Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the longtime Democratic delegate from the District of Columbia, announced on Jan. 27 that she is retiring from Congress at the end of this term.
“The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it’s time to lift up the next generation of leaders. For D.C., that time has come.”
The 88-year-old lawmaker, who has held the non-voting seat since 1991, submitted a termination report to the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 25.
Her decision comes as several longtime House members opted not to seek reelection, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
“For 35 years, Congresswoman Norton has been our Warrior on the Hill—from securing shutdown protection for the city and the creation of DCTAG, to defeating continued attacks on Home Rule and leading historic votes in the House for DC Statehood,” Bowser wrote. “Her work embodies the unwavering resolve of a city that refuses to yield in its fight for equal representation.”
Norton’s career began during the Civil Rights era. Born and raised in segregated Washington, she attended Dunbar High School and later Antioch College in Ohio. In the mid-1960s, she divided her time between Yale Law School and organizing in Mississippi during Freedom Summer.
She was a friend of slain activist Medgar Evers and described the 1963 March on Washington, where Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream Speech” as “the single most extraordinary experience of my lifetime,” in a 2023 interview with The Associated Press.
Reflecting on her upbringing, Norton wrote in her 2003 biography, “Fire in My Soul,” that “Growing up black in Washington gave a special advantage. This whole community of blacks was very race conscious, very civil rights conscious.”
