Masked federal agents detain residents near Union Station. National Guard troops stand watch outside city hall. And in the halls of Congress, the one person meant to speak for Washington, D.C. its nonvoting House delegate has been largely absent. At 88, Eleanor Holmes Norton, who has represented the district since 1991, faces mounting pressure to step down as the Trump administration’s federal intervention deepens. “D.C. is under attack as at no other time in recent history,” wrote Donna Brazile, Norton’s former chief of staff, “and we need a new champion to defend us.” With federal officers still stationed across the capital months after Trump’s emergency order expired, the silence from Norton’s office has become deafening.
Norton’s résumé reads like a civil rights epic: she marched in 1963, worked with Medgar Evers the night he was assassinated, and later became the first woman to chair the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. For decades, she leveraged her seniority to shield D.C. from congressional overreach, saving the city from bankruptcy in the 1990s and expanding college access. But in recent months, allies say she’s seemed unsteady struggling to read prepared remarks at hearings, rarely appearing at protests, and declining interview requests. At a recent House session on stripping D.C.’s prosecutorial autonomy, she offered little resistance. “Even without a vote,” said Cliff Albright of Black Voters Matter, “the delegate can use the bully pulpit. But where is the fight?”
In Norton’s absence, others have stepped into the breach. Mayor Muriel Bowser has become the city’s primary negotiator with the White House and Congress, while D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb filed a lawsuit challenging the federal takeover as unconstitutional. Yet without a forceful voice in the House one who can whip Democratic colleagues, hold floor speeches, and frame the narrative the district’s autonomy remains vulnerable. A recent federal budget plan created a $1.1 billion shortfall for D.C., and Congress has yet to fix it, despite Trump’s own endorsement of a solution. “The delegate really has to be a one-person whip operation,” said historian George Derek Musgrove. “Right now, that engine is idling.”
The race to succeed Norton is already underway. Two D.C. Council members Robert White Jr., a former aide to Norton, and Brooke Pinto have announced campaigns for the 2026 Democratic primary. Others are quietly testing the waters. Notably, key allies like Mayor Bowser and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries have declined to endorse another Norton run. Even Tom Davis, a Republican former congressman and longtime Norton collaborator, acknowledged the moment: “She’s earned the right to go out on her terms. But that’s gonna be up to the voters.” The Succession Debate isn’t just about age it’s about whether D.C. needs a warrior or a stateswoman in this new era of federal encroachment.
Washington’s limited self-governance granted in 1973 under the Home Rule Act—has always been fragile. Congress retains final say over the city’s laws and budget. Trump’s August emergency order, which federalized the police and flooded the streets with troops, exposed just how tenuous that autonomy really is. Though the order expired in September, the federal presence remains. Without a delegate who can mobilize national attention and party unity, D.C. risks becoming a permanent administrative ward of the federal government. The question isn’t just who will represent the district it’s whether representation itself still matters when power flows from the Oval Office, not the ballot box.
When asked by reporters whether she would retire, Norton responded with a firm “no.” But her silence speaks louder than words. For a city that pays federal taxes yet has no voting representation in Congress, the stakes couldn’t be higher. As federal boots echo on D.C. pavement, residents aren’t just asking for a new delegate they’re demanding a defender. In The Shadow Of The Capitol, Democracy Feels Like A Privilege Not A Right.
0 Comments