Since the release of The Washington Informer profile about Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), the chorus of voices against her reelection bid has gotten louder, with two of the delegate’s office alumni— Donna Brazile and D.C. Councilmember Robert White (D-At large)— publicly requesting that the 88-year-old veteran lawmaker not seek another term in office.
Last week, White, a former Norton legislative aide and one-time mayoral candidate, launched his bid for Norton’s seat, shocking many voters and inciting questions about why he wouldn’t remain focused on D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s seat.
White said his pivot to Congress makes the most sense in the current moment.
“We’ve had the military turned on us, people being snatched in our city, and constant threats about the federal government taking over D.C.,” White told The Informer. “And I realized that if we can’t turn the tide on the federal level, we won’t even have a mayor or council much longer. So that’s where the fight is right now, which means that’s where I have to go.”
For weeks, White, along with D.C. Councilmembers Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Christina Henderson (I-At large), have been identified as possible contenders for the D.C. delegate seat. Pinto and Henderson have denied having intentions of running, though Pinto recently acknowledged it as a step she’s considering.
From the onset of the federal surge this summer, White and other council members engaged Democratic congressional leadership while many D.C. residents and activists criticized Bowser’s cooperation with the Trump administration.
Earlier this month, before the council’s return from recess, White coordinated a virtual town hall featuring senior officials in the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and members of the Free DC movement. Not long after, he, along with other elected officials and D.C. residents, watched as Democratic and Republican members of the House approved measures allowing the prosecution of 14 year olds as adults for violent crimes, consolidating the president’s control over District judicial appointments, and preventing future execution of the Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act and the Second Chance Amendment Act.
Such outcomes, White said, further highlight the need for congressional leadership that can successfully discourage congress members from participating in the decimation of District home rule.
“These next months are going to be about coalition building,” White said. “It’s going to be about leadership for residents who are sick and tired of the things that have happened and are fearful about what might come next, and calling on national leaders and national organizations to the front lines of the authoritarian takeover that we’re seeing.”
Norton, White said, isn’t best suited to take on the cause.
“She has done phenomenal things for this city over three decades of service,” White said. “But for this year, as we have been getting hammered, she hasn’t been able to fight, and that doesn’t take away from anything she’s done, but the reality is most residents are feeling the absence right now.”
Kymone Freeman Criticizes White, Continues Bid for Congressional Seat
D.C.-based activist and 2024 D.C. congressional candidate Kymone Freeman said there’s more to what meets the eye when it comes to White’s run for Congress.
“Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, ‘Nothing happens in politics by chance. If it happened, you can guarantee it was planned that way,’” Freeman told The Informer. “So someone influential who pulls the strings of the politicians and their funding sat these candidates down and said that [they] could fight amongst [themselves], leave Muriel alone, so she can maintain the status quo in the mayor’s office, and you can get the congressional seat and maintain the status quo there.”
During the latter part of last week, Freeman took to social media in criticism of White’s decision, calling it disingenuous and conveniently timed.
“So he’s basically saying that the mayor’s office is meaningless,” Freeman said about White. “So why were you running for mayor? If that’s how you felt, what changed? You can’t say the D.C. takeover changed. Trump was already here before, and he was saying the same things then.”
In early 2024, Freeman launched his bid to unseat the non-voting delegate who he said deviated from her radical, civil rights roots. After Norton, once again, won reelection, Freeman revealed that he would run again in 2026. His platform this go-round centers on the District’s exemption from federal taxes, the enshrinement of federal standards that keep rent at or below 30% of a person’s income, and investments toward resources and programs that reduce violence and crime.
“We keep repeating the same talking points over and over: something bad happens, go get more police, increase the police budget, ignoring the reality that D.C. has more police per capita than any city in America, and America has more prisoners than any country in the entire world,” Freeman told The Informer. “So clearly, that is not the answer, all right? We need to start addressing the root causes of crime and violence. Namely, one of them is lead pipes in this city. [The D.C. government] just recently gave billions of dollars…to build a stadium that’s going to be breaking ground and completed by 2030, yet we do not have a firm date for the replacement of all the lead pipes in this city.”
Freeman, a D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate, said that the next D.C. congressperson needs to go beyond the limits set by Norton’s Democratic Party affiliation. He questioned whether White would be able, or even willing, to advance a progressive vision.
“I guarantee you, there’s going to be some more of the same benign neglect,” Freeman said. “These [congressional Republicans] ain’t playing, but the people that are supposed to be representing us are playing in our face. With this latest political stunt, Mr. White has just joined the realms of the people that are playing in our face.”
