When Arlington/Alexandria were led out of DC (1846), the region had an internal vote, and their path was to annex themselves back to Virginia (not to create a state). Virginia had a vote at the state capital and agreed to accept Arlington/Alexandria back....if Congress would approve it. They did, and the deal was done.
One odd piece of history which rarely gets mentioned here. When the District was being designed, a lot of land speculation in Arlington/Alexandria played a role in them being part of DC. Along with that, they had this mindset that commerce would greatly increase.
This was a total failure on land speculation and commerce. Georgetown area of DC ended up the bulk of commerce growth. Virginia itself....also interfered with various projects which would have meant commerce growth for Alexandria.
Interesting info. Thanks. Some here have speculated that if its portions were restored to a statehood version of D.C. withe the district’s original 10 mi by 10 mi borders, Virginia might flip back to red. I don’t know enough about the voter registrations in those parts to have an opinion on this. Thoughts?
I believe the financier of the Revolution, Robert Morris, went broke on DC land speculation.
A main reason Alexandria politicians want to leave DC was because of some change in the slave laws. I think it may have been embarrassment at having a slave market in full view of downtown and reaction of foreign visitors and diplomats. So I guess if embarrassment over slavery was a good reason, maybe embarrassment before other countries whose capital residents have full citizen rights might make a good argument for DC Statehood since now they pay full federal taxes but have not vote on how their money is spent by the government.
DC and MD voters have no interest in a marriage (retrocession). If mostly Dem. northern Virginia rejoined DC, DC would have 2 Reps and 2 Senators. VA politics would lean more Republican, and might get one or two Republican Senators back.