The House of Representatives may be ready to grow by two seats – one a new voting seat for the extremely Democratic District of Columbia, and the other a seat for reliably Republican state of Utah. A similar bill made it through the House during the 110th Congress but stalled in the Senate. It still faces a tough road, especially from senators who fear it’ll lead to a pair of newly-minted colleagues going to the District as well, but its chances for success are believed to be greatly improved after Democratic increases in the 2008 elections.
RBR/TVBR observation: You’d have to think that long-time non-voting DC Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) would be the odds-on favorite should this make it into law – and don’t count on it, because the Supreme Court may want to have a say in the matter – but if it does, it figures to be one of those seats where November results are a foregone conclusion but the primaries are humdingers. Come to think of it, that’s the way Utah is, too.
