WASHINGTON — For the first time in a generation, residents of Washington D.C. are facing a general election that does not include the name of Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Norton served 18 terms as the District of Columbia’s nonvoting representative in Congress before deciding not to seek another term. Growing concerns that the 89-year-old could no longer effectively push back against a Republican-led Congress and presidential administration that repeatedly overrode decisions made by the heavily Democratic city played a major role in her decision. While D.C. residents elect their own local leaders, Congress holds ultimate authority over the city’s laws and budget.
D.C. Council member Robert White Jr. claimed the Democratic primary victory to fill Norton’s seat and is widely anticipated to win the general election come November. He will face Republican Denise Rosado, an immigration attorney who ran without opposition in her primary.
White, a D.C. native and lifelong resident, is an attorney who spent five years working as Norton’s legislative counsel. He also served in the District of Columbia’s attorney general’s office before winning a special election in 2016 for an at-large seat on the D.C. Council.
After polls closed Tuesday, White addressed an enthusiastic crowd of supporters, saying: “Our turn will never come unless we demand it. Eleanor Holmes Norton understood that. The generations before us understood that. And before this night is over, I hope every Washingtonian understands it, too: We will not yield.”
Although the D.C. delegate position carries no voting power, it gives the district’s nearly 700,000 residents — who have no other representation in Congress — a way to be heard through speeches on the House floor and the ability to introduce legislation.
During her time in Congress, Norton fought for education, including securing a grant program that provided up to $10,000 per year to D.C. high school graduates to help cover out-of-state college tuition. She also advocated for federal legislation that helped rescue the city from financial collapse.
Pressure for Norton to step down intensified after President Donald Trump sent a surge of federal law enforcement officers and National Guard troops into the city last year. Critics, including her former chief of staff, argued that she no longer had the energy and presence needed to effectively confront the administration.
The calls for generational change directed at Norton came amid a broader Democratic Party debate sparked by President Joe Biden — also in his 80s — attempting to run for reelection despite widespread age-related concerns. Biden ultimately withdrew from the race and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to Trump, setting off ongoing debate within the party.
Before entering politics, Norton was deeply rooted in the Civil Rights Movement. In 1963, she divided her time between Yale Law School and Mississippi, where she volunteered with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. During Freedom Summer, civil rights activist Medgar Evers picked her up at the Jackson airport — he was assassinated that very night. Norton also helped organize and participated in the 1963 March on Washington.
She later became the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency responsible for enforcing workplace anti-discrimination laws.
Political historian Matt Dallek said Norton’s background gives her a level of moral authority that “I think a lot of residents in the district could respond to and did respond to. It resonated with them.”
Dallek added, “That kind of generational moral clarity and moral gravitas that she and others brought to the political arena is being lost. That’s not to say that others can’t pick up that mantle,” noting that White will face a different set of challenges in a city that is changing demographically.
If elected, White would become only the third person to serve as Washington’s delegate to Congress since 1971, when Walter Fauntroy Jr. was chosen as the first nonvoting delegate. The position itself was established in 1970 through the District of Columbia Delegate Act.
George Derek Musgrove, an associate professor of history at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, noted that none of the candidates seeking the office carry the national stature of their predecessors, calling it “one of the biggest changes in the city.” He said both Fauntroy and Norton “leveraged their national political contacts to do the work of the delegate.”
White centered his campaign on pursuing D.C. statehood and resisting federal interference in local governance.
Amanda Huron, a professor at the University of the District of Columbia who teaches courses on D.C. history and politics, said White will need to forge key relationships quickly — particularly with a Congress that frequently steps into local affairs.
“One of the real challenges of governing D.C. locally is that you’ve got these people in Congress who we don’t elect so these decisions are being made at a congressional level where we don’t even have any representation effectively,” Huron said.
Maurice Jackson, a historian at Georgetown University, described Norton as not only a civil rights legend and EEOC pioneer but also a brilliant constitutional lawyer. Even so, he said, change does not have to be negative.
The real question, Jackson said, is whether White will fight for all of the city’s residents and work to address the ongoing departure of the Black population from a rapidly changing city.
Reflecting on the loss of Martin Luther King Jr., Jackson said, “everybody knew there would never be another King. So there’s no need to worry about whether there’ll be another Norton. There are people who can step forward.”
