Throughout Washington, D.C. nonvoting delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s 18 terms in Congress, delegate elections were non-competitive — Holmes Norton’s victory was all but assured. Now, with the 88-year-old delegate planning to retire, the race for the position is open.
As the June 16 Democratic primary approaches, numerous candidates, including Robert White, Councilmember Brooke Pinto, Kinney Zalesne, Trent Holbrook and Greg Jaczko, have joined the race to replace Holmes-Norton. Each has different ideas of what it means to advocate for Washington statehood in Congress, collaborate with local politicians and respond to the Trump administration’s actions regarding Washington.
While current at-large Councilmember White said at a debate May 2, according to ABC 7, that he seeks to achieve statehood for Washington through “the motivation for people to capture Democratic control of Congress,” arguing that Congress is “not going to make DC a state because it’s the right thing to do,” Jaczko intends to catalyze national discussion on the issue by “exempting D.C. residents from [the] federal income tax.
Both Pinto and Zalesne wish to raise Americans’ awareness of the movement for Washington statehood. “We need to make sure every American knows that it is an American interest to have representation,” Pinto said, noting, “we are not living up to the Constitution by failing to have representation for the residents of Washington, D.C.” Zalesne proposed leading a “national marketing campaign… to tell our own residents and the 30 million Americans who come visit our city what it means to us to not be a state,” she said. “We need signs on our airport walls, on the walls of Union Station, on the sides of our buses that say, ‘Welcome to D.C. We’re the last colony.’” Zalesne also advocated creating a “Capital Caucus” composed of congresspeople from Washington, D.C., Maryland, Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware to encourage “collaborating on opportunities for economic growth.”
Holbrook, a former Senior Legislative Council for Holmes Norton, said that he would combat “Trump overstep[ping]” by “get[ting] additional co-sponsors on statehood and pass[ing] the District of Columbia National Guard Home Rule Act,” a law proposed by Maryland senator Chris Van Hollen that would allow the D.C. mayor to exercise powers over the D.C. National Guard similar to those used by state governors.
In addition to debating policy, some candidates have fomented controversy. In April 2026, Brooke Pinto’s campaign released an opposition-research document on Robert White that included sensitive personal information like White’s address, his wife’s student debt, and details of his father’s and brother’s lives. Pinto additionally lambasted White for political moves “vot[ing] to reduce background checks for sex offenders who want to work in DC public schools” and “cozying up to Trump donors.”
Pinto, who said on Instagram that she “ha[s] never and do[es] not support” the Trump administration, was photographed at Mar a Lago before Trump’s first term; according to the Washington City Paper, she has received donations from multiple Trump donors.
According to the Washington Post, White called deemed the opposition-research document that released his personal information “beyond the pale” and “a basic violation of human decency.”
Other candidates also condemned the press release. Holbrook slammed the two candidates’ “mudslinging instead of focusing on the issues that actually matter” in a statement.
Speaking to a gathering of Washington residents attended by Horizon, Zalesne said that “Brooke’s move was either malevolence or incompetence – both are disqualifying.”
The scandal “reflects very badly on the city, and reflects very badly on both of the” candidates, Zalesne said, noting that “they are trying to climb the next rung on a political ladder.”
“Our fight is with Trump,” Zalesne, who touted her “federal experience,” continued. “We are under attack by our president… projected to lose 40,000 jobs,” Zalesne said. “He has weakened us in the most unforgivable way.” However, she expressed defiance, including when discussing plans she had proposed to Representative Jamie Raskin and Representative Suhas Subramanyam, who endorsed her, to improve the experience of Washingtonian patients, almost 300,000 of whom rely on Medicaid, in hospitals owned by companies in Maryland and Virginia.
“We must rebuild the expertise that we’ve lost [in the federal government]” and “think of ourselves as a hub of regional economic opportunities,” she said, expressing confidence that Washington is “ripe for economic stimulus, growth, and innovation.”
“All across D.C., I see this kind of quiet, unsung strength, determination, faith, in every ward, in every neighborhood,” Zalesne said. “D.C. is the city of service.”