D.C. Congressional Candidate Jacque Patterson Centers Education
The D.C. Democratic primary will take place on June 16, 2026. The victor of that race will appear on the Nov. 3, 2026, ballot alongside Republican and D.C. Statehood Green Party candidates. Norton’s office didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
With his recent announcement, White joins a growing candidate field that not only includes Freeman, but D.C. State Board of Education (SBOE) Representative Jacque Patterson (At-large), Ward 3 Democrats Chair Dierdre Brown and local dog walker Gordon Chaffin.
Patterson, who announced his run for the D.C. congressional seat in July, said he launched his bid, not out of disrespect to Norton, but out of an understanding that the current state of affairs calls for someone with the energy needed to combat congressional Republicans.
“We really want to honor the 34 years that our congresswoman has been on the Hill,” Patterson told The Informer. “You can’t say enough superlatives about what our warrior on the Hill has done… and how she’s represented the District of Columbia. My run is not to slight or diminish any of that, but to continue to build upon it.”
Last year, shortly after Trump defeated then-Vice President Kamala Harris to clinch a second term in the Oval Office, Patterson proposed a State Board resolution to amend the D.C. Home Rule charter so that it holds the D.C. government legally responsible for ensuring equitable access to a quality education. Months later, Patterson joined SBOE Representative LaJoy Johnson-Law, parents and students as they converged on the Capitol to compel the release of $1.1 billion in local funds that had been frozen in a continuing resolution that House Republicans advanced.
That experience, Patterson said, inspired his bid for Congress.
“We can never be put in a condition where…money is held hostage that no one can do anything with, not Congress or anything,” Patterson told The Informer. “The first thing that I would do is to fight for more budget autonomy and making sure that we can spend our local dollars on us.”
Patterson, a former KIPP Public Charter School community engagement director, drew parallels between his work on the State Board and around the District, uniting, as he described it, residents of various constituencies around common interests. He said that he can apply a similar mindset as D.C. delegate while working on the Hill and in collaboration with local leaders.
“We need to make sure that both our council and our mayor have a good partner on the Hill, and we’re collaborative with both of those entities,” Patterson said, “because if we were a state, they serve as our legislature and as our executive or like our governor. And what normally happens at [the state level] is that their congressional person goes there to make sure that we’re going hand in hand to make sure that that state gets what it needs.”
Doing that, Patterson said, requires understanding, and leveraging, the sentiments of congressmembers who aren’t familiar with the District and its people.
“My job would be to tell the story to make sure that they understand why they should do the things that they need to do for the District of Columbia,” Patterson told The Informer. “I’m a strong Democrat, but I understand how sometimes Republicans look at the District of Columbia, and some of the accountability they want the District of Columbia to have. I’m willing to meet those needs and tell that story of how we’ve been that along with the mayor.”
In the days leading up to the start of the 2025-2026 school year, Patterson and Johnson-Law sparked conversation about the District government providing students with REAL IDs in preparation for encounters with federal troops. As congressional Republicans tamper with D.C. laws, in what some consider a disingenuous crusade to make the District safer, Patterson said that local leaders must protect the resources that address the underlying causes of violence.
“When we start changing how we’re doing SNAP, how we’re doing programming around education,” Patterson said. “Those federal funds are important, and the mayor and the council need someone that is fighting for those federal dollars every single day to ensure that we have the same quality of life as other states.”
Deirdre Brown Touts Experience and Organizing Chops
Brown, a third-generation Washingtonian, attorney and D.C. Public Schools mother, said she is able to effect change and best qualifies for the D.C. delegate seat due to her efforts as a civic leader and business owner.
With the field of candidates growing, Brown continues to tout the need for congressional leadership that’s deeply familiar with District residents’ needs.
“For the most part, most folks didn’t even pay attention to those because we all knew that she was going to win this,” Brown said. “Now, once again, whether she’s on the ballot or not, there’s clearly a possibility that someone else will win that seat, and we just need to make sure that the person in that seat fully represents and understands the residents of the District of Columbia.”
On Sept. 16, Brown declared her candidacy for the D.C. congressional seat with a communique citing her record of organizing high voter turnout in Ward 3, and her advocacy on housing, education, public safety and environmental issues. If elected, Brown’s priorities include securing federal funds for the District, strengthening Home Rule while on the path to statehood, educating congressional colleagues and community members alike, and establishing deeper ties on the Hill.
“We need to be ready when we get the House, the Senate, and the White House back to really make some serious changes,” Brown told The Informer. “We need someone who’s going to be singularly focused on this issue, who’s going to continue the legacy that’s already begun and finished what we started, who understands D.C. and has some pragmatic solutions, not just talking points.”
