Eleanor Holmes Norton to retire from Congress after decades of advocating for federal employees

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington, D.C.’s non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives since 1991 and a longtime advocate for federal employees, announced on Tuesday that she will retire at the end of her current term. 

"The privilege of public service is inseparable from the responsibility to recognize when it's time to lift up the next generation of leaders,” she said in a statement. “For D.C., that time has come.” 

NOTUS was the first to report that Norton, a Democrat, was ending her reelection campaign after she filed a termination notice with the Federal Election Commission. At 88-years-old, there were widespread concerns about her ability to continue serving. 

As the voice in Congress for about 160,000 federal employees who live in D.C., Norton frequently pursued legislation that impacts government workers. In recent years, she’s attempted to rebuff many of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overhaul the civil service. 

American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said that Norton has been a “loyal friend” to the union. 

“Eleanor Holmes Norton has been a fierce advocate for federal and D.C. government workers during her decades of public service representing the District of Columbia in the U.S. House of Representatives,” he said in a statement to Government Executive. “She has introduced or championed countless bills to protect federal employees’ rights and benefits, and she has shown up for AFGE time and time again to defend our members’ jobs and civil service protections from attack.”

In March 2025, she introduced the Protecting Federal Agencies and Employees from Political Interference Act (H.R. 1807) that would prohibit the executive branch from moving any agency headquarters or staffers outside of the National Capital region without congressional authorization. 

Under Trump, agencies such as the Agriculture Department and FBI have started transferring thousands of employees out of the D.C. area.   

The House in January 2025 passed, by voice voice, legislation (H.R. 189) from Norton to revoke the Securities and Exchange Commission’s authority to lease office space for itself and instead grant that duty to the General Services Administration. A press release from her office said that the measure is necessary to keep federal real estate decisions in GSA. 

During the current Congress, she’s also sponsored legislation that would establish an inspector general for the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, which oversees the 401(k)-style federal employee retirement plan. Norton has said that more oversight of the board is needed due to past service challenges. 

In recent years, she’s also introduced bills that would extend whistleblower protections and an additional form of paid leave to legislative branch employees, restore due process protections to certain feds in “sensitive” national security positions and address federal pay compression, which impacts some senior government officials in cities with high costs of living. 

In addition to serving in Congress, Norton was a leader in the 1960s civil rights movement and was the first woman to head the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.