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District of Columbia's at-large congressional district
Delegate	Eleanor Holmes Norton D–Washington
Area	61 sq mi (160 km)
Distribution	100.0% urban 0.0% rural
Population (2022)	671,803
Median household income	$101,027
Ethnicity	44.2% Black 38.0% White 11.3% Hispanic 6.6% Asian 1.7% Native American 0.2% Pacific Islander Americans
Cook PVI	D+43

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The District of Columbia's at-large congressional district is a congressional district encompassing all of Washington, D.C., the capital city of the United States. Article One of the United States Constitution instructs that only "States" may be represented in the United States Congress. Because the District of Columbia does not meet that criterion, the member elected from the at-large district is not permitted to participate in votes on the floor of the House. Instead, constituents of the seat elect a non-voting delegate to the chamber. Though the delegate lacks full voting privileges, they are permitted to sit on, cast votes in, and chair congressional committees and subcommittees. The delegate may also join party caucuses, introduce legislation, and hire staff to assist with constituent services.

The modern office of delegate from the District of Columbia was established in 1971. Since then, it has been represented by just two individuals, both of them African American Democrats. Its current delegate is Eleanor Holmes Norton, an advocate for D.C. statehood who assumed office in 1991. Accordingly, she has held the seat for more than 60% of its existence.

History of the office

The office of delegate from the District of Columbia was initially established by Radical Republicans during the Reconstruction era. From 1871 to 1875, it was held by Norton P. Chipman, a Republican who had been appointed the first secretary of the District of Columbia by President Ulysses S. Grant. The position was abolished in 1875 and remained nonexistent for 96 years.

District of Columbia Delegate Act

Long title	An Act to establish a Commission on the Organization of the Government of the District of Columbia and to provide for a Delegate to the House of Representatives from the District of Columbia.
Enacted by	the 91st United States Congress
Effective	September 22, 1970
Citations
Public law	Pub. L. 91–405
Statutes at Large	84 Stat. 845
Codification
Titles amended	Title 2—The Congress
U.S.C. sections created	2 U.S.C. § 25a
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 18725 by Ancher Nelsen (R–MN) on July 30, 1970 Committee consideration by House District of Columbia Passed the House on August 10, 1970 (302–57) Passed the Senate on September 9, 1970  Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on September 22, 1970

During the mid-20th century, there was a renewed push to extend greater voting rights to residents of Washington, D.C. By 1961, the necessary 37 states had successfully ratified the Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, which extended the District of Columbia the right to vote in presidential elections. Still, there remained bipartisan agreement that the District of Columbia – which in 1970 had more residents than 10 individual states — deserved at least some representation in the U.S. Congress.

Federal legislation to recreate a congressional delegate position for D.C. was first seriously debated by Congress in 1970. President Richard Nixon had repeatedly expressed his support for full voting representation for the District of Columbia. An initial proposal by Rep. Earle Cabell (D–TX) suggested creating two non-voting delegate positions for D.C.: one for the House and one for the Senate. Concerns that the Senate would stall such a proposal spurred the consideration of a compromise bill introduced by Rep. Ancher Nelsen (R–MN), who at the time served as ranking member of the House Committee on the District of Columbia. Nelsen's proposal guaranteed non-voting representation only in the House.

In a written message to House Minority Leader Gerald Ford on August 6, 1970, Nixon reaffirmed that "voting representation for the District of Columbia is my goal" and strongly urged Ford to press for the bill's passage. Ford and House Majority Leader Carl Albert both crafted messages to their respective caucuses in response, encouraging their members to support the measure. During closing arguments on the House floor, two representatives made particularly passionate pleas on the capital city's behalf. The first came from Rep. John Conyers (D–MI), who decried the "rank hypocrisy" of denying "a voice in our Government to the people who live closest to it." The second came from Rep. Michael J. Harrington (D–MA), who noted the lack of attention shown by the Congress to Washington:

"I have visited those parts of the city which the tourist never sees, and I am shaken. Many areas damaged in the riot of 1968 have never been repaired. Many buildings are still blackened and boarded up. Housing is inadequate, schools are inadequate, transportation is inadequate, and no one has real authority to act effectively for the black majority of this city. The Congress simply does not have the time or the interest to run a large city. It is time we recognized this fact, and permitted the city to govern itself. The complexities of city government, the day-to-day decisions should not be placed in the hands of 535 different people — all of whom have to pass on matters about which they have little concern and about which they lack the time to be informed."

Opposition to the legislation was largely spearheaded by Rep. John L. McMillan (D–SC), the segregationist chairman of the House Committee on the District of Columbia. As chairman, McMillan repeatedly opposed home rule and greater rights for residents of D.C., largely because of its sizable Black population. The bill ultimately passed the House with 302 votes in favor and 57 votes against. The "nay" votes came predominately from conservative Southerners. On September 9, 1970, the legislation passed the Senate. President Nixon, who called the District's lack of voting rights "one of the truly unacceptable facts of American life," signed the District of Columbia Delegate Act 13 days later.

