Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s first and only delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, won a ninth term Tuesday.
With most of the precincts reported, Norton, 69, easily defeated Adams Morgan neighborhood activist Andy Miscuk, winning 93 percent.
The race was the first Democratic primary challenge Norton has faced in 16 years as the District’s delegate, and it comes before a possible turning point for the post. If the voting rights bill passes, the delegate will become D.C.’s first representative.
The delegate to the U.S. House is the District’s only elected representative with any power in Congress. The delegate is authorized to introduce legislation and has a vote in committee, but has no vote on the House floor. The representative is a key lobbyist for D.C. voting rights.
Norton and Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., have co-sponsored a bill that would give District residents a full voting member of Congress. The pending bill would defer the question of District representation in the U.S. Senate, as well as the even more contentious issue of statehood.
The bill passed the House Government Reform Committee 29 to 4 earlier this year and awaits a hearing in the Judiciary Committee. The committee is chaired by Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr.
Miscuk is a former Green Beret who came to the District from Pittsburgh as a computer consultant. Norton is a third-generation Washingtonian with a long pedigree in the civil rights movement. She is a lawyer and professor of law at Georgetown University.
