District of Columbia’s at-large congressional district

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At-large U.S. House district for the District of Columbia

The District of Columbia’s at-large congressional district is a congressional district based entirely of the District of Columbia. According to the U.S. Constitution, only states may be represented in the Congress of the United States. The District of Columbia is not a U.S. state and therefore has no voting representation. Instead, constituents in the district elect a non-voting delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Despite lacking full voting privileges on the floor of the House of Representatives, delegates are voting members in U.S. Congressional committees and they lobby their congressional colleagues regarding the District’s interests. While the office was initially created during the Reconstruction Era by the Radical Republicans, Norton P. Chipman (R) briefly held the seat for less than two terms before the office was eliminated completely. The District of Columbia Delegate Act Pub. L. 91–405, 84 Stat. 845-2 of 1970 authorized voters in the District of Columbia to elect one non-voting delegate to represent them in the United States House of Representatives.[4] The act was approved by Congress on September 22, 1970 and subsequently signed into law by President Richard Nixon. Democrat Walter E. Fauntroy was elected as the district’s delegate to Congress in a special election on March 23, 1971, receiving 58 percent of the 116,635 votes cast.[5]

Since 1993, when the House of Representatives has been under Democratic control, delegates, including the District of Columbia’s delegate, have been allowed to cast non-binding floor votes when the House of Representatives was operating in the Committee of the Whole.[6][7]

The district is currently represented by Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton.

List of delegates representing the district[edit]

Delegate Party Term Cong
ress 		Electoral history
Congressional District created March 4, 1871
Vacant March 4, 1871 –
April 21, 1871 		42nd

Norton P. Chipman 		Republican April 21, 1871 –
March 3, 1875 		42nd
43rd 		Elected to finish the vacant term.
Re-elected in 1872.
Seat eliminated.
District eliminated March 4, 1875
District recreated September 22, 1970
Vacant September 22, 1970 –
March 23, 1971 		91st
92nd

Walter Fauntroy 		Democratic March 23, 1971 –
January 3, 1991 		92nd
93rd
94th
95th
96th
97th
98th
99th
100th
101st 		Elected to finish the vacant term.
Re-elected in 1972.
Re-elected in 1974.
Re-elected in 1976.
Re-elected in 1978.
Re-elected in 1980.
Re-elected in 1982.
Re-elected in 1984.
Re-elected in 1986.
Re-elected in 1988.
Retired to run for Mayor of the District of Columbia

Eleanor Holmes Norton 		Democratic January 3, 1991 –
present 		102nd
103rd
104th
105th
106th
107th
108th
109th
110th
111th
112th
113th
114th
115th
116th
117th
118th 		Elected in 1990.
Re-elected in 1992.
Re-elected in 1994.
Re-elected in 1996.
Re-elected in 1998.
Re-elected in 2000.
Re-elected in 2002.
Re-elected in 2004.
Re-elected in 2006.
Re-elected in 2008.
Re-elected in 2010.
Re-elected in 2012.
Re-elected in 2014.
Re-elected in 2016.
Re-elected in 2018.
Re-elected in 2020.
Re-elected in 2022.

Election results[edit]

1870s[edit]

1970s[edit]

1980s[edit]

1990s[edit]

2000s[edit]

2010s[edit]

2020s[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ “My Congressional District”.
  2. ^ “Districts of the 113th Congress: 2004 & 2008” (PDF). Partisan Voting Index. The Cook Political Report. October 11, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  3. ^ Barone, Michael; McCutcheon, Chuck (2013). The Almanac of American Politics 2014. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 358–. ISBN 978-0-226-10544-4. Copyright National Journal.
  4. ^ “Govinfo”.
  5. ^ “Fauntroy Election Certified”. The Washington Post. April 6, 1971. p. C6. Retrieved February 10, 2014.
  6. ^ The practice began with the 103rd Congress, but was revoked when the Republicans retook the House for the 104th Congress. Democrats reinstated the practice in the 110th Congress, but Republicans again revoked it in the 112th Congress.
  7. ^ Portnoy, Jenna (January 3, 2017). “Republican-led Congress denies D.C. delegate a vote. Again”. The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  8. ^ Gibbs, C. R. (March 2, 1989). “The District Had a Voice, if Not a Vote, in the 42nd Congress”. The Washington Post. p. DC3.
  9. ^ “The Washington Election”. The Baltimore Sun. April 20, 1871. p. 1.
  10. ^ Gibbs, C. R. (March 2, 1989). “The District Had a Voice, if Not a Vote, in the 42nd Congress”. The Washington Post. p. DC3.
  11. ^ “Fauntroy Election Certified”. The Washington Post. April 6, 1971. p. C6.
  12. ^ “General Election 2016 – Certified Results”. District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved December 14, 2016.
  13. ^ “General Election 2018 — Certified Results”. District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved December 17, 2018.
  14. ^ “General Election 2020 – Certified Results”. District of Columbia Board of Elections. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  15. ^ “General Election 2022 – Certified Results”. District of Columbia Board of Elections. November 30, 2022. Retrieved December 26, 2022.

External links[edit]

Coordinates: 38°54′15″N 77°01′02″W / 38.90417°N 77.01722°W / 38.90417; -77.01722