DCNOW Thanks Civil and D.C. Rights Icon, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton for Her Decades of Leadership

By: Miriam Edelman

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), is retiring from Congress. On January 25, 2026, she filed a report to terminate her reelection campaign, ending her decades-long Congressional career. On January 27^th, her office issued a press release, entitled “Norton Announces Retirement at End of Term.” That release quotes Norton:

“I've had the privilege of representing the District of Columbia in Congress since 1991. Time and again, D.C. residents entrusted me to fight for them at the federal level, and I have not yielded.”

“With fire in my soul and the facts on my side, I have raised hell about the injustice of denying 700,000 taxpaying Americans the same rights given to residents of the states for 35 years.”

“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. With pride in all we have accomplished together, with the deepest gratitude to the people of D.C., and with great confidence in the next generation, I announced today that I will retire at the end of this term.”

“Although I’ve decided not to seek reelection, I will never falter in my commitment to the residents I have long championed. I will continue to serve as D.C.’s Warrior on the Hill until the end of my current term.”

“Thank you to my constituents for choosing and trusting me to fight for you in Congress 18 times. I will leave this institution knowing that I have given you everything I have. And while my service in Congress is ending, my advocacy for your rights, your dignity, and your capacity to govern yourselves is not.”

At 88 years old, Norton is currently the oldest Member of the House of Representatives. PBS has called her a “national treasure.” In 2021, Orlando Economos, the policy and lobbying chair for Georgetown Law Students for Democratic Reform, said: “Rep. Norton literally has worked for her entire career at the margins of how much power DC residents get to exert in our democracy.” Economos added, “She has been in that position for at least three decades and has been doing this work in a sustained way longer than pretty much anybody else.” As the New York Times reported on her retirement, “In her prime, Ms. Norton was an unstoppable and ubiquitous force in Washington, making an impassioned case for voting rights for the District of Columbia.” Many of DCNOW’s blog pieces have discussed her ongoing advocacy. Now, it is time to thank Norton, D.C.’s go-to person on Capitol Hill, for her decades of leadership on D.C. autonomy, Congressional voting rights, statehood, and other issues.

Life Before Congress

Norton, a third-generation Washingtonian, was born in Washington, D.C., on June 13, 1937. She attended Dunbar High School, from which she graduated, when it was segregated. Then, Norton received a B.A. from Antioch College and then masters and law degrees from Yale University. She was one of two African-American law students in her Yale Law School class; the other one was Marian Wright Edelman, who founded the Children’s Defense Fund.

Norton was active in the Civil Rights movement, working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and former Representative John Lewis (D-GA). She was “an organizer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee” and an original organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Norton was portrayed by Ayana Workman in the movie, entitled Rustin, about the March on Washington. In an interview, Workman said Norton “is one of the most incredible women I think to exist. She's a hero of mine.”

Norton served as a lawyer, a law clerk, and a tenured Georgetown University law school professor. She also worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), New York City Mayor John Lindsay, and the Urban Institute.

In 1970, Norton represented 60 females in a case against Newsweek. She filed the first class-action gender discrimination case. Norton claimed that Newsweek’s refusal to hire her clients violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Her victory led to the hiring of more women in the news industry.

Norton was Chair of the New York Commission on Human Rights and then the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), appointed the first woman Chair by President Jimmy Carter. At the EEOC, she issued the initial national regulations that defined sexual harassment as a violation of federal law.

Member of Congress

Norton was first elected to the U.S. Congress in 1990 and since then, she has served as D.C.’s second and longest-serving non-voting delegate. According to Britannica, Norton was just one of three African-American women Members of Congress when she was elected. Now, 29 African-American women serve as voting Members of Congress (Two in Senate and 27 in House of Representatives), constituting 5.4 percent of voting Members of Congress and 19.2 percent of women voting Members of Congress. In addition, currently, two Delegates are African-American women.

Norton and Maxine Waters (D-CA), both of whom were initially elected to the House in 1990, are the longest-serving African-American women in Congress in U.S. history.

