[AuH2ORepublican]

Instead of your point 3, I would declare the State of Douglass encompassing not just almost all of what is now DC (save the carved out “national park”), but also Alexandria, Fairfax city, Falls Church, Manassas, Manassas Park, Arlington County, Fairfax County, Prince William County and Loudon County from VA and Montgomery County, Prince George’s County and Charles County (plus optimalky Howard County too, although I don’t want to get greedy) from MD. The new state would e overwhelmingly Democrat, but it would turn what remains of VA back into a solidly GOP state and would make the snaller MD very competitive for us in state races. We would go from 4 Democrat senators and 0 Republican senators from the region to at worst 4 Democrat and 2 Republican senators; and our 2012 and 2016 EVs from the region would have gone from 26 D, 0 R to 16 D, 10 R.

[Vigilanteman]

Your solution is reasonable as well, maybe even better. What is neither reasonable nor logical is taking a 61 square mile district with a single industry and turning it into a state. That is roughly the same area as Staten Island (59), Manhattan (69) or Santa Catalina Island (75) in California, none of which would ever seriously be considered a state.

Or, to take your proposal a step further, super size Maryland all the way to Baltimore and Wilmington, fold the Eastern Shore south of the C & O Canal into Delaware and the Panhandle from Hancock and points east into West Virginia where they are more of a cultural fit anyway. Ditto for the Eastern Shore and Delaware south of the C&O Canal.