Brady Knox

Washington Examiner

Washington, D.C.’s delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), ended her reelection campaign on Sunday.

The development was revealed in a Federal Election Commission filing, which included descriptions of her campaign’s finances. Norton, 88, ended her campaign after heavy scrutiny surrounding her age, health, and mental acuity.

Norton had previously weathered the reckoning around elderly members of Congress, repeatedly rebuffing calls to step aside for a younger candidate. She has served as Washington’s delegate to Congress for over 34 years.

“I’m going to run,” Norton told reporters for Politico and NBC News in June when asked if she would run for reelection in 2026. “I don’t know why anyone would even ask me.”

Several Democrats launched campaigns before she opted against running for reelection, with most centering their campaigns on concerns over her age and health.

Concerns around Norton’s mental acuity were laid bare in October when she was taken advantage of by scammers posing as HVAC cleaners. A police report described Norton as having the “early stages of dementia,” something not previously known. A woman named Jacqueline Pelt was identified as Norton’s caretaker and power of attorney.

Norton’s office denied several details of the police report. They objected to the description of Pelt, instead describing her as “a longtime employee and friend (who) serves as the house manager, residing at a separate address.”

Norton’s office also denied she had dementia, saying, “The medical diagnosis included in the police report was based on an assumption the reporting officer was unqualified to make.”

As the district’s delegate, Norton does not have a formal vote in the House. But she has found other ways to advocate for the city’s interests. Called the “Warrior on the Hill” by her supporters, Norton was a staunch advocate for D.C. statehood and for the labor rights of the federal workers who called Washington and its surrounding region home.

She also secured bipartisan wins for district residents. Norton was the driving force behind the passage of a law that allows them to attend any public college or university in the country at in-state tuition rates or be eligible to attend any private university with up to a $2,500 annual grant.

In the 1990s, Norton played a key role in ending the city’s financial crisis by brokering a deal to transfer billions of dollars in unfunded pension liabilities to the federal government in exchange for changes to the district’s budget. She twice played a leading role in House passage of a D.C. statehood bill.