Police Say Geriatric Dem DC Politician Who Won’t Retire Is in ‘Early Stages of Dementia’ After Getting Scammed

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton may be the most powerful official elected directly by the people who reside in Washington, the District of Columbia. That’s a problem for the residents of D.C., because she’s missing in action — both physically and, apparently, mentally as well.

Further confirmation came this week when it was reported that Norton was scammed out of over $4,000 by people claiming they were part of a cleaning crew — and the reason they were able to get away with it, in part, was because police say the 88-year-old delegate to the House of Representatives is in the “early stages of dementia.”

While her people are pushing back on this assessment, it fits with what we’ve witnessed over the past year — and highlights a lingering problem in the Democratic Party, where numerous politicians have hung on long past their sell-by date with sometimes disastrous consequences. (See: Biden, Joe; 2024 election.)

As a delegate from the federal district, Norton doesn’t cast a vote in the House of Representatives — but she’s probably more powerful than anyone in the city’s elected government, since she’s D.C.’s voice in Congress, which technically runs the city. She not only sits on the powerful House Oversight Committee as well as the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, she’s a member of 34 congressional caucuses, three of which she co-chairs.

She’s been referred to as the District of Columbia’s “Warrior on the Hill” for her tireless (and uniformly left-leaning) lobbying in the House. She’s been the delegate since 1991. Yet, as President Donald Trump focused more of his attention on D.C.’s problems this summer — including federalizing the police force and sending in the National Guard — she was nowhere to be found offering opposition or working with the White House, merely issuing vague statements.

Norton has also insisted she’s also running for delegate again in 2026 even though her people seem to give reporters conflicting stories about whether this has been decided. This has led to not-quite-whispers among Washington watchers that Norton isn’t all there anymore.

Surprise, surprise — Washington police came to the same conclusion. From WRC-TV on Friday:

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the longtime nonvoting representative for D.C. in the U.S. House, was scammed in her home by people who said they were part of a cleaning crew, her office told News4. The suspects charged almost $4,400 to her credit card for work they did not perform, police said.

An internal police report obtained by News4 details how suspects were able to enter Norton’s home on Thursday and access her credit card before someone, whom her office called a house manager and friend, was able to put a stop to it.

A D.C. police report described Norton, 88, as having the “early stages of dementia,” and said Norton has a caretaker with power of attorney. Norton’s office pushed back against that claim.

The individuals arrived at her home in the Southeast part of D.C. on Thursday afternoon claiming to be HVAC workers, and Norton let them in while, the police report states, the “caretaker/power of attorney was not at residence.”

Despite performing no services, she was billed $4,362, which she paid via credit card.

The individual identified by D.C. police as the “caretaker/power of attorney” saw the men on a security camera and reportedly told Norton to tell them to get out. After the caretaker — named in a separate public incident report as Jaqueline Pelt, a friend of the delegate’s who is also listed as her campaign treasurer — arrived at the home and realized the delegate’s credit card had been charged, she flagged down a police officer.

Capitol Police would also later come to her house to investigate, as both Norton’s credit card and driver’s license information “could potentially be compromised.”

The field commander’s report had information on the “complainant,” or victim: “Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC) 88 years old, Black Woman, suffers early stages of dementia.”

You won’t be surprised at what part of this story Norton’s people are pushing back on: “A spokesperson for Norton confirmed Pelt notified police, but says she is not Norton’s caretaker. That spokesperson would not say whether Pelt has power of attorney for Norton, as the field commissioner’s report says,” WRC noted.

“The medical diagnosis included in the police report was based on an assumption the reporting officer was unqualified to make,” a statement from her office said. However, the office also refused to say whether she’d ever received any diagnosis, simply that they didn’t comment on the delegate’s health.

If it can be plausibly be denied that 1) Holmes has been diagnosed with the “early stages of dementia” or 2) someone has power of attorney over her, it would be vigorously denied by her office. None of that was denied.

Those two things are discrete matters, for which a yes-or-no answer must suffice. Defining “caretaker” or insisting that the police officer was in some way not in a position to include that information on his report is more of a gray area.

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton’s people really, really like gray areas when it comes to answering questions about her fitness to serve — both now and when she was MIA over the summer as Trump cleaned up the city she’s a “warrior” for. When even the District’s police seem to be confirming what people have long suspected, it’s time for Washington’s most powerful local official to start coming clean with voters about just what she’s able to do and why she should still be in office.

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