Norton has served in Congress longer than other current major D.C. officials (i.e. – Mayor, Attorney General, D.C. Councilmembers, and members of D.C.’s shadow delegation) have served in their positions. The second-longest-serving current major D.C. office-holder is Shadow Senator Paul Strauss, who initially took office on January 3, 1997. The longest-serving current D.C. Councilmember is D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson, who first took office on January 1, 1999. The second-longest-serving current D.C. Councilmember is D.C. Councilmember Anita Bonds, who first took office on December 11, 2012.

As Norton said, “The official titles, for one in my position, are as follows: delegate and congresswoman. I may not be called representative, because I do not have a vote on the House floor.” She discussed her unique Congressional position:

“I feel my role as unique largely when I have to fight for things my colleagues take for granted. Most of the time, I don’t feel unique at all. When I walked in that door in 1990, I said, ‘I’m going to act like I have my full rights, I’m going to dare them to take them from me.’ This really came from the civil rights movement, from growing up in D.C., where you were always looking to overcome segregation here.”

“So I don’t feel it when I go on the House floor to speak. I don’t feel it in committees, where I’ve headed subcommittees. I don’t feel it in leadership posts that my colleagues elect me to.”

“I feel it when it’s time to go to the House floor to vote on something. I feel it when I see people voting on District of Columbia matters and the only member who can’t vote on that D.C. matter, like the D.C. budget, is the member elected from the District of Columbia.”

She helped lead Congressional groups: co-chair of the Congressional Women's Caucus; member of the Executive Committee of the Democratic Study Group; co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys; and a Civil Rights, Voting Rights, & the Judiciary policy co-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus’ Domestic Policy Team

Norton also has co-led Congressional groups on Down Syndrome, serving as co-chair of the Congressional Down Syndrome Caucus and co-leading the Congressional Task Force on Down Syndrome.

Norton has fought for women’s rights during her time in Congress:

-          In 1991, Norton and seven Congresswomen protested the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas. They wanted the vote on this nomination to be delayed until Anita Hilll’s sexual harassment charges could be investigated. Although the Senate delayed the vote, Thomas was confirmed by a 52-48 vote. The National Organization for Women’s President Molly Yard testified against Thomas’ confirmation.

-          In 2012, Norton’s office released the following statement after H.R. 3803, which would have prohibited abortions in Washington, D.C., after 20 weeks of pregnancy: “Seldom does the District win a vote on the floor of the House this big. Republicans failed to achieve the two-thirds majority necessary on a bill that would have denied District of Columbia residents of their constitutional rights for the first time in American history. Women's groups, among them Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice America, helped us blow the whistle on a bill that used D.C. residents to target the reproductive rights of women across the nation. Every member of the House, except the one representing the only district affected by the bill, had a vote on the bill. During floor debate, Ranking Member John Conyers Jr. (D-MI) asked Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), the sponsor of the bill, why his bills was not introduced as a national bill, Franks never answered. Women understood the answer, however. The D.C. label fooled no one. And, in the end, I am grateful that an overwhelming majority of Democrats stuck with the District and refused to cross over to be a party to this abuse of congressional power. The bill has had the effect House Republicans most dreaded. It has reinvigorated the pro-choice movement in our country, raising the consciousness of American women again to understand that their right to reproductive choice is always on the line.” Congressman Frank Trent Franks (R-AZ), who had sponsored the bill, refused to let Norton testify at a hearing about the bill. Representative Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) said, “I want to apologize for the rudeness my Republican colleagues are showing. Not allowing her to be heard is yet another example of this abuse of power. Just because we have the power to impose our will on people who have no voice, does not make it right or moral. Never in my 20 years as a member of this body have I seen a colleague treated so contemptuously. The fact that the minority has been limited to one witness only, has demonstrated just what a farce these hearings are.”

