Norton Announces Retirement at End of Term

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) announced today that she will retire at the end of this term.

"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. "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.

"The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it's time to lift up the next generation of leaders. For D.C., that time has come. 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's unrelenting advocacy has produced prolific and transformative results for the District. Her major legislative accomplishments include the revitalization of entire sections of the city - the Wharf, Capitol Riverfront, NOMA, Walter Reed and St. Elizabeths West campus for the Department of Homeland Security, and most recently the transfer of the RFK Stadium site to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant Program, or DCTAG, which Norton established, makes up the difference up to $10,000, between in state and out of state tuition at public universities for D.C. residents. The program helps thousands of D.C. students, who lack the type of robust public university system that residents of states enjoy, attend college each year.

"Although I've decided not to seek reelection, I will never falter in my commitment to the residents I have long championed. I will continue to serve as D.C.'s Warrior on the Hill until the end of my current term."

A civil rights leader who helped plan the 1963 March on Washington, an accomplished attorney who argued and won at the Supreme Court, the first woman to lead the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and a tenured professor at Georgetown Law before she was elected to Congress, Norton plans to continue to find ways to serve the District of Columbia after her current term ends. Her legacy is one of tireless service marked by an unrelenting focus on the well-being of those she represents. As Norton transitions into this new phase of service, her role as a champion for the people of D.C. will remain as vibrant and vital as ever.

Norton concluded, "Thank you to my constituents for choosing and trusting me to fight for you in Congress 18 times. I will leave this institution knowing that I have given you everything I have. And while my service in Congress is ending, my advocacy for your rights, your dignity, and your capacity to govern yourselves is not."

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