At-large D.C. Councilmember Robert White launched a coalition of home-rule and civil rights groups to fight what he calls an unconstitutional erosion of the District's self-governance.

aWhite, the Democratic nominee for D.C. Delegate to Congress, unveiled Defend D.C. at a rally at Freedom Plaza on Aug. 24. Ten organizations joined, including Free DC, the D.C. chapter of the NAACP, DC Democrats, Capital Stonewall Democrats, DC Latino Caucus and DC Young Democrats, the Washington Informer reported.

D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Council members Brooke Pinto, Wendell Felder and Elissa Silverman attended the launch, along with D.C. shadow senators Ankit Jain and Paul Strauss.

The coalition's central grievance: the National Guard deployment that President Donald Trump ordered in August 2025 after declaring a "crime emergency." Violent crime in the District had hit a 30-year low at the time, the AP reported. The Pentagon confirmed in July that the deployment will continue through Inauguration Day 2029, with nearly 5,000 troops from more than 20 states now stationed in the city at a cost exceeding $3 million per day, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate cited by NPR.

No public response from the White House to the coalition or White's arguments appeared in public records as of Sept. 17.

In an op-ed published Wednesday, Sept. 16, in The Georgetowner, White framed the deployment as a symptom of a deeper structural problem. D.C.'s mayor does not control the District's National Guard, he wrote. Congress could grant that authority but has not, leaving the president free to deploy troops without local consent.

"For more than a year, Washingtonians have lived under a military presence that we did not request and our elected local government cannot end," White wrote.

White wrote in the op-ed that he has written to governors whose states sent Guard troops to D.C., urging them to recall their soldiers. The D.C. Council sent a unanimous letter on July 9 to Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. Albert Bryan with the same request, according to Free DC.

Defend D.C.'s strategy goes beyond letters. The coalition plans to send D.C. volunteers into congressional districts of representatives who have targeted the District's autonomy. Its first target: Virginia's 5th Congressional District, represented by Republican Rep. John McGuire, who introduced the Make the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful Act. Canvassing began over Labor Day weekend, with plans for Pennsylvania and New Jersey, WUSA9 reported.

At the Aug. 24 launch, White told WUSA9 that congressional Republicans had "launched nearly 150 attacks on DC." The Washington Informer put the count at more than 130 bills, amendments and riders targeting District autonomy.

White also announced DC51, a leadership political action committee (PAC) that would raise funds for candidates and build political infrastructure to defend home rule and advance statehood.

A lawsuit filed by the D.C. attorney general challenging the deployment was overturned on appeal and remains in litigation, the AP reported. The Nov. 3 general election is the coalition's immediate target.