Councilman Robert White praised Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s tenure during his campaign announcement on X, asking the delegate to pass the torch to him.
WASHINGTON — A DC Councilmember will run against Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton for her non-voting spot in the House of Representatives, putting an unprecedented challenge on an incumbent who has served in the seat since 1991.
Robert White, an at-large councilmember, pledged to D.C. voters through his X account in a front-facing video overlayed with the slogan “#FreeDC.” The councilmember claimed threats to Home Rule have ramped up the need for new representation in Congress for the District.
“Sometimes history calls us to a different path, and this is one of those times,” White says in the video. “This year our city has been attacked relentlessly: our money stolen, our communities threatened, our children afraid and no end in sight. I wonder if we can’t turn back this tide, we won’t even have elected officials to vote for in D.C.”
The councilmember has been critical of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s response to the federal surge in D.C. by President Donald Trump’s administration.
“She said she appreciates the federal surge and that it is having positive results in D.C. — that’s not the case,” White said in August. “People are scared, people’s rights are being violated, people are being snatched on the way to school, while they are working. This is not OK.”
White has served on DC Council since 2016.
Norton’s campaign told WUSA9 the delegate would not comment on White’s announcement.
Since winning the 1990 Democratic Primary for D.C. delegate, Norton has not faced a significant challenge from anyone in her party. The largest share of the vote in a Democratic primary opponent came in 2018, when Kim R. Ford received about 23% of the vote, compared to Norton’s 76.5%.
At 88 years old, Norton is older than any member of the House of Representatives. She is the second-oldest person serving in all of Congress, after 92-year-old Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa.)
Norton is one of only two people to ever serve as D.C.’s at-large delegate, taking over for Walter Fauntroy, who had been serving since the seat was established in 1971. White praised Norton’s tenure in his announcement.
“For so many decades we have been protected by our lion on the hill, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, someone whose work inspired me so much that I threw aside my own legal career to work under her,” White said in the Twitter video. “… I’m ready to take this torch.”
As a nonvoting member of the House Oversight Committee, Norton has attended many of the hearings regarding Home Rule and D.C. crime policy. On Thursday, Bowser, DC Council Chairman Brian Schwalb, and DC Attorney General Brian Schwalb spoke before the committee.