By Jess Sharp, live news reporter in Washington DC

The economy, war in the Middle East, and immigration are just a few of the issues voters have raised with me today, but for Kelsye Adams, the most important issue in this election is gaining statehood for DC.

DC Vote's organizing director is just one of many people who went to Metrobar to get their message across.

Although Washington DC houses the federal government's buildings, it is not a state and never has been.

Instead, Washington is a city within the District of Columbia Territory.

This means residents have no elected officials in the Senate and the region's House representative does not have full voting rights.

Kelsye explained to me that the county has no representation in government, even though it has more residents than two states.

“We are the only country where the people who live in the nation’s capital have no voice in the federal government,” she said.

“You might think that America is the hegemon, and based on all these principles of freedom and democracy, I think we have ignored justice because we have forgotten 700,000 Americans.”

“This is an attack on people of color. We did nothing but be born and they say we can't have a vote in Congress and 'no senator for you'.”

The 33-year-old said D.C. was made the seat of the federal government after a riot during the creation of the Constitution in Philadelphia in 1776.

But she added that the Jan. 6 riots showed it was no longer a “safe space” for elected officials.

“It was created to protect the federal government from an insurrection, but it was an insurrection, and for lack of statehood it could not defend itself,” she said, explaining that the mayor was unable to call in the National Guard .

“If we had been one state, we would have avoided an insurrection,” she added.

What does all this have to do with the presidential election?

To become a state, a law must be passed by Congress or the President.

“When you think about power and you think about winning something in a political space, there has to be a shift in power and no one wants to be the person who lost power,” Kelsye said.

“We know for a fact that Harris will fight for D.C. statehood.”

I asked her what she thought a Trump presidential campaign would mean for their cause, and she said it would “certainly be chaotic for DC.”

She stressed the importance of voting and said she wants “the people of the 50 states” to realize that Washingtonians don't have a representative who can fight for them.

“If you don’t want to fight, that’s totally fine, but I ask people to vote for him. The fact that I don’t have representation in Congress is just an angry feeling,” she added.