: Courthouse News Service

April 23, 2026


WASHINGTON (CN) — Democratic lawmakers from Virginia and Washington, D.C., are rolling their eyes at a Republican-led bill that would return some land east of the Potomac River to the nation’s capital, saying the measure would illegally strip hundreds of thousands of people of their right to vote in national elections. The proposed bill, introduced Wednesday by Georgia Representative Rich McCormick, comes hot on the heels of Virginia voters passing a referendum to redraw the state’s election maps in a way that likely favors Democrats.

If made law, the measure would undo an 1846 act of Congress that handed Arlington County and what is now the city of Alexandria, Virginia, back to the commonwealth in a process known as retrocession. The land was returned amid complaints that people living in areas that once belonged to Virginia had been disenfranchised when they were made D.C. residents — people who live in the nation’s capital are unable to vote in national elections and have no voting representation in Congress.

As he unveiled his legislation in a video message Wednesday, McCormick argued the retrocession law formed the historical basis for what he called a “warped” political system in the state of Virginia. “If you think about it, that’s what caused all this consternation right now in the recent law that was passed,” he said, referring to this week’s referendum on state election maps. “What we want to do is make D.C. square again.”

If McCormick’s bill — aptly titled the “Make D.C. Square Again Act” — passes Congress, the capital city’s footprint with Arlington County added would resemble a square. But Democrats from Virginia and D.C. have slammed the proposed legislation, arguing among other things that the Georgia congressman’s attempt to meddle in local politics was an exercise in futility. “Rich McCormick’s bill is an embarrassing legislative tantrum,” said Virginia Representative Don Beyer. “It’s also unconstitutional and a stupid waste of time.”

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