Washington, DC: Robert White Says He Will Resign Council Seat by Monday Unless Delegate Eligibility Dispute Is Resolved

Washington, DC voters are six days from choosing the District's next delegate to Congress, and the man expected to win says he may first have to give up the seat he already holds. D.C. Councilmember Robert White, the Democratic nominee for delegate, told reporters outside the Wilson Building on Wednesday, October 28, that he will resign his at-large council seat by Monday, November 2, unless he finds a legal remedy for an eligibility problem created by a 1970 law.

The provision says the District's delegate to the U.S. House, a nonvoting member of Congress, must not hold another paid public office at the time of the election. White is serving his third term on the council and chairs its housing committee. He won the June Democratic primary to succeed Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, in the seat since 1991, and faces minimal opposition in the general election on Tuesday, November 3.

A dispute over three words

The fight turns on the phrase "date of election." White said the D.C. attorney general reads it as Election Day, which would require him to leave the council before Tuesday. White argues it should mean the date a candidate is officially determined to have won, which would let him stay until December 2. The attorney general's office declined to comment, citing attorney-client privilege.

White said the issue did not catch his campaign off guard. He became aware of the provision when he filed to run in October 2025, did not think it would be a problem, and says attorneys well versed in the D.C. Code whom he consulted saw no issue either. Sarah Graham, a spokeswoman for the D.C. Board of Elections, said White is eligible to run for delegate under the current law so long as he resigns before Election Day.

White pointed to a 1978 case involving then Councilmember Marion Barry, who would have had to resign his seat to run for mayor. A federal district court struck that requirement down, and the council later removed it. White said the case involved a different law but gives reason to scrutinize a rule that would again interrupt residents' representation.

The council chair is not offering a fix

White raised the issue with colleagues last week and floated an emergency council meeting before Election Day to change the law, which would take a supermajority vote. On Wednesday, White said Council Chairman Phil Mendelson declined his request to take the matter up, and that he was disappointed in the chair.

Mendelson disputed that account. He told City Cast DC that the two met last Thursday, that a special meeting to amend the law a week before the election was troublesome, and that he said he would think about it and White never got back to him. "Absent something I can't foresee, I think he's going to have to resign on Monday," Mendelson said.

What a resignation would mean

White's council salary is $171,547 a year, and leaving by Monday would cost him the final months of his term before a January start in Congress, if he wins. He also argued that stepping down now would leave at-large residents without the representative they elected. "I will not jeopardize D.C.'s representation in Congress. Unless a clear signal is secured, I will resign my Council seat by Monday, November 2," he said.

If the seat opens early, the D.C. Democratic State Committee will choose an interim at-large councilmember. The interim pick would serve until a special election, held at least 70 days and no more than 174 days after the vacancy.