How the stars are aligning to permanently (?) rebalance power in DC towards Democrats: A SHORT THREAD (1/12) https://twitter.com/cnnbrk/status/1276589907658620931

1) The House-passed DC statehood bill, were it to become law, would structurally rebalance the US Federal government towards the urban coalition (Democrats) through the addition of two Senators who are all but guaranteed to always be Ds. (2/12)

2) While the Senate filibuster is an important tool that drives compromise in the upper chamber, as this article points out it also has a history of being used by segregationists to block all kinds of things. http://on.theatln.tc/7K8Teny  (3/12)

If you haven’t noticed, things that even appear to carry baggage from slavery or white supremacy are moving out of vogue at a rapid pace at the moment. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/25/us/master-houston-association-of-realtors-trnd/index.html (4/12)

3) Joe Biden has opened up a massive early polling lead over President Trump. It’s early but a win of this size would probably doom enough vulnerable Senate Rs to flip the chamber. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/25/upshot/poll-2020-biden-battlegrounds.html (5/12)

1+2+3 = bye bye filibuster (can be nuked with a simple majority) and hello DC statehood in 2021. (6/12)

(Yes a bunch of Democrats last year signed a letter saying they supported the filibuster, but we’ll see how they feel about this rebranded tool of white supremacy six months into a Biden Presidency when the only things getting done are through reconciliation) (7/12)

The Senate is structurally biased towards rural states; the addition of two purely urban representatives (and maybe two more from PR eventually?) and urbanization and diversification in places like GA and TX would shift that balance. (8/12)

The 2022 election cycle features multiple in-cycle GOP Senators who probably would’ve lost their seats in 2016 but for Donald J Trump, AND there will be redistricting coming out of a 2020 cycle that looks bad for Rs. (9/12)

Subtract out any 2022 first-midterm effects for Biden which are generally bad for the incumbent’s party, but you’re still looking at a 4-10+ year structural shift in the balance of power, even if the Electoral College does swing back to the GOP in 2024. (10/12)

With no filibuster, polarization will grow and the policy pendulum will shift wildly with election cycles, but a structurally more Democratic Congress could hold on to their gains longer. The next decade could end up looking a lot different than the last. (11/12)

In short: