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The Nov. 3 election will usher in a generational change for D.C.’s representation in Congress.
For the first time in 35 years, voters will not return D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton to the U.S. House of Representatives. Norton, 89, announced before the Democratic primary in June that she would not seek a 19th term.
Her tenure stretches back decades. When Norton was first sworn into Congress in 1991, the U.S. was at war with Iraq. Later that year, the Soviet Union collapsed, giving way to more than a dozen independent countries, including Ukraine.
It was also the year Norton, a civil rights advocate and Georgetown University professor, began a unique legislative career that earned her the nickname “Warrior on the Hill.”
“She came in the office with the idea of getting things done on behalf of the city using the legislative process,” said Julius Hobson Jr., an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Although D.C. does not have a vote on the House floor, Norton became a relentless advocate for home rule and defended the District’s right to govern itself. She also became the face of the fight for D.C. statehood, pressing year after year for an end to “taxation without representation.”
Hobson said Norton forged relationships in the House and Senate that allowed her to have an outsize impact despite the limitations of her position.
“She always made her presence known in both bodies, always available whenever issues came up that remotely touched the District of Columbia,” he said. “Eleanor Holmes Norton was on the floor arguing the case on behalf of District residents, and I think that was important.”
Long before her election to Congress in 1990, Norton fought for civil rights, working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the early 1960s. She participated in sit-ins against segregation and was involved in the 1963 March on Washington.
She later worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and became the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, serving under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981.
But it was her election as D.C.’s delegate to Congress that came to define her career.
Hobson said her civil rights background helped her navigate barriers in Congress. He said she became particularly effective at defending D.C. from Republican-backed measures she believed would harm District residents.
Throughout her congressional career, Norton was known for speaking forcefully on the House floor, sharply questioning witnesses during hearings and publicly challenging her political opponents.
“The more visibility you have, the greater I think your ability to get things done, as well as to stop things, which I think she excelled at,” Hobson said.
While Norton never abandoned her fight for D.C. statehood, that goal remains unmet more than three decades after she took office. The House approved her bill to make D.C. the 51st state in 2020, but the GOP-controlled Senate did not take it up.
Hobson said there was only so much Norton could accomplish on that front given the limits of the position.
One of Norton’s most enduring legislative achievements was securing approval of the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant program in 1999. The program provides financial assistance to D.C. high school graduates attending out-of-state public colleges and universities. Earlier this year, the maximum annual award increased from $10,000 to $15,000.
“I think it is really important because it’s a major contribution to education in the District of Columbia,” Hobson said.
Overall, Hobson said Norton achieved a great deal with a position that initially carried limited expectations.
“I think her legacy is showing how you take a position that doesn’t have a lot of power and using it the maximum extent possible to, A, protect the residents of the District of Columbia and then, B, to aggressively and positively push forth programs and projects and legislation that would benefit the District of Columbia,” Hobson said. “I think she’s been excellent at it.”
Norton is all but certain to be succeeded by D.C. Council member Robert White, who won the Democratic primary by a wide margin. Denise Rosado, a Republican, and Kymone Freeman of the Statehood Green Party are also on the ballot.
White has vowed to bring new energy to the position while crediting Norton for decades of service to District residents.
“I’m representing and protecting everybody, and I think that they will see a change in how I use this seat because of the foundation Congresswoman Norton laid and because of the opportunity that this time in history presents,” he said after winning the Democratic primary.
Hobson said the next D.C. delegate will have big shoes to fill.
“I think our memory of Eleanor Holmes Norton in Congress is one who was a fighter for the District of Columbia and stood up for our rights as best as she possibly could,” he said.
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