Former At-Large D.C. Council member Robert White became the third nonvoting congressional delegate in D.C.’s history on Tuesday. The Democratic lawmaker will replace Eleanor Holmes Norton, who represented the District for 18 terms.
“These are hard, nearly impossible shoes to fill,” White told The Washington Sun. “But I think [voters] feel like if someone can do it, maybe I can.”
White claimed an overwhelming lead shortly after polls closed on Tuesday. The D.C. Board of Elections reported that he had won 87% of votes counted by 9:30 p.m. The victory marks the end of a hectic final campaign stretch for White, who resigned from the council Monday. The last-minute dramatics stemmed from a 1970 law that mandates that any person elected as D.C. congressional delegate must not occupy a paid political position on the day of their election.
Supporters filled The Delegate in Northwest D.C. on Tuesday night, setting a celebratory tone from the very start of the night. With DJ EZ Street spinning hip-hop and classic go-go, White danced his way into the watch party.
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But the room hushed as 89-year-old Norton made her entrance. Well-wishers lined up to take photos with the longtime lawmaker, and White spoke about her importance to the District.
“As a kid growing up in this city, you showed us what it meant to fight for our city, to serve our city,” he told her. “Thank you for the opportunity to be your legislative counsel, to learn from you and to stand here because of you.”
In his acceptance speech, he spoke about supporting locals who remain impacted by federal cutbacks and continuing his push for D.C. statehood.
“My ambition is to be [D.C.’s] last delegate because we will turn this seat into one with a vote, and we will create two more in the Senate,” he said. “We will get full power and equal standing in our democracy because we deserve it.”
Earlier on Tuesday, a small group of residents began congregating outside of Shepherd Elementary School in Northwest D.C., hoping to greet their much-discussed neighbor as he cast his own ballot.
White was accompanied by his wife and their two young daughters. He wore black slacks, a crisp white button-down, gray New Balances and a cap embroidered with three names: Fauntroy, Norton and White. Walter Fauntroy was the delegate before Norton.
“Growing up in D.C. and feeling looked over as a family, but also as a city — now I get to go to Congress and represent us,” he said after voting. “Nationally, people are tired of losing close votes that they could win if we had two senators and a voting member of the House from the District of Columbia, so I think this is a time where statehood is a mandate nationally.”
White has spent time advocating for D.C. statehood during rallies for fellow Democrats in nearby states. He says he believes the country is finally ready to embrace the District as a state.
“They don’t want to see people of the District of Columbia continue to be disenfranchised just because of who we might vote for,” he said.
Shepherd Park resident Kim D’Abreu cast her ballot for White (and Janeese Lewis George in the mayoral race) with a similar thought in mind.
“We’re looking for leadership, especially since the District is disenfranchised in so many ways,” she said. “We need a powerful presence in Washington, and they both seem like the candidates to do meaningful work in that way.”
Another big fan of White’s stood just outside the polling area. Robert White Sr., the electee’s father, said he was proud to hear his son telling a reporter that politics can be a “social justice ministry” if done correctly.
The elder White remembers the young boy who shied away from the public eye after being severely wounded in a near-fatal car accident. But he said he believes that period is when White established a passion for making his city “whole” again.
“I think that’s where he began to develop his voice,” he said. “That people would hear him — even if they could see the scars, they could hear his passion, hear his voice. Now that voice is for the people of Washington, D.C.”
White Sr., who said he has been on the corner near the elementary school every Election Day over the past 12 years, advocating for his son, will soon watch that boy take his place in Congress.
“My dad didn’t leave me a big inheritance, but what he left me was his name,” White Sr. said of his own father. “And his name is still good around this city.”
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