Eleanor Holmes Norton, age 88, faces high-profile call to retire
Eleanor Holmes Norton – The non -voting delegate of 88 years for Washington, DC, in the House of Representatives – faces calls from an eminent Democratic strategist to make 2026 his last year in the Congress.
The acting former president of the National Democratic Committee, Donna Brazile, who was the Norton campaign director when she was elected for the first time in 1990 and her chief of staff for eight years, wrote in an opinion article in the Washington Post Monday that she should not ask for her re -election in the middle of the outside.
Brazile, 65, called Norton his “Dear friend for 44 years”, his “model and mentor” and “a second mother”.
“But Norton, a Democrat, is now 88 years old – the oldest member of the Chamber. She is no longer the dynamo that she was in the past, at a time when DC needs the type of energy representation at the Congress that she has planned for decades,” wrote Brazile.
“It is in her best interest, and in the interest of DC, for her to serve her current mandate, but then ends her extraordinary service at the Congress and not to request a re-election next year,” she added.
Brazile then listed a number of Norton’s achievements at the Congress, but said that Washington “was not attacked because at any other moment in recent history, and we need a new champion to defend us.”
“After having done so much for DC for so long, it is understandable that she wants to stay at the congress. The public service is her life. But no work can last forever, and no one is irreplaceable. As I said in person, the Congress retreat is the right chapter for her – and for the district,” wrote Brazile.
She noted that members of the congress such as representative Jerry Nadler, 78 years old; Senator Jeanne Shaheen, 78 years old; Senator Dick Durbin, 80 years old; And Senator Mitch McConnell, 83, all decided not to ask for a re -election at centuries younger than Norton.
Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is the oldest member of the Senate. He is 92 years old this week.
Norton told twice in June that she would ask for a re -election, but his office had it back twice. Norton told Axios this month that she “of course” would present herself to re -election – this time, her office would not come back.
Norton’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comments on Monday evening on Brazile’s opinion or Norton’s plans for 2026.
Norton already faces main challenges of several candidates, including the former DNC official Kinney Zalesne.
Norton postponed criticism reports this year on the question of whether she was able to be delegate of DC when the Trump administration placed the district in its reticulus.
Representative Jamie Raskin, D-MD., Said in an interview with the New York Times in June that Norton was “an icon”, but he said that “it will take a new generation of leadership to win the state and the battles of the day”.
Norton seemed to have trouble walking alone when she left a press conference on the repression of the federal crime at DC two weeks ago. She kept herself on the arm of an assistant who approached her on the podium and said to him: “I will be there.” After speaking, Norton seemed to hang on to the podium until helping the aid returns to help her support as she walked away.
Norton has been used in the House since 1991. Before that, in 1977, President Jimmy Carter appointed him the first woman to direct the equal employment committee.
