Eleanor Holmes Norton announces retirement after 33 years

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 88-year-old who’s served as Washington, D.C.’s nonvoting representative in Congress for 18 terms, will retire at the end of her current term.

“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,” Norton said in a statement released Tuesday.

Norton said it’s time to lift up the next generation of leaders, but she’ll continue to fight for constituents and D.C. statehood until the end of her term, as she’s done for over three decades.

“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 33 years,” Norton said.

It’s been four days since Norton‘s campaign filed paperwork indicating that she would not be seeking reelection this year — and it’s the first statement we still have from Norton herself, her congressional office or her campaign.

News4 broke the story last week that Norton was unlikely to seek reelection.

Norton, 88, is the oldest member of Congress and faced challengers seeking her seat, including D.C. Councilmembers Brooke Pinto and Robert White.

Norton has represented the District of Columbia in Congress since the early 1990s. Prior to that, she was a national leader in the civil rights movement.

On Friday, her campaign filed a notice with the Federal Elections Commission notifying the agency that they were disbanding her official campaign.

Before Norton’s official retirement announcement, politicians, local leaders and organizations began issuing statements congratulating her on her long career.

Those include organizations such as DC Vote, Metro General Manager Randy Clarke and people who hope to replace her, including Robert White and Brooke Pinto.

On Sunday, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser put out a video on social media highlighting Norton’s contributions.

“I’m just thinking about her 35 years of service to D.C. residents,” Bowser said. “She has been responsible for delivery a lot of land, jobs, economic opportunities for D.C., and she’s managed to do all that without a vote. Imagine what she could have done for us as a voting member of the Congress.”

She called Norton “our warrior on the Hill.”

“She’s an icon of the civil rights movement, a brilliant legal scholar who was a Georgetown professor for many years,” Bowser said.

Over the past year, Norton’s health has visibly declined and questions have been raised about her ability to continue in office. Even her closest and most noted advisor Donna Brazile called for Norton to retire.