If Washington knows anything, it’s that Marylanders and Virginians like to spar — over everything from sports to traffic. And right now, that neighborly tension runs deeper than the water that separates them.

“I’m willing to share the credit for the blue crab,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the longest-serving representative in his state’s history. “Now, we don’t share the river. We own the Potomac River up to the high-water mark in Virginia.”

But Hoyer’s latest home-state passion is on land, and a specific use for it that’s driving a wedge between Congress’ long-close Maryland and Virginia delegations: the location of the next FBI headquarters. As lawmakers await a Biden administration decision on the high-stakes project, members from both sides of the Potomac have escalated their lobbying as high as the president himself.

Leading the push for a Virginia-based FBI are the state’s two Democratic senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Warner, in discussing the “ferocious debate,” referred to Hoyer in the practiced and professional tones of a heavyweight rival in a boxing match with thousands of jobs on the line.

“I’ve got great respect for Mr. Hoyer, and I’m anxious that the process proceed,” Warner said. “We’ve got criteria, we made our last and best final offers last week and I feel good about where Virginia stands.”

Rep. Steny Hoyer’s (D-Md.) home-state passion is being put to use in the battle over the location of the next FBI headquarters.