By Nolan D. McCaskill
WASHINGTON, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Eleanor Holmes Norton, a pioneering civil rights lawyer who became Washington, D.C.’s steadfast champion in Congress for more than three decades, said on Tuesday she will retire next year, ending a tenure defined by her fights for home rule and resistance to repeated federal intervention.
Norton, 88, represented Washington, D.C., as a non-voting delegate and faced questions in recent years about her fitness for office and effectiveness as the oldest member in the House of Representatives.
“The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it’s time to lift up the next generation of leaders,” she said in a statement. “For D.C., that time has come.”
Norton was a longtime defender of D.C. in Congress, which has unusual power over the city. A Democrat, she clashed with Republicans who sought to impose restrictions on D.C. policies, including President Donald Trump’s push to federalize law enforcement last year to reduce crime.
A dozen or so Democrats had already launched campaigns to succeed Norton in Congress, seeking to oust her in a primary election if she didn’t choose to retire on her own. The winner of the June 16 primary will be heavily favored to represent the overwhelmingly Democratic district in the November midterm elections, when control of Congress will be at stake.
Republicans hold a 218-213 majority over Democrats, but the election of D.C.’s representative doesn’t affect control of the chamber because that member cannot vote on final passage of legislation on the floor.
Norton, who was first elected in 1990, filed to terminate her campaign on Sunday ahead of Tuesday’s announcement.
(Reporting by Nolan D. McCaskill; editing by Andy Sullivan and Howard Goller)
