In the relatively peaceful hours before a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, Washingtonians who want D.C. to become the 51st state had cause to celebrate.

The Rev. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, had just been declared the winner in a runoff election for one of Georgia’s U.S. Senate seats. Democrat Jon Ossoff had a narrow lead for the other seat; by late Wednesday afternoon he too would be named the winner.

The two victories in Georgia gave Democrats control of the Senate, albeit by the narrowest margin possible. With Joe Biden in the White House and Democratic majorities in both the House and Senate, statehood advocates now see a path forward for a bill that would make D.C. the 51st state.

“I am confident we are going to get this in 2021,” said Stasha Rhodes, the campaign director for the statehood advocacy organization 51 for 51. She called Georgia’s blue wave “an insane victory.”

Wednesday’s events also brought renewed attention to the ways D.C.’s status as a federal district can affect residents’ safety. When chaos broke out at the Capitol, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser requested support from the D.C. National Guard. She then had to wait for the federal government to approve her request, since unlike state-based National Guard units, D.C.’s National Guard reports to the president. The New York Times reported that President Trump initially resisted the request. White House counsel had to intervene in order to get the officers deployed.

Bowser told reporters late Wednesday that D.C. officers responded valiantly to the unrest at the Capitol “despite having zero representation, having no votes in the same Congress where this siege took place.” The Capitol building and its grounds are under federal, not local, control.

Throughout the day and night on Wednesday, Washingtonians expressed optimism that this would be the year D.C. becomes a state. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton told DCist/WAMU that the current makeup of the federal government “gives D.C. statehood momentum that it hasn’t had in many years.”

Norton kicked off the legislative process for statehood by reintroducing her bill, H.R. 51, on the first day of the new Congress. Washingtonians celebrated the bill passing the House last June, but it died in the Republican-controlled Senate. (And even if it had passed the Senate, President Trump would not have signed it.)

But the table is set differently this year. The Senate is now split 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris providing the tie-breaking vote. Democrats retained their majority in the House and won the presidency. Biden tweeted in June that D.C. should be a state.

DC should be a state. Pass it on. https://t.co/xUJ1sud76f

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) June 25, 2020

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser wants to see the statehood bill on Biden’s desk within his first 100 days. “Just like the millions of Americans who voted nationwide and the thousands who organized and voted in Georgia, we are ready to build a more perfect union … one in which the 712,000 residents of Washington, D.C. have full access to our nation’s democracy,” she said in a statement.

But one major hurdle still stands in the way — the filibuster, which has caused partisan gridlock in the Senate for years. Due to the filibuster, 60 senators must agree to end debate on any piece of legislation before it can get to a vote. Even though Democrats now control the Senate, Republican senators can easily filibuster their agenda.

It’s highly unlikely, if not downright impossible, for advocates to get a supermajority of senators on board with D.C. statehood. Even some Democrats like Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) still haven’t signed on. The only way for the bill to get through this Senate is if the filibuster is abolished.

There are a couple ways to do that — a supermajority could vote to change the filibuster rule itself, or a simple majority of senators could move to undo its use through what’s known as changing Senate precedent. This is better known as the “nuclear option,” and was used by Democrats in 2013 to overcome Republican opposition to executive and judicial nominations and again in 2017 by Republicans for nominations to the Supreme Court.

D.C.’s shadow senator, Michael Brown, whose job is to advocate for D.C. statehood, believes abolishing the filibuster is now a possibility because of the wins in Georgia. And he thinks advocates should make the case that there’s no better bill to justify getting rid of the filibuster than D.C. statehood.

“This is a 78-yard pass with two seconds left in the game and 10 people in the end zone waiting to try to catch it,” he said. “So it’s a real long shot, but it’s a pass. You know, if we had lost in Georgia, there would be no pass.”

Stasha Rhodes of 51 for 51 also credits Black women’s political activism in Georgia with reinvigorating the fight for voting rights in D.C. “Black and brown voters in Georgia have made their voices heard. They want a more just, fair and equitable America,” she said.

“Look, we can’t have that while 700,000 mostly Black and Brown residents of Washington, D.C. lack equal representation, lack equal voting rights in our nation’s capital,” she said. “It’s impossible.”

Martin Austermuhle contributed reporting. This story is part of 51st, a WAMU podcast series about Washingtonians’ fight for representation. Subscribe here.