-          In 2014, Norton’s office released a press release, entitled “Norton Thanks President for Acknowledging D.C.-Only Provision in Abortion Bill Undermines Home Rule.” The statement began, “WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) expressed her thanks to President Obama for the White House's Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 7, released today, which criticizes a provision targeting the District of Columbia, saying it ‘undermines home rule.’ The provision would permanently prohibit the city from spending its local funds on abortion services for low-income women, and would define the D.C. government as part of the federal government for the purposes of abortion. Norton thanked several Democrats on the House Rules Committee – Ranking Member Louise Slaughter (D-NY) as well as Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Alcee Hasting [sic] (D-FL) – for speaking eloquently in favor of the District's right to self-government at the Committee's hearing today on H.R. 7. Norton also thanked Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) for speaking to the unfairness of the bill to the District, during their testimony at the hearing. At the hearing, Norton testified on the bill and offered an amendment to strike the D.C.-only provision. Her amendment is expected to fail. In addition to the D.C.-only provision, the bill contains other provisions Norton strongly opposes, including restricting women's access to abortion coverage in the private insurance marketplace. While the bill is expected to pass the House, as it did last Congress, Norton will continue to work with her Senate colleagues to again defeat it. The bill is expected to go to the House floor on Tuesday or Wednesday.”

-          In 2022, Norton spoke out against the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. This later landmark decision meant that women no longer had a constitutional right to abortions. Norton said, “Congress must immediately codify the right to abortion in federal law.” Norton also tied the new Supreme Court decision to D.C. statehood, “The decision is also a reminder to the country that D.C.’s lack of statehood means D.C. is subject to the whims of Congress. Republicans have repeatedly used D.C. to try to impose policies they cannot or do not have the support to impose nationally. A future Republican Congress may try to ban abortion in D.C., thinking they can get away with it because it would apply to D.C. residents. They are wrong. We will never allow that to happen.”

            Norton has done so much for D.C. Her office’s press release about her retirement summarized her immense contributions to D.C.:

“Norton’s unrelenting advocacy has produced prolific and transformative results for the District. Her major legislative accomplishments include the revitalization of entire sections of the city – the Wharf, Capitol Riverfront, NOMA, Walter Reed and St. Elizabeths West campus for the Department of Homeland Security, and most recently the transfer of the RFK Stadium site to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program, or DCTAG, which Norton established, makes up the difference up to $10,000, between in state and out of state tuition at public universities for D.C. residents. The program helps thousands of D.C. students, who lack the type of robust public university system that residents of states enjoy, attend college each year.”

More detailed information with links is:

-          Introduced two bills in 2011 that were instrumental in the creation of the Wharf. As Norton’s October 11, 2017, press release stated, “Norton introduced two bills in 2011 that were necessary for the Southwest Waterfront development project to begin. One bill clarified the District of Columbia's ownership of the Southwest Waterfront and removed use restrictions on the land. The other bill redesignated part of the water designated by the federal government as the Washington Channel, for increased boating and waterside activity. Norton worked with two different committees on a parliamentary maneuver to combine the two bills into one bill, which was signed into law (Public Law 112–143) on July 9, 2012.” Congress passed other bipartisan bills by Norton that transferred unused or underutilized federal buildings and land in D.C. to D.C. government and others.

-          Norton was instrumental for the transfer of 67 acres of the 110-acre campus of the military hospital to D.C. After D.C. had originally received a small part of the land, Norton secured more area for the nation’s capital and successfully fought for the transfer of “13 acres of federal land at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center” to the Children’s National Medical Center. The State Department had wanted the land.

-          She brought the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to the nation’s capital.

Norton also:

-          Introduced a bill (in the early 1990s) that became law that “authorized the District of Columbia government to establish on federal land in D.C. a memorial to African Americans who died as Union soldiers during the Civil War.” In July 1998, the resulting African American Civil War Memorial and Museum opened.

-          Helped end the District of Columbia’s financial problems. According to the Washington Post, “While most known for fighting for D.C. statehood, she also played a critical role navigating some of the District’s most turbulent chapters, such as co-leading the 1997 Revitalization Act, which reorganized D.C. finances, transferred most criminal justice system functions to the federal government and served to rescue the District from bankruptcy.”

