During yesterday’s roll call of the state delegations to the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, Mayor Vince Gray pledged the city’s 45 delegates to Presidents Obama while making a plea for D.C. voting rights and statehood.

“At this convention, we have heard about the importance of inclusion, about creating opportunities, about moving forward, about hope for the future, and we certainly have just heard an eloquent presentation about the fallacies in the Republican arguments in this election. What we have heard also are moving stories about what makes America great,” said Gray, speaking from the D.C. delegation’s nosebleed seats in the arena.

“We are a city that pays three-and-a-half billion dollars annually in federal taxes and raises $5.6 billion dollars in local taxes to support our city. Our great nation was founded on the fundamental principle of resistance to taxation without representation, yet we continue to endure that in the District of Columbia. So we ask you, please America, as we work to re-elect President Obama, work with us to bring justice and equality to the District of Columbia,” he said, wearing a D.C. statehood sticker on his suit jacket. (The full video of the roll call is below; Gray speaks at minute 16.)

Gray then mistakenly pledged 43 delegates to President Obama, which was quickly corrected by the presiding secretary, who noted that all 45 delegates would be going to Obama.

While the Democratic Party platform is kinder to D.C. than the Republican alternative, it bucked the desire of local activists and leaders to have statehood again explicitly mentioned. Statehood was added to the platform in 1988, but removed in 2004.