88-Year-Old Democrat Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Terminates Campaign For 19th Term

Longtime Democratic District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, 88, filed a notice Sunday to end her reelection bid to a 19th term — months after a police report described her as being in the “early stages of dementia.”

The nonvoting delegate to Congress was first elected in 1990 and has since been continuously reelected with minimal opposition. Norton, who said she intended to remain in the race on multiple occasions in 2025 — despite her own staff notably downplaying these comments — filed a termination report with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) effectively ending her candidacy, News of the United States (NOTUS) first reported Sunday.

Despite the 35-year delegate’s reelection bid raising a measly $7.50 over the 25 days of 2026, she remained in the race;  she spent just over $4,000 during the same time, according to the termination report. At the time the report was filed Sunday, Norton’s campaign did not have any cash on hand.

During the final three months of 2025, the now-shuttered campaign raised $2,520 and spent just shy of $5,000, according to an FEC report of receipts and disbursements obtained by NOTUS.

Norton’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The oldest member of the House, Washington, D.C.’s nonvoting delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, first elected in 1990, has terminated her reelection campaign.

From Jan. 1 to Jan. 25, Norton’s campaign raised just $7.50 while spending nearly $4,000, according to a termination… pic.twitter.com/IpQa8HVbWE

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 25, 2026

Scammers visited Norton’s Washington residence in October 2025 and charged her credit card $4,000 for fake cleaning services. A police report filed during the incident listed the delegate as “Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) 88 years old, Black Woman, suffers early stages of dementia.”

A spokesperson for Norton at the time told NBC4 Washington that the allegation Norton suffered from early-state dementia was a “medical diagnosis” based “on an assumption the reporting officer was unqualified to make.” The spokesperson, however, still refused to confirm or deny whether Norton actually suffered from the condition to the outlet.

Before the 88-year-old delegate ended her campaign, she faced a large competitive Democratic primary field for the first time since her initial race nearly four decades ago. Norton’s primary opponents, who remain in the race, include D.C. Councilman Robert White, 43, and D.C. Councilwoman Brooke Pinto, 33.

White, who entered the race against Norton in September 2025, said at the time that “like most people in D.C., we recognize that she [Norton] can’t do the things that she once did,” POLITICO reported.

“Right now, the District is vulnerable, and we’re losing ground, and with only one elected member in this entire Congress, we need somebody with the fight, the energy, and the know-how,” White said at the time.

The same month, former acting Democratic National Committee (DNC) chair Donna Brazile penned an op-ed for The Washington Post arguing Norton, her former boss, should not run for reelection.

“She is no longer the dynamo she once was, at a time when D.C. needs the kind of energetic representation in Congress she provided for decades,” wrote Brazile, who was Norton’s campaign manager during her initial 1990 delegate run, and her chief of staff for her first eight years in office.

Besides Norton, there are three remaining voting members of Congress who were born in the 1930s: Republican Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, Republican Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers, and Democratic California Rep. Maxine Waters. Rogers and Waters are both running for reelection in 2026. Grassley, 92, who has continuously served in elected office since the Eisenhower administration, is not up for reelection until 2028 but has filed paperwork to run.