The first election for the seat was held on March 23, 1971. Democrat Walter Fauntroy won the race and went on to serve in the Congress for nearly 20 years. A week after being sworn in, Fauntroy became one of the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

A further effort to grant the District of Columbia full voting rights in Congress via a constitutional amendment came in 1978. The District of Columbia Voting Rights Amendment passed both chambers of Congress, but it failed to receive the necessary number of state ratifications by its 1985 deadline. Reflecting increased political polarization, efforts to secure D.C. further voting rights since have largely failed along party lines.

Since 1993, when the House of Representatives has been under Democratic control, delegates, including the District of Columbia's delegate, have been allowed to cast non-binding floor votes when the House of Representatives was operating in the Committee of the Whole.

The district has been represented by Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton since 1991.

List of delegates representing the district

Delegate	Party	Term	Cong ress	Electoral history
District established March 4, 1871
Vacant		March 4, 1871 – April 21, 1871	42nd
Norton P. Chipman	Republican	April 21, 1871 – March 3, 1875	42nd 43rd	Elected to finish the vacant term. Re-elected in 1872. Seat eliminated.
District dissolved March 4, 1875
District re-established September 22, 1970
Vacant		September 22, 1970 – March 23, 1971	91st 92nd
Walter Fauntroy	Democratic	March 23, 1971 – January 3, 1991	92nd 93rd 94th 95th 96th 97th 98th 99th 100th 101st	Elected to finish the vacant term. Re-elected in 1972. Re-elected in 1974. Re-elected in 1976. Re-elected in 1978. Re-elected in 1980. Re-elected in 1982. Re-elected in 1984. Re-elected in 1986. Re-elected in 1988. Retired to run for Mayor of the District of Columbia
Eleanor Holmes Norton	Democratic	January 3, 1991 – present	102nd 103rd 104th 105th 106th 107th 108th 109th 110th 111th 112th 113th 114th 115th 116th 117th 118th	Elected in 1990. Re-elected in 1992. Re-elected in 1994. Re-elected in 1996. Re-elected in 1998. Re-elected in 2000. Re-elected in 2002. Re-elected in 2004. Re-elected in 2006. Re-elected in 2008. Re-elected in 2010. Re-elected in 2012. Re-elected in 2014. Re-elected in 2016. Re-elected in 2018. Re-elected in 2020. Re-elected in 2022. Re-elected in 2024.

Election results

1870s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

See also

• District of Columbia voting rights
• District of Columbia statehood movement
• United States congressional delegations from the District of Columbia
• List of United States congressional districts

Notes

1. They were Alaska, Delaware, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming.

References

1. "My Congressional District".
2. "Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008" (PDF). Partisan Voting Index. The Cook Political Report. October 11, 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 5, 2013. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
3. Barone, Michael; McCutcheon, Chuck (2013). The Almanac of American Politics 2014. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 358–. ISBN 978-0-226-10544-4. Copyright National Journal.
4. "Congressional Record" (PDF). United States Government Publishing Office. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
5. "D.C. Delegate". The New York Times. September 16, 1970. Retrieved July 11, 2023.
6. The practice began with the 103rd Congress, but was revoked when the Republicans retook the House for the 104th Congress. Democrats reinstated the practice in the 110th Congress, but Republicans again revoked it in the 112th Congress.
7. Portnoy, Jenna (January 3, 2017). "Republican-led Congress denies D.C. delegate a vote. Again". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
8. Gibbs, C. R. (March 2, 1989). "The District Had a Voice, if Not a Vote, in the 42nd Congress". The Washington Post. p. DC3.
9. "The Washington Election". The Baltimore Sun. April 20, 1871. p. 1.
10. Gibbs, C. R. (March 2, 1989). "The District Had a Voice, if Not a Vote, in the 42nd Congress". The Washington Post. p. DC3.
11. "Fauntroy Election Certified". The Washington Post. April 6, 1971. p. C6.
12. "General Election 2016 – Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
13. "General Election 2018 — Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
14. "General Election 2020 – Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
15. "General Election 2022 – Certified Results". District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 30, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.

External links

• District of Columbia Congressional District map

v t e Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia
Chipman Fauntroy Norton

38°54′15″N 77°01′02″W / 38.90417°N 77.01722°W / 38.90417; -77.01722

• Congressional districts of the District of Columbia
• At-large United States congressional districts
• Delegates to the United States House of Representatives from the District of Columbia
• Constituencies established in 1871
• 1871 establishments in Washington, D.C.
• Constituencies disestablished in 1875
• 1875 disestablishments in Washington, D.C.
• Constituencies established in 1970
• 1970 establishments in Washington, D.C.
• Eleanor Holmes Norton