D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, who served in Congress for 35 years, said she will retire at the end of her term.
In a statement Tuesday, Norton said it is time to “lift up the next generation of leaders.”
“Although I’ve decided not to seek reelection, I will never falter in my commitment to the residents I have long championed,” she said in a news release. “I will continue to serve as D.C.’s Warrior on the Hill until the end of my current term.”
Norton, 88, had filed a termination report with the Federal Election Commission, which is commonly done when a public officeholder is ending a reelection campaign.
“I’ve had the privilege of representing the District of Columbia in Congress since 1991. Time and again, D.C. residents entrusted me to fight for them at the federal level, and I have not yielded,” Norton said in the release. “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.”
During her time as a delegate, she focused on the revitalization of places such as the Wharf, Capitol Riverfront, NoMa, Walter Reed and St. Elizabeth’s West campus for the Department of Homeland Security, and most recently the transfer of the RFK Stadium site to the District.
Norton also established the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program, which helps thousands of D.C. students attend college each year.
“At a time when our city’s autonomy is more precarious than ever before, we need more leaders like her: leaders who understand that the times we are living in will set D.C.’s course for years ahead, and that the fight for equality under the law is far from over,” D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto said about Norton in a statement.
Before being elected to Congress, Norton also helped plan the March on Washington, argued and won cases at the Supreme Court as an attorney and was a tenured professor at Georgetown Law. She was also the first woman to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Her current term ends Jan. 3, 2027.
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