Robert White wins Democratic primary for D.C. delegate to Congress after Eleanor Holmes Norton retirement

June 17, 2026 / 7:50 AM EDT

/ CBS/AP

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Washington — Robert White Jr. won the Democratic primary for the district's delegate to Congress on Tuesday, ushering in generational change for a position long held by the same candidate as the nation's capital faces mounting pressures on its autonomy.White's win in the heavily Democratic city sets him up to take the top spot in November's general elections, when he could replace 18-term delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton. Norton, 89 and a fixture of the Civil Rights movement, decided not to run again after facing growing concerns over her ability to forcefully push back against the Trump administration's federal intervention into the city's affairs.White, a D.C. council member, had campaigned on promises to fight for the city's autonomy, which has been squeezed under President Trump, who deployed the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime and rattled the capital's economy by downsizing the federal workforce."My election means we're going to keep our independence and we're going to get statehood. People know I'm not going to lay down. I'm going to fight," White told The Associated Press after his win was declared.The D.C. delegate position is a nonvoting one, but it grants the nearly 700,000 people of the district, who have no other representation in Congress, a voice through speechmaking on the House floor and bill introduction.The primary marked the first time in a generation that D.C. residents voted for a new mayor and delegate in the same election. And in an overwhelmingly Democratic city, that party's winner is expected to come out on top in both races in November. CBS News has not yet projected a winner in the mayor's race. Current Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was first elected in 2014, decided not to seek a fourth term. Democratic frontrunners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan McDuffie are hoping to replace her. The primary includes ranked choice voting for the first time, which the district's election officials have warned could delay results.