NATION : Jackson Eyes ‘Shadow Senate’
Jesse Jackson today said he will run for one of the district’s two “shadow senator” posts in the September primary.
The shadow senators will be unpaid lobbyists for District of Columbia statehood, with no official duties.
Jackson, a two-time contender for the Democratic presidential nomination, said on Fox Television’s Morning News that holding the post would allow him to help “expand democracy” in the District of Columbia.
“That’s what statehood is all about,” Jackson said. “More people live here than five states, we pay more taxes than 10 states, we pay more taxes per capita than 49 states, and yet no vote on Capitol Hill,” he said. “It’s taxation without representation. It’s not fair. We deserve statehood.”
City voters approved the “shadow” plan in a 1980 referendum. The city’s only representative in Congress is a non-voting delegate in the House.
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