Will D.C. Get A Vote Now?

Press Release

When asked about the importance about Tuesday night's presidential election, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton does not hesitate with her response.

"It means we're going to get the D.C. Voting Rights Act passed," Norton told The BLT last night.

Norton, who was reelected to her tenth term on Tuesday, says that with a Democrat in the White House and increased majorities in the House and the Senate, she is convinced that the District will finally get a vote in Congress.

"So much more is possible this year," she says.

Norton says she has spoken with President-elect Barack Obama "for a long time" about the Voting Rights Act, and she says he will sign it if it gets to his desk.

She says that an Obama White House will also mean more bills will make it through the Congress because he will bring the House and the Senate together.

"We need a president who can not only bring together the American people, but also the House and the Senate so legislation gets passed," Norton says. "It'll take a strong president to make sure everyone feels that when they sit down together, it's win-win."

Norton says that after last night's election, she expects Congress to become more effective, but not as left-leaning as many have said it would be.

"People keep talking about the one-party government and the risks of that. But virtually all of the new members of Congress are from more conservative districts. Bills will have to be moderate because these Democrats, we call them Blue Dogs, are more conservative than many in our own ranks. If bills are too far left they won't get passed," she says. "We've already got all of the liberal districts represented. Now, we have to hold on to the red districts and the pink districts, if you will."

Norton continued by saying she thinks Obama will follow suit and govern from a more centrist perspective than many expect.

"He's changed the electoral map, and he can't keep those states in the Democrat column without paying deference to what brought them over in the first place. He's going to have to continue to bring people together," she says.

As for the history that was made on Tuesday, you know, the country electing its first black president, Norton says the American people should be proud of themselves — proud of the fact that they went along with Obama's decision to run for president.

"Look, this was on no one's radar screen but Barack's," Norton says. "The American people should be proud of themselves for allowing Barack to rush the timetable of having a black person elected president. The confidence he displayed should be a lesson to children. He said he was ready to make this happen and then he had to get everyone else ready, not the other way around. He could not have asked all of the normal questions about experience or whether his resume was long enough. If he had, this never would have happened. He's the closest I have ever seen to a completely self-made man."

Source