Scammers pretending to be a duct work cleaning crew gained access to DC delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s home this week. Eleanor is 88 years old. SHE is the one who let them in the door.

Norton, 88, was duped by multiple suspects Thursday who went to her Washington, DC, home claiming to be HVAC workers, according to an internal police report obtained by NBC News4.

The swindlers charged $4,362 to the Democratic congresswoman’s credit card without performing any work.

Here’s the problem. No such work was ever scheduled. But seemingly Eleanor was completely unaware of that fact. Do we know if she called anyone in her circle to verify? That’s not clear from the police report. What IS clear is that there’s a problem, and her office is doing everything they can to sweep certain troubling issues WAY under the rug. 

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.

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That individual saw the HVAC workers on a security camera and advised Norton to tell them to leave, the report says. That person then went to Norton’s home and realized the credit card had been charged.

They then flagged down a D.C. police officer, and U.S. Capitol Police also went to Norton’s home to investigate.

Norton’s credit card and driver’s license number “could potentially be compromised,” the report says.

No arrests were made on Thursday, but police are treating the crime as felony fraud.

A separate public incident report names the person who reported the crime as Jaqueline Pelt. Pelt is a longtime friend and support of Norton’s, and was listed as her campaign treasurer.

What’s interesting about this is that her office is very busy assuring the public that Eleanor doesn’t have a “caretaker with power of attorney.” No, she just has a “house manager.” They have not given any pushback to the power of attorney issue at present. 

Here’s the problem. Eleanor Holmes Norton was first elected as the DC delegate to Congress in …1990. She’s 88 years old, needs assistance getting around the Capitol – when she’s there – and yet insisted to Axios earlier this year that she’d run again. Further, she was asked about running again back in 2023 when the media was ignoring Joe’s issues while focusing on Mitch McConnell. And then, others started openly discussing her health. 

Behind the scenes: While always praising Norton’s legendary legacy, insiders have wondered for several years about her ability to continue serving.

Norton’s public appearances have declined, and she often avoids media interviews. Well-timed floor speeches and daily press releases kept scrutiny at bay — until recently.

Which has led to the fact that Eleanor is facing multiple challengers for her seat and is losing the fundraising game by a wide country mile. 

Norton raised a paltry $3,227 between July and September, per her campaign’s public filings.

By contrast, former DNC official Kinney Zalesne, 59, one of the first candidates to jump into the race, reported raising $435,000.

Ward 2 Council member Brooke Pinto, 33, announced her campaign raised $300,000 on her first day of fundraising earlier this month.

Jacque Patterson, a D.C. Education Board member, told Axios he raised $50,000 in recent weeks.

This news about the scammers nearly getting away with $4,000 in credit card fraud won’t help matters. 

Eleanor is just one of many VERY elderly elected officials serving in Congress right now. She, like too many others, are claiming that their experience is more important than any concerns about their physical and mental abilities to serve. 

Except it IS a problem. Congresswoman Kay Granger had been living in a dementia facility for months before anyone noticed. Senator Dianne Feinstein refused to retire and, quite frankly, her votes in the last year or three of her life are suspect given her frailty. And they aren’t the only ones we should be concerned about. 

Age and experience do matter. WITH exceptions. If you are unable to perform your duties as a duly elected official on a regular basis, retirement must and should be considered. 

But then again, we have four years of the Democrat and media establishment doing everything they can to shove Joe Biden’s issues under the rug. 

As with Joe, Norton’s staff is also using one of the same gambit’s Joe’s people did. A police officer or humble bloggers (everyone at Victory Girls wave a hand!) are unqualified to determine if a very important elected official has physical or cognitive issues. 

88-year-old DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton just made her first public appearance since Trump sent the Guard into DC and could not walk away from the podium without help from a staffer.

She recently announced she’s running for re-election. pic.twitter.com/qRTVKjIMSO

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) September 3, 2025

Once again we are being presented with the political spin. That elephant in the room you see is a figment of your imagination. It’s all about holding on to power, even if an elected official is essentially victimized while doing so. 

Eleanor Holmes Norton nearly getting scammed, in person, by a crew that had already showed up on her doorstep TWO other times is a problem. 

Eleanor’s age and abilities to serve are a bigger problem.

Wow: In WaPo op-ed, Donna Brazile, a Democratic Party heavyweight who is close to D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, is calling on her longtime friend not to run for re-election. Norton has been noticeably diminished in recent years; she’s now 88. https://t.co/FDq7KX7k4r pic.twitter.com/87prgiKWAy

— Martin Austermuhle (@maustermuhle) September 15, 2025

One that most of the Democrat establishment wants to ignore until it’s too late. 

Feature Photo Credit: Norton speaking on Jan 6, 