-          Introduced legislation in 1997 that increased the federal government’s contribution to D.C.’s Medicaid from 50 percent to 70 percent.

-          Spearheaded “House Resolution 13 in 2003 that provided Capital Children’s Museum with a congressional designation as the National Children’s Museum.”

-          Negotiated for incarcerated D.C. residents to be moved to federal facilities nearby D.C.

-          Was instrumental to the redevelopment of the Old Post Office Building, which she felt was “neglected and underused…with almost no return to the federal government.”

-          Secured Congressional financing for some of D.C.’s new Frederick Douglass Bridge, which connects wards 7 and 8 residents and the rest of D.C. with each other and which also helps commuters and visitors.

-          Led the District of Columbia to have two statues in the U.S. Capitol complex. As Norton said in 2020, “When the District of Columbia commissioned the Douglass and L'Enfant statues, it was always our intention to bring them to the Capitol as equal with the states” and “Now, with historic momentum as our D.C. statehood bill is headed to the House floor for passage this year, the L'Enfant statue is a potent symbol that D.C. equality and D.C. statehood are on the way.” Norton’s office’s press release of June 13, 2025, includes those statues in the following statement: “Norton has successfully gotten other congressional recognition of the District of Columbia in situations where the District was overlooked while honoring the states. As a result of her work, the District of Columbia War Memorial honors only District residents who served in World War I; D.C.’s Frederick Douglass and Pierre L’Enfant statues sits in the Capitol alongside statues from the 50 states; the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2013 requires the armed services to display the District flag whenever the flags of the states are displayed; D.C. has a coin after it was omitted from legislation creating coins for the 50 states; the U.S. Postal Service created a D.C. stamp, like the stamps for the 50 states; and the National Park Service added the D.C. flag alongside the state flags across from Union Station.”

-          Introduced many other bills that would help the District of Columbia. One of them is H.R.5093 - District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act. On September 2, 2025, Norton introduced the bill that would “extend to the Mayor of the District of Columbia the same authority over the National Guard of the District of Columbia as the Governors of the several States exercise over the National Guard of those States with respect to administration of the National Guard.”

Norton elevated D.C. statehood. As the Washington Post reported:

“She [Norton] pushed it [D.C. statehood] from a niche issue in the early 1990s to a central part of the Democratic Party’s voting rights platform, with two successful House votes on statehood in 2020 and 2021. (The bill has not advanced in the Senate.) And her relentless defense of home rule made her arguably the loudest voice on the nation’s founding principle: ending taxation without representation.”

During Norton’s time in Congress, there were record numbers of House and Senate cosponsors and at least original House cosponsors of bills that would grant statehood in D.C. An old record of 101 House cosponsors was set in 1987, and an old record of 17 Senate cosponsors was set in 1984. In 2014, Norton’s statehood bill received a record 104 House cosponsors. In 2015, Norton’s statehood bill had a record 93 original cosponsors, breaking the record of 69 from 1987. Later, she broke the original cosponsors record in at least 2019 (with 155 original cosponsors) and then in 2021 (with 202 original cosponsors). The H.R. 51 bill of 2021 had 216 co-sponsors. In 2021, Senator Tom Carper (D-DE) introduced his statehood bill with a record 38 original cosponsors. The bill had 45 cosponsors.

During Norton’s Congressional tenure, for the first time, the House debated and voted on D.C. statehood. In fact, since Norton first took office, the House voted on D.C. statehood bills three times on mainly party-line votes:

-          November 21, 1993 – The House voted against D.C. statehood with a vote of 153 Ayes (including 151 Democrats, one Republican, and one Independent) and 277 Noes (including 105 Democrats and 172 Republicans). Two Democrats and two Republicans did not vote. The independent was Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Norton and others had spent three years trying to bring D.C. statehood to the House Floor. The House debate on D.C. statehood marked the first time that the House or the Senate debated D.C. statehood. Norton, who sponsored the bill, said “I'm ready to declare victory right now.” She added, “This vote has surpassed my greatest expectations.”

