Alexandria Mayor Alyia Gaskins is calling a congressional bill to make Alexandria and Arlington part of D.C. “silliness,” “ridiculous,” and a “huge distraction.”
In a recent Facebook post, Gaskins said U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick’s (R-Ga.) Make DC Square Again Act would upend the rights of residents in both jurisdictions. McCormick introduced the bill after the narrow passage of a statewide redistricting referendum on April 21, which gives Democrats the power to redraw congressional district maps for the 2026 midterm elections.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous and a huge distraction,” Gaskins said, “that someone would feel that in a democracy, where people are supposed to be able to voice their opinions, their perspectives by voting, that people would decide, ‘Well, if you disagree with me, I’m going to change the rules,’ or, ‘I’m just going to rewrite how this democracy is supposed to work, and I’m going to silence the voices of those who disagree.’ That’s not happening here in Alexandria. We’re not going to let that happen.”
In a release, McCormick said that the newly drawn Congressional map in Virginia would “make Democrat candidates favored to win in 10 of Virginia’s 11 congressional districts in a state that, absent the vote of D.C. bureaucrats, would have a substantial Republican majority,” and that the “retroceded areas of Arlington and Alexandria alone contribute roughly 250,000 DC votes in Virginia statewide elections, votes that belong to Washington DC.”
Alexandria and Arlington were ceded to the new 10-mile square District of Columbia in 1789 and were part of D.C. until they were returned to Virginia in 1847.
“Democrats have spent years manipulating maps and boundaries to rig elections,” McCormick said. “The Make DC Square Again Act restores the original ten-mile-square District and ends the artificial advantage Virginia Democrats have recently gained from all the federal bureaucrats moving into Virginia.”
According to unofficial election results, 51.63% of Virginia voters cast a ballot in support of the redistricting amendment, and 78.95% of Alexandria voters backed redistricting.
U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-8), who represents Alexandria and Arlington, called the bill unconstitutional.
“Virginia reacted to Donald Trump’s attempts to seize more power in the midterms by empowering voters to respond,” Beyer told ARLnow. “Republicans are so upset at this expression of popular will that they are attempting to permanently deprive hundreds of thousands of my constituents of their right to vote in federal elections. Their contempt for voters is breathtaking.”
