Councilman Robert White has won the Democratic primary to be Washington, D.C.’s, next delegate to the House of Representatives, beating out his colleague Brooke Pinto in their race to replace retiring Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC).With 64% of the vote counted early Wednesday morning, White was declared the winner of the Democratic primary with 58,269 votes, good for 63.2% of the vote compared to Pinto, who came in second place with 19,792 votes, earning 21.5% of the vote, according to the Associated Press. In deep-blue Washington, D.C., White is all but guaranteed to win in the November general election.The primary result marks a win for leftist Washingtonians who hope to see the district’s government more passionately advocate district statehood at the federal level, which White has vowed to do. White, endorsed by socialist mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, listed advocating statehood as his “top priority” as Washington’s delegate on his campaign website.
White and councilmember Pinto quickly emerged as the two front-runners last year in the race to replace longtime Norton, 89, who was facing mounting questions about her mental acuity. Each vowing to take on the Trump administration if it impedes on Washington’s autonomy, the two colleagues largely differed in their approaches to public safety.