-          June 26, 2020 – The House passed D.C. statehood with a vote of 232 Ayes (including 231 Democrats and zero Republicans) and 180 Noes (including 1 Democrat and 178 Republicans). 19 Republicans did not vote.

-          April 22, 2021 – The House passed D.C. statehood with a vote of 216 Ayes (including 21 Democrats and zero Republicans) and 208 Noes (including 0 Democrat and 208 Republicans). Two Democrats and four Republicans did not vote.

As of 2021, D.C. is the closest it has been to finally becoming a state. The unprecedented attacks on the District of Columbia show the critical importance of D.C. statehood.

One of Norton’s many statements about D.C. is the following from a D.C. statehood rally in August 2013:

“In the nation's capital, where a historic march is once again being held, our citizens are still without the rights that the March on Washington won for other Americans 50 years ago. We, in the nation's capital, stand alone, singled out without the most elementary of rights. We are taxed, but we are stateless, denied representation in the Congress, which, nevertheless, insists that we obey its laws and that our residents provide billions in funding for the federal government. Our residents are among the heroic buried at Arlington National Cemetery, but unlike the other casualties, must be counted as having given their lives without a vote in the Congress that sent them to war.”

She eloquently advocated for D.C statehood while speaking at the Democratic National Convention in 2016:

“We want to become the 51^st state of the United States. We are home to our most powerful institutions; yet, we have been denied our power as American citizens. The power we seek is ordinary, not lofty. It is the democratic power of equal citizenship. It is the power of local control over $4 billion in locally-raised funds. Thirty states rely more on federal funds to balance their annual budgets than D.C. does. It is the power of local control over purely local laws, like our gun safety laws that Republicans try to eliminate every single year, and, yes, it is also the democratic power that gave birth to the nation itself, the quid pro quo power of the vote in the House and Senate in return for the taxes we pay to support the United States. For D.C. residents not only pay taxes without representation, we pay the highest federal taxes per capita in the United States, with no votes in the house and senate to show for those taxes: for lack of voting rights, the nation's founders declared their independence and dared their opponents to stop them. D.C. residents are not declaring independence from our country. We are declaring our intention to join our country as the 51^st state. Republicans say we want too much, stating in their platform that our taxpaying citizens are "a special responsibility of the federal government" and calling "by whatever means necessary" to undermine, not increase D.C.'s local sovereignty. In dramatic contrast, our democratic platform says ‘restoring our democracy means passing statehood for the District of Columbia.’ Our nominee, Hillary Clinton, says as president, I will be a vocal champion for D.C. statehood. Never before has a presidential nominee taken office with so solid a promise for full and equal citizenship for D.C. residents, and listen up, America. A nominee who will stand up for D.C. will stand up for you, too. Hillary for President, statehood for the District of Columbia!”

Sheila Bunn, who was Norton’s Chief of Staff, talked about Norton’s dedication to constituent services:

“She always instilled in us that you can introduce or get passed as much legislation as you want, but if you are not able to help people with their common problems or their common issues, it doesn’t mean a thing.”

“So she is big on constituent services and making sure not only is she working on legislation that changes lives, but also making sure, where federal issues are concerned, that she’s providing the best constituent services as possible.”

Call to Action

Let’s honor Norton by protecting D.C. home rule and finally making D.C. a state, as she said statehood is the only way for D.C. residents to gain Congressional voting representation and the ability to manage local issues. Norton said, “Remember, the civil rights movement was not a movement of black people. It was a movement of black and white people together.” Likewise, the quest for D.C. statehood is of D.C. residents and other Americans and of Democrats and Republicans. Decades ago, Democrats and Republicans united to give D.C. three votes in the Electoral College. They can do so again about D.C. statehood. As Norton stated, “Statehood means real power, it means you have senators. It means Congress has no control whatsoever over the District, and that is something that some have been reluctant to give up.” She added: “if you want statehood, you’ve got to get it by building first a local movement, then a national movement, then looking to see when the mood of the country looks like it is moving in your direction, and take advantage of that moment in time.”