WASHINGTON — It's a tale of two women and a city. Statehood for the District of Columbia is now on the march from House passage to the Senate, with President Joe Biden's support.

Is this an idea whose time has come? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat representing Washington, D.C., advanced the bill together. It's dear to their hearts and history.

"Thank you for your tremendous leadership," Pelosi said to Norton, who, as a young woman in the civil rights movement, marched with Martin Luther King Jr.

Just between us, don't bet against them. Each has staying power and the respect of their peers.

However, Norton is only a voice on the House floor for Washington — not an actual vote.

The plight of nearly 700,000 Americans who have zero votes in Congress is not a popular cause for Republicans from small states such as Wyoming, population 570,000.

While rural states trend red, cities tend to be blue, the main reason Republicans pour rain and scorn on statehood. Washington is one of the most liberal cities on the map.

We the people of this metropolis of marble are tired of second-class citizenship. We care about the nation's destiny, often caught in the crosswinds. And we are taxed without representation.

"To me, this is personal," the speaker said of statehood.

As Pelosi explained at a news conference, her father, Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., was the congressman in charge of oversight for Washington's budget and operations.

Her father, Pelosi told reporters, was known as the unofficial mayor of Washington. After Congress, her father became a Democratic mayor of Baltimore.

Her family lived near the waterfront in Little Italy, where she was "Little Nancy" to school nuns and around town.

Her father didn't much like his nickname as unofficial mayor of the capital, Pelosi said, and supported self-government. His only daughter hopes to finish that work.

Norton tells the story that her great-grandfather walked away from his Virginia plantation in the 1850s forever.

A runaway slave, Richard Norton made it to Washington, where the Capitol and city were being built, and found work.

Raised in the city, Norton, as "a colored girl," experienced the cuts of Jim Crow segregation in the 1950s and later went north to study at Yale Law School.

It stings that, even now, Norton's status in the "People's House" is not equal. The quest goes on.

These are deeply American tales of the city, in black and white.

Washington has its own history, character, urbane neighborhoods, storied music scene, universities and library archives.

This is where the suffrage movement and March on Washington happened. Embassies bring the world home. Presidents who come and go aren't the half of it.

Charming Georgetown by the Potomac River is where it began, with a flourishing African American community.

Not to brag, but what a lush spring we have here. John F. Kennedy joked that Washington mixed Northern charm and Southern efficiency. And because George Washington was a shrewd real estate developer, we have a pretty grand city plan, centered around the Capitol.

When it was stormed by a mob in January, Mayor Muriel Bowser was not empowered to call the National Guard.

Republicans are dead set against a 51st state. One objected that Washington does not have a car dealership.

Pelosi runs the House and has done all she can for the cause. Statehood's fate now rests with the 50-50 Senate. It would have to clear the 60-vote filibuster rule.

That Senate rule is a stranglehold on several progressive bills passed in the People's House, including voting rights.

The tale of two women shows seasoning at work. At 81 and 83, Pelosi and Norton are in the generation that changed everything for women.

Pelosi showed the press a vintage picture of her father and Eleanor Roosevelt, who was testifying on Capitol Hill.

"Don't forget, 51st State. Eleanor Roosevelt and Thomas D'Alesandro Jr.," she said. "Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that something to be so proud of?"

When statehood passed the House, 216-208, Pelosi and Norton exulted. They are champions for the city — um, state, someday.

The Senate may pour cold water on it, but hey, it was a gleaming moment.

A new biography by Susan Page, "Madam Speaker: Nancy Pelosi and the Lessons of Power," is out now. Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. To read her weekly column and find out more about Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, please visit creators.com.