Why does a Ga. congressman want to add Alexandria and Arlington to DC?

A Republican congressman from Georgia is proposing a dramatic reshaping of the nation’s capital — by folding two of Northern Virginia’s largest cities into Washington DC.

Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said Wednesday his “Make DC Square Again Act” would “restore” Virginia, which he claimed was “hijacked” by redistricting that voters approved earlier this week.

Here's what to know about his legislation introduced Wednesday.

What is the Make DC Square Again Act?

The act would undo the 1846 decision that removed Arlington and Alexandria from Washington DC, thus folding the cities back into the capital.

"This will restore DC’s original boundaries established by the Residence Act of 1790," McCormick said Wednesday.

But reversing that decision — known as the retrocession of Alexandria — would require approval from Congress and local lawmakers, making the proposal a long shot.

McCormick said Arlington and Alexandria "were always meant to be a part of DC," and his legislation would repeal what he calls an "unconstitutional error."

“The Constitution never authorized Congress to carve pieces out of the federal District and hand them back to a state,” McCormick said. “Democrats have spent years manipulating maps and boundaries to rig elections. The Make DC Square Again Act restores the original ten-mile-square District and ends the artificial advantage Virginia Democrats have recently gained from all the federal bureaucrats moving into Virginia.”

Legal scholars and historians have long debated the retrocession’s constitutionality, but it has been treated as settled law for nearly two centuries, and there is little indication Virginia officials would support reversing it.

Why does a Georgia congressman want to reshape Washington DC?

McCormick's proposal comes after Virginia approved a measure that would redraw the state's congressional map, which would benefit Democrats' ambitions ahead of the midterm elections.

The vote, which President Donald Trump has since called "rigged," was later blocked by a Virginia state judge.

McCormick suggested his plan to "restore" DC would have avoided the redistricting battle by taking two of Northern Virginia’s largest jurisdictions out of the state’s map.

Rep. Don Beyer, a Democrat who represents the 8th District of Virginia that includes Alexandria and Arlington, called McCormick's bill "an embarrassing legislative tantrum."

"It is also unconstitutional, and a stupid waste of time," Beyer said in a statement. "Republicans upset about the passage of Virginia's redistricting referendum should stop whining, as they have no one to blame but themselves."

How big is Washington DC?

The nation's capital is about 68 square miles, well under the maximum size originally envisioned by the Constitution.

When the Founding Fathers authorized the creation of a federal district, they specified it could be "not exceeding 10 Miles square," meaning a perfect square measuring 10 miles on each side or up to 100 square miles total.

Alexandria covers about 15.75 square miles and Arlington occupies 26 square miles.

Adding Arlington and Alexandria would expand the capital by about 60%, pushing it far beyond its current footprint.

This story was updated to add new information.