As voters head to the polls in D.C., one major decision before them is who should get the Democratic nod in the race to replace the District’s longtime congressional delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton.
91欧美激情 has heard from the candidates on the issues.
Experience and priorities
D.C. Council member Robert White touts his time on the council and as a member of Norton鈥檚 staff in preparing him for the role.
As for his priorities: 鈥淥ne and two are protecting D.C.’s home rule and moving us toward statehood, the other stabilizing our economy to add more jobs and more revenue and housing to our city,鈥� he said.
White said he would push those goals by building political pressure on lawmakers and strengthening relationships in Congress.
91欧美激情 sent a questionnaire to all the candidates in each contested race, asking them to introduce themselves to voters.聽Read their responses here.
Council member Brooke Pinto said her focus is protecting the District.
鈥淚鈥檓 running to be our next congressional delegate to make sure that we can protect our local government and our democracy,鈥� she said.
Pinto said she would rely on proactive outreach to lawmakers and coalition building, before legislation threatens the city.
Candidate Kinney Zalesne, a former Democratic National Committee finance chair and co-chair of Women for Kamala Harris, said she would focus on leveraging national relationships and building alliances across Capitol Hill to advance D.C.鈥檚 priorities.
鈥淭he D.C. delegate job is two things, and conveniently for us, they rhyme. It’s autonomy and economy,鈥� Zalesne said.
Like White, candidate Trent Holbrook pointed to his experience working for Norton in Congress.
鈥淢y top priorities will be D.C. statehood and D.C. home rule, defending federal employees and affordability,鈥� he said.
The fifth D.C. delegate candidate, Greg Jaczko, did not respond to emails from 91欧美激情 about contributing to our voter guide.
Statehood
All four of the candidates who responded said they support D.C. statehood, but they differ in how to get there.
鈥淚 am 100% for statehood,” Zalesne said. “It’s outrageous that 700,000 of us don’t have the same rights as every other American.”
She said the path forward starts with building support both inside D.C. and across the country, then eventually working to bring in Republicans.
White also believes D.C. needs to make its case for statehood to Democrats across the country.
鈥淭wo Democratic senators from D.C. will do more to shift the balance of power in Congress than any of these redistricting battles,鈥� White said.
Pinto said she鈥檚 optimistic and wants to elevate the issue nationwide.
鈥淚t will give us two Democratic senators, and that’s exactly why it should be and must be the number one piece of the Democratic Party platform nationwide,鈥� Pinto said.
Holbrook emphasized his role in advancing the effort in Congress while working for the outgoing delegate.
鈥淚 helped guide the D.C. statehood bill to passing in the House twice, garnering a record number of cosponsors and 100-plus national organizations endorsing the bill along the way,” he said. “I fought the record number of anti-home rule attacks we faced during this time.鈥�
Holbrook said he would continue building national support and working with lawmakers to advance the bill.
Economy and jobs
The economy and jobs are also a key issue in the race, especially in the wake of federal workforce cuts.
Pinto said the focus should be on growing new industries.
鈥淲e have to diversify our economy and invest and bring in new industries that are in high growth sectors like health and tech and defense manufacturing,鈥� she said.
White said the approach must balance protecting federal jobs with expanding the private sector.
鈥淲e want to create federal tax incentives to get private sector jobs downtown D.C. and other parts of D.C., so that we can get people back to work,鈥� White said.
Zalesne said the city needs to rethink its reliance on federal employment.
鈥淲e learned the hard way this year, we’re a company town, and the company hates us, and we can’t just sit by and hope we can ride it out, or hope it’s going to get better naturally,” she said. “We have to rebuild our economy to be less dependent on the federal government.”
Holbrook focused on protecting federal workers as part of the economy.
鈥淚 was a federal employee, and I fought their illegal firings to have them hired back, with back pay, to give them pay raises, and to improve retirement benefits,鈥� Holbrook said.
He said he would push to restore jobs and keep agencies in the District.
Public safety and federal role
Public safety remains another major concern, along with questions about the federal government鈥檚 role in the city.
Pinto said local control and resources are critical.
鈥淏ecause of my expertise in our public safety ecosystem that is so unique in the District, it is especially important to make sure that I am leveraging resources that we can secure from the federal government,鈥� she said.
White said he would work with federal leaders when it helps, but push back when it doesn鈥檛.
鈥淚’m going to work with federal administrations when they want to do what’s in the best interest of D.C., and when they want to come down and over incarcerate, so they can take over our city. I’m going to work to protect our city,鈥� White said.
Zalesne said the federal government should stay out of local law enforcement decisions.
鈥淭he delegate needs to be on TV 24/7, needs to be on social media, needs to be pounding the table with all those allies and partners to have the nation know what is happening to us,鈥� she said.
Holbrook focused more broadly on protecting D.C.鈥檚 autonomy and decision-making authority.
鈥淚 fought every anti-home rule attack in Congress and from the Trump administration, and, on nearly all of them, we won,鈥� Holbrook said.
He said his experience defending local authority would guide how he handles federal involvement.
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