D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton Files to ‘Terminate’ Reelection Campaign

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s campaign filed a termination report with the Federal Election Commission on Sunday, ending months of speculation about her political future.

Norton’s campaign raised just $2,520 from October to December and spent around $5,000, including $1,500 on fundraising consulting services, according to a new campaign finance report filed Sunday.

Her campaign also raised just $7.50 from Jan. 1 to Jan. 25, according to a separate termination report, and spent about $4,000.

Her campaign had no cash on hand as of Jan. 25 and is $90,000 in debt to Norton, who personally loaned her reelection committee $40,000 in June, according to disclosures.

A termination report filed with the FEC has the practical effect of ending a candidate’s campaign operation, although it does not prevent them from filing to run for office in the future.

Neither Norton’s campaign nor her congressional office immediately responded to requests for comment from NOTUS.

Sources told NBC 4 Washington on Friday that no one from Norton’s team was planning to pick up ballot petitions to run for reelection this year.

Norton has handily won reelection to her post representing Washington, D.C., every two years since 1990, when she was first elected as a nonvoting representative in the House.

But at 88, Norton is the oldest member of the House, and even members of her own party have openly questioned her mental acuity and ability to stand up to Republican threats to the District’s autonomy.

Trent Holbrook, who recently left his role as Norton’s senior legislative counsel, jumped into the race for his former boss’s seat earlier this month.

“If Congresswoman Norton was running a campaign that I thought would win, you know, I wouldn’t be here. But that’s not where we’re at right now,” Holbrook told The Washington Post, which first reported his campaign.

Holbrook will not have to file a campaign finance report until April, but other Democratic candidates will be reporting their fundraising in the coming days.

The increasingly crowded field of Democratic challengers includes D.C. council members Robert White and Brooke Pinto, Democratic strategist Kinney Zalesne and President of the D.C. State Board of Education Jacque Patterson. In overwhelmingly Democratic Washington, D.C., the Democratic primary often serves as a de facto general election.

Pinto’s campaign said in a press release that it raised $830,000 from October, when Pinto launched her campaign, to December.

“DC residents from every corner of our city are standing up to demand real, proven leadership — from tackling public safety, improving our schools, to making DC the powerhouse of a 21st century, information-based economy. Our campaign is powered by everyday people who know that DC deserves a champion on the Hill who can protect and explore new opportunities for our city and they’re the reason we’re going to win this race,” Pinto said in a statement.

President Donald Trump’s second term has brought new challenges to D.C. — one even Norton’s allies aren’t sure she’s equipped to handle. A once highly public force for civil rights, she’s hung back from directly engaging Trump as he’s sought greater federal control over the District.

Norton’s office has pushed back on questions about her age and mental fitness. And “a person granted anonymity to describe Norton’s thinking” told Politico in August that her low-key response to Trump’s decision to deploy federal immigration officers and National Guard troops in D.C. was in line with Mayor Muriel Bowser’s more measured approach to the administration.

But her team has repeatedly walked back Norton’s comments to reporters that she will seek reelection. And Norton, who has not accepted interview requests since she was reelected in November 2024, did not appear alongside Bowser in multiple on-camera appearances in the wake of Trump’s announcement.