DEL’ROSARIO: What We Protect When We Vote

There are cities that govern themselves without question.

And then there is ours.

We live in the capital of the United States, and yet our local laws can be overturned by Congress. Our budget can be revised by people who do not live here. At any moment, decisions made by District residents can be paused, reviewed, or rewritten by a body in which we have no voting representation.

This is the governing structure in which we operate. It may not be ideal. It may not be fair. But it is the reality we currently face. And that reality should shape how we vote.

In case we have allowed ourselves to forget, Home Rule was not granted as a right. It was a privilege that was fought for. Residents organized for years to secure the ability to elect their own mayor and council and to manage their own local affairs. The 1973 Home Rule Act expanded our authority, but it did not make D.C. a state. Congress retained the power to review and overturn local laws. It retained control over the District’s budget. The autonomy we gained came with conditions.

Those conditions still exist, and they have been exercised before, especially recently. Local policies have been blocked. Budget decisions have been altered. Congress has stepped into matters that residents believed were settled here.

That is why this election season carries real consequence. And understandably so, the desire for change is real. People want housing they can afford. Public safety that residents can trust. Schools that equip children with the tools to compete and lead. Most importantly, a government that feels present and responsive. These concerns reflect daily life across all eight wards, and they deserve serious attention.

But in D.C., even urgent reforms move through a structure that does not fully belong to us. When major changes draw national attention, Congress has the authority to respond. If reforms move forward without considering that possibility, federal intervention becomes a real risk.

When that happens, decisions that should be made here can end up being decided somewhere else. Residents have less say and local control becomes harder to exercise. And once authority begins shifting outward, getting it back is not simple.

None of this means we should avoid reform. It means we should approach it with a clear understanding of the limits around us. Because the preservation of D.C.’s self-government must outlast any single election cycle.

We know, better than most jurisdictions, that elections have consequences — not only in policy direction, but in how much authority this city is able to maintain over its own decisions.

As someone who grew up here, I do not want a city that avoids ambition. I want a city that pursues it responsibly. I want reforms that can stand up under scrutiny and endure beyond a single news cycle. I want a generation of Washingtonians who understand what makes D.C. different, who recognize both our vulnerabilities and our strengths, and who govern with that awareness.

We should want more for D.C., and that means expecting more from our elected officials. But that also means that we should be honest about the potential consequences of how we pursue it.

We must remember that we are custodians of a fragile inheritance — an inheritance secured by generations of Washingtonians who demanded the right to govern themselves in a place that denied them full standing. And that self-governance has always required vigilance.

The burden of higher office in this city is not simply to speak boldly, but to act wisely. The question is not whether one can be defiant. The question is whether one can move justice forward without surrendering dignity, without bending the knee, and without inviting retaliation that narrows the very autonomy we seek to protect.

When we vote, we are choosing what kind of D.C. we want.

A D.C. that governs itself.

Or a D.C. that waits to be governed by others.

We the people of Washington, D.C., hold this responsibility. The stewardship and protection of our self-government rests in our ballot boxes.

When we vote, we must do so with a clear understanding of everything there is to gain, and an equally clear understanding of what we stand to lose.