What does a BIDEN Presidency look like?

[Josquius]

Considering the gains Republicans made among Hispanics in the last election, it isn't unreasonable to say Puerto Rico has a decent chance of sending a Republican to the Senate. PR probably has a better chance at statehood than DC.

I can't imagine DC ever achieving statehood, absent an agreement that, say, Texas splits into 2 states so they can send an additional 2 Republicans to the Senate.

Given Texas is currently inching towards being a true swing state might not splitting it gift one of the two to the Dems?
Unless there's some serious gerrymandering of course.

[Admiral Yi]

Given Texas is currently inching towards being a true swing state might not splitting it gift one of the two to the Dems?
Unless there's some serious gerrymandering of course.

It's a bit tricky to gerrymander Senate races.

[Sheilbh]

Merge the Dakotas. There is no justification for there being two Dakotas

Also the civil war is over - go back to one Virginia

[Valmy]

Given Texas is currently inching towards being a true swing state might not splitting it gift one of the two to the Dems?
Unless there's some serious gerrymandering of course.

It's a bit tricky to gerrymander Senate races.

True but when you are splitting a state in half you have a unique opportunity to do so.

[Barrister]

Merge the Dakotas. There is no justification for there being two Dakotas

The Dakotas are so nice they made two of them.

[FunkMonk]

Maine should return to Massachusetts.

Oklahoma should be divided in half, with one side becoming a true Native American state.

[Syt]

Reunite the Virginias!

[Admiral Yi]

True but when you are splitting a state in half you have a unique opportunity to do so.

Leaving aside the issue that the Texas state legislature would not be the body drawing the new state line, how does one split a purple state into two parts so that the splitting party gains an electoral advantage in state-wide races?

[Syt]

While at it, let's redraw all the states to make it more equitable when it comes to representation.

[Admiral Yi]

Annex American Samoa and Guam to Hawaii.

Am I forgetting one?   American Marshall Islands or something?

[Barrister]

Annex American Samoa and Guam to Hawaii.

Am I forgetting one?   American Marshall Islands or something?

Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands?

[Admiral Yi]

Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands?

By "one" I meant Pacific territories.  Annexing US VI to Hawaii would be stoopid.

[Tonitrus]

Ya'll need to give up on splitting/combining States.  The requirements to do that make it probably the most impossible/unlikely to happen mechanism in the Constitution.

[alfred russel]

If the democrats want to play hardball they should add 100 states, each of which is about a block or so of DC.

[Valmy]

Annex American Samoa and Guam to Hawaii.

Am I forgetting one?   American Marshall Islands or something?

Ok there are five inhabited territories with various statuses:

Puerto Rico 3.2 million people
Guam 168K people
US Virgin Islands 106K people
Northern Mariana Islands 51K people
American Samoa 49K people

My idea to handle the problem was this:

Create two new states: a Pacific one (combining Guam, Northern Marianas, and American Samoa) and a Caribbean one (combining Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands) and then let them draw out their constitutions deciding how each area is to be represented in the congress, locally governed, and how to divide their electoral votes.

Then I would give all of DC, except for the federal buildings themselves and places like the national mall, back to Maryland.

Then expand the House of Representatives by 100 members.

And that, to me, would guarantee that everybody in the United States had representation in our federal government.