The dam breaks on Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's age question
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Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton has been D.C.'s nonvoting delegate since 1991. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
D.C.'s "warrior on the Hill," Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, turns 88 on Friday. Her brutal birthday present: Well-wishers prodding her to retire.
Why it matters: A dam is breaking on Norton, the second-oldest member in Congress — while Democrats nurse their hangover from the Joe Biden experience.
Driving the news: Four D.C. Council members expressed concern about Norton running for re-election, in a recent Washington Post article that describes episodes of her looking feeble in public and diminished in private.
- Under fire from Republican intervention, "I just feel like the past few months, we've been behind," Council member Christina Henderson told the Post.
Norton's response: "I'm gonna run," she told NBC News on Tuesday. "I don't know why anybody would even ask me."
- Hours later, Norton's office walked that back. "She wants to run again, but she's in conversations with her family, friends and closest advisers to decide what's best," her spokesperson, Sharon Nichols, told Axios.
- In response to Axios' interview request, Norton's office released a lengthy statement: "I've delivered better results than the vast majority of federal lawmakers — despite not having a vote on the House floor and without partners in the Senate who are accountable to D.C. residents."
But the pressure is growing.
"It's time for a change," Bill Lightfoot, a former council member and ally of Mayor Muriel Bowser, told Axios.
- Norton would win on name recognition, he acknowledges, but "not because she would run a good campaign, not because she's good on the issues, not because she can give a good stump speech. She can't do any of those things anymore."
Behind the scenes: While always praising Norton's legendary legacy, insiders have wondered for several years about her ability to continue serving.
- Norton's public appearances have declined, and she often avoids media interviews. Well-timed floor speeches and daily press releases kept scrutiny at bay — until recently.
- Some blame Norton for not stopping the House from approving a bill that nukes D.C.'s local budget by $1.1 billion. It's a costly "error," still unfixed.
The intrigue: What set off a firecracker in city hall was Bowser's senior adviser, Beverly Perry, telling Washingtonian she thinks Norton is "declining in health."
- "It's hard for her to navigate the political waters as she has in the past," Perry said.
In the post-Biden era, Council member Brooke Pinto said she was moved to speak out publicly after reading "Original Sin," by Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson.
- "We need to speak up," Pinto told the Post.
The bottom line: I first confronted Norton's age question in a September 2023 column: Would you step aside to mentor a new generation?
- "That never happens," Norton told me on the phone. "People who retire don't go to training someone else."
Andrew Solender contributed to this story.
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