Last updated on August 23, 2025
Not yet a political party. However, we are advised that there at a recent professional soccer game in DC, held in a major stadium at some point a chant began. The chant was “Free DC!”, a verbal attack on the Federal government’s treatment of DC, notably the recent treatment of National Guard troops.
The chant was apparently loud and continued for some time.
19thnews.org in its coverage of the event also claims that it has been difficult to persuade grand juries to indict persons accused of interfering with ICE arrests.
8/23/2025 addendum: Our source on the ground reports: ”
Just as an update, the Spirit are playing on the road at Bay FC today at 4 PM Eastern, and it is expected that Bay FC fans will start a Free DC chant in the 51st minute in solidarity with Washington. Bay FC normally plays their home games at PayPal Park in San Jose (capacity 18,000) but is today playing at Oracle Park, normally home of the San Francisco Giants baseball team (capacity 42,300) where they are expected to set an attendance record for a standalone NWSL match, and possibly surpass the crowd for an NWSL-MLS women’s/men’s doubleheader in Seattle in 2023.
The Spirit’s next home game is next Sunday, August 31, at 4 PM. That is also Pride Night, which is usually one of the most popular home games of the year. We will see if the fans show up given what is happening in DC, and the fact that a large percentage of the fan base is immigrant and/or LGBTQ (with the latter especially prominent on Pride Night as you might imagine) and they may be afraid of being targeted by Trump’s goons.
[Addendum: Our person on the ground writes:
“I have some additional context regarding the Free DC chant at the Washington Spirit soccer game Friday night that you wrote about, as I am regularly at their games. First, the capacity of Audi Field is 20,000, -though they do not always sell the upper level seats for Spirit games and I don’t think they did Friday night. The official paid attendance was 11,691, not bad for a Friday night but below what the team has been drawing for games mostly played on Saturdays and Sunday afternoons. Whether that is because people were afraid to travel into DC or just because Friday night games are more difficult to get to than Saturday/Sunday games, and the 8 PM start is less family-friendly than the usual 7:30 or afternoon start, remains to be seen.
“The chant started at the 51 minute mark of the game, in reference to making DC the 51st state, and continued until the 52 minute mark, right around the time Racing Louisville (the Spirit’s opponents that evening) scored a fluky goal to tie the game against the run of play. Although the chant was started by the Supporters Section, pretty much the entire crowd joined in. The Supporters Groups had publicized beforehand that this would happen. The crowd was not deterred by the goal and immediately began a “Rise Up DC” chant. This has been the team’s rallying cry for some time, long before the current political situation, and was likely referring more to what was happening on the field than off. However, the “Free DC” chant was 100% a reference to the military occupation of the District.”
The boundaries of the federal core were defined very well by a 1902 project called the McMillan Plan, a rhombus shaped area that included the Mall, the White House, Congress and the federal triangle. A description of it can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMillan_Plan
This can become the new, compressed District of Columbia.
We tried chanting in 1968. Even after the LP became an actual thing, mention of its existence was Thoughtcrime. At UTexas my Government prof invented a Vegetarian Party as the butt of bad jokes. First campus LP meeting I walked into as an energy advocate was a complete surprise to me. What is the Washington DC libertarian Party doing? The news says this: “Former Libertarian vice presidential nominee Mike ter Maat and dozens of other members of the third party have joined a caucus within the Republican Party.”
If you are referring to the Washington Spirit game on Friday night, the capacity of Audi Field is 20,000, not 32,000. The official attendance was 11,691, which is not bad for a Friday night game, especially as fans, many of whom are immigrants and/or LGBTQ, may have been reluctant to travel into the District. (Of course, this is paid attendance – if someone bought tickets and later chose not to attend, they would still be included.)
One of these days the DC residents will realize the solution to their problem of no representation is to simply be included as part of Maryland’s census counts and Congressional districts, or alternatively move out of Mos Eisley DC into civilization.
While I agree, the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution would have to be repealed.
Not really.
23rd Amendment only gives them 3 electors in the Electoral College, and has nothing to do with representation in Congress. Different issues.
Congress can include DC in MD’s census count for an extra House seat by simple legislation. They already did that route once in 1970 when they established the DC Delegate to the House.
Not necessarily. The Constitution doesn’t specify a size for the district, such that it could be shrunk to the federal core, and the remainder of the district ceded to another state, maybe to Maryland, or maybe to a new state with counties from Maryland and Virginia.
As for the Presidential electors, it is up to Congress what to do with them. Possibly, those electors could be chosen by US citizens who don’t live in any state, such as territorial residents, military personnel and ex-pats living abroad. In fact, nothing in the Constitution prohibits Congress from expanding the eligible voters for DC electors even now. The language doesn’t restrict whomever Congress may designate as eligible voters for DC electors.
One cannot support both McArdle “We have a Libertarian president!” and Defend the Guard. The contortions people are using to avoid this are amusing.
Well, maybe a bit bigger to include the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court, and the Mall as far as the Lincoln Memorial.
The federal district should be shrunk to the federal triangle.