At the beginning of the school year, Brown, a mother of five, counted among those who expressed concern about the presence of federal agents at Metro corridors. While she supports efforts to secure statehood, Brown said that strengthening Home Rule must take priority. Her plans as D.C. delegate include the advancement of amendments to the D.C. Home Rule Act to allow more local autonomy during federalization.
“If for some reason another Republican president gets in, we have some layer of protections,” Brown said. “We can put things in place to say that if you’re gonna put federal agents on our streets, they have to comply with the same rules we have for MPD. There’s a lot of things we could do right now on our way to statehood.”
Brown, who espouses her rapport with Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), said she has plans in the works for a newsletter that provides legislative updates relevant to District residents. She also spoke about her desire, as D.C. delegate, to present information on a dashboard about legislation directly affecting D.C. residents and scores House and Senate members based on how they vote on issues relevant to the District.
That dashboard, she said, could be of particular benefit to District residents with roots elsewhere in the country.
“We have a lot of transient people here, and they have family in other places, so you can have your other family members also reaching out,” Brown told The Informer. “But they don’t know [that they could] reach out unless you tell them, and you don’t know to tell them, unless someone tells you. So it’s a lot about communication and education.”
Brown didn’t hesitate in pointing out that, as D.C. delegate, she also has what it takes to collaborate with the D.C. Council and Executive Office of the Mayor.
“You need somebody who can maneuver on both sides and not bring the delegate seat any ill will from the executive office or any ill will from the council,” Brown said. “You need someone in that seat who can continue to build those relationships and use that when they’re advocating on the Hill on behalf of the District.”
Gordon Chaffin: A Dog Walker With His Eye on Congress
Chaffin, a professional dog walker who’s lived in D.C. for 16 years, declared his candidacy on Sept. 13. He expressed an eagerness to further amplify the call for health care and housing access, especially now that the federal surge has put the District in the national eye.
“We have an audience across the country now because people are waking up to what is happening now, but also what’s been happening to us for decades,” Chaffin told The Informer. “Every issue that people deal with has a federal angle here, whether it’s access to medical care, family planning stuff, whether it’s just being in public space, like all of the different nationally owned parks, we have all of the stuff the delegate seat can be an advocate for.”
Chaffin, who holds a master’s degree and experienced housing insecurity, said he’s navigated the District’s safety net programs, including Medicaid and emergency rental assistance. He recounted a recent experience that highlighted obstacles faced by marginalized D.C. residents.
“The variety of people who had to take their entire day to prove some part of their identity, whether it was their income or their living situation, is unacceptable,” Chaffin said. “The assumption we start with being that people are lying or people are not deserving, that’s wrong. We need to go in a different direction and start assuming different things about people and start building systems of empowerment, which require significantly less paperwork and are more about the success of the entire individual and the entire family.
Chafffin’s experience in national politics includes a stint as a staff member in the late Democratic Rep. John Dingell’s office. He’s since become an advocate for health care, housing, and transportation, primarily with bylines in Greater Greater Washington, DC Line, and Street Sense among other outlets. Since launching his campaign, Chaffin has, as he recounted to The Informer, reached out to business owners and other community members. He’s also established his social media presence, taking opportunities to acknowledge other candidates and encourage debate.
If elected, Chaffin pledges to strengthen coordination between the D.C. delegate’s office and local officials— including the mayor, D.C. Council, and attorney general— to ensure that similar messaging on issues related to federal intrusion and funding for programs.
“Whether it’s a council member, a member of the mayor’s staff, or a member of the public from a group like Free D.C., all of these efforts should be coordinated because the people that we’re talking to, they’re not going to give us any excuses,” Chaffin said. “We’ve got to have a united front. That takes a delegate that’s listening and attending events and knows where everyone’s perspective is to sort of be the quarterback and run the offense as we go on this hard fight.”
The candidate also said that he would follow in Norton’s footsteps by engaging advisory neighborhood commissions and other local constituencies.
“The new leadership that I would put forth includes that level of energy where I’m getting everyone’s perspective,” Chaffin told The Informer. “It’s things like going to ANC meetings, going to civic association meetings.And then when you go to the Hill, taking that energy. Even though the delegate doesn’t have a vote on the house floor, they have the opportunity to vote in committee and show leadership in committee.”
Chaffin, who touts himself as a new type of D.C. leadership, said it’s up to voters to decide whether the former Chocolate City is ready for a white male delegate.
“I think what the D.C. is ready for is somebody who comes from a new generation,” he told The Informer. “Who has direct experience recently with how things have been challenging on affordability and that energy and that urgency has to come from somebody different.”