Dave LaRock, a Republican delegate in Virginia, has suggested that the northern part of the state be removed and its control be handed over to the District of Columbia, causing controversy.
The delegate’s statement stems from his concerns about Virginia being dominated by liberals because of the Democratic majority in the statehouse.
LaRock told the Winchester Star in an interview last week that some counties and jurisdictions in Virginia “are becoming more like California and New York.”
He added that he would support the idea of making “more liberal jurisdictions such as Arlington and Alexandria become part of Washington, D.C.,” while he wanted to keep Frederick County in the state.
West Virginia State Sen. Charles Trump had introduced Senate Concurrent Resolution 2 on January 10 requesting that the citizens of Frederick County consider joining West Virginia, referencing a 158-year-old invitation to become the state’s 56th county.
Speaking to DCist, LaRock said that liberal values that determine policy were very different in the concentrated areas dominated by Democrats, which is most of Northern Virginia.
In response to LaRock’s suggestion, WUSA9 released a public poll on its website, asking “Should Arlington and Alexandria be Gifted to D.C.?”
Suburbs in Northern Virginia have been populated largely by immigrants in the past 10 years more densely than previous years, which allowed the Democratic Party to take over the Virginia statehouse for the first time in two decades.