In this special edition of Statehood Stories, we explore what it has been like for a native Washington, DC resident who is now living in one of the 50 states to gain representation in Congress after being disenfranchised while living in DC and why statehood still matters to her.
Name: Kelley Anderson
Occupation: IT Project Management
Hometown: Washington, D.C.; Currently residing in Mt. Lebanon, PA
Tell me a little bit about yourself. How long did you live in DC?
I was born in DC and left when I went to college at the age of 17. I’ve been away from DC for over 35 years now. In that time I’ve had the opportunity to live in Wisconsin, California, and Pennsylvania. I live just outside of Pittsburgh, PA now, where I’ve been for the last 20+ years. I am married with 2 kids and 2 cats. I am a Senior Manager working at a global IT consulting company. And my mom is Anne Anderson, DC Statehood Activist and organizer extraordinaire.
How did you come to move out of DC?
I went to college.
What highlights stand out for you about living in DC?
My favorite subject in school was history and DC is so rich in organizations dedicated to preserving history. We never had much money growing up, so, especially when I was a broke teenager and wanted something to do, I could always go to the Smithsonian. It was a shock to me to find that museums in other cities cost money, so much so that I was caught without enough cash on a college trip to Chicago to go to the art museum. I don’t think this is allowed anymore, and this was before C-Span, but when I was a teenager I really enjoyed going into the gallery to watch the debates on the House and Senate floors. The process in those days was you had to go to your representative’s office to request a gallery pass. Because I was from DC, I did not have a Senator to go to for a gallery pass. It took a bit of courage to walk into the office of a Senator who did not represent me, but I was a determined teenager and I would make the request.
Could you talk about your own experience gaining representation in Congress after being disenfranchised while living in DC?
Being the daughter of an activist, I learned early on that making your opinions known to your representatives is important. When I left DC the number of representatives I could reach out to expanded greatly. I now have city council members, county council members, state legislators, and federal Members of Congress. Our world is complex, with thorny, nuanced problems to try to solve. I am glad that I have so many hands to help make lighter work of these issues.
I was recently in touch with my city council about a resolution to not allow police resources to be used for immigration enforcement. Our County Council is considering a ban on masks worn by law enforcement officers. My State House representative is working on legislation that will address the affordability crisis by introducing tax credits for small businesses for providing health care insurance for their employees and by connecting people to various state housing rebate programs. My US House representative helped start the Monopoly Busters Caucus to take on corporate power that is getting their hands into too many everyday things they don’t need to be in, like kids sports, which are very expensive these days. I’m not happy with what my Senators are doing (or not doing, as the case may be) and you can be sure they are hearing from me. I have a much bigger team taking on the problems we face today than I had living in DC. It is empowering.
What does achieving statehood mean for you?
As Fannie Lou Hamer said, “Nobody’s free till everybody’s free.” The residents of DC are not free because they have no say in how their taxes are spent. They live under a system of taxation without representation. Furthermore, disenfranchisement is against the ideals that this country was founded upon. Our founders rightly believed that a government’s power is derived from the consent of the governed. Without representation, how can the people give their consent? If there is no way to give their consent, then it is the right of the people to change that government. This is all right there in the first two paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence that Thomas Jefferson wrote. Any person who believes in those ideals and wants to continue to form a more perfect union, as the Constitution states, will agree that DC should be a state. It is the right thing to do. Winning statehood for DC will be righting a 236 year old injustice. It’s about time we fixed this!
What do you think needs to be done to get closer to achieving statehood?
We in the 50 states need to put pressure on our Representatives to make DC a state. DC residents don’t have the power to get this done as our representatives will only listen to the people who put them in office and have the power to remove them. Now is not the time to press for passage of H.R. 51 and S.R. 51 because the current regime calls for organizing to save democratic ideals and practices. However, we should be engaged in significant education efforts and helping to preserve as much of Home Rule that we can.
Most people out here in the 50 states know that DC is not a state, but because it is treated as a state in so many things, like presidential election reporting, they assume DC has some sort of mechanism that gives it the same rights as a state. I talk to some very educated people who have been active in many issues, and they do not know that DC city council resolutions have to be approved by Congress. Education has to be our focus right now. Once we have a more favorable Congress and administration, we need to use the organizing muscle we are building now to stop this authoritarian breakthrough, to push for statehood for DC.
Is there anything else you would like to say?
My mom joined the fight for DC statehood in 1971, the same year I was born. So to say that I have been hearing about statehood all of my life is not an exaggeration. I’m proud to join her in fighting for statehood and I’m glad I am positioned in a state where I can do the educational work that is needed now.
[this interview was conducted in June 2026]