Norton is the representative from the District of Columbia and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 3, 1991. Norton is next up for reelection in 2020.
Because the District of Columbia is a territory of the United States, and not a state, its representative in the House of Representatives is a delegate with limited voting privileges — Norton can currently vote in committee and in certain votes on the House floor, but not if their vote would be decisive. Delegates have a marginalized role in Congress and their constituents are not represented in Congress in the same manner as most citizens.
![Photo of Rep. Eleanor Norton [D-DC0]](/static/legislator-photos/400295-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Norton.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Norton is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Norton has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Oct 18, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Eleanor Norton sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure
- Chair, Subcommittee on Highways and Transit
- Member, Subcommittee on Aviation
- Member, Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management
- Member, Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials
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House Committee on Oversight and Reform
- Member, Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties
- Member, Subcommittee on Government Operations
Enacted Legislation
Norton was the primary sponsor of 38 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 866: Fairness For Breastfeeding Mothers Act of 2019
- H.R. 2989 (115th): Frederick Douglass Bicentennial Commission Act
- H.R. 4419 (114th): District of Columbia Judicial Financial Transparency Act
- H.R. 3343 (113th): To amend the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to clarify the rules regarding the determination of the compensation of the Chief Financial Officer of the District ...
- H.R. 2611 (113th): To designate the headquarters building of the Coast Guard on the campus located at 2701 Martin Luther King, Jr., Avenue Southeast in the District of Columbia as ...
- H.R. 1246 (113th): District of Columbia Chief Financial Officer Vacancy Act
- H.R. 3902 (112th): District of Columbia Special Election Reform Act
Does 38 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.
We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).
Bills Sponsored
Issue Areas
Norton sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (47%) Crime and Law Enforcement (13%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (10%) Arts, Culture, Religion (7%) Transportation and Public Works (7%) Health (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Norton’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.Res. 638: Congratulating the Washington Mystics on winning the 2019 Women’s National Basketball Association championship.
- H.R. 4683: To amend title 11, District of Columbia Official Code, to provide that grand ...
- H.R. 4660: National Commission to Combat Workplace Sexual Harassment Act
- H.Res. 624: Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the justices of the ...
- H.R. 4595: Protecting Federal Agencies and Employees from Political Interference Act of 2019
- H.Res. 600: Expressing support for the designation of September 2019 as National Campus Sexual Assault ...
- H.R. 4493: Federal Employee Short-Term Disability Insurance Act of 2019
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Feb 1993 to Oct 2019, Norton missed 131 of 1,471 roll call votes, which is 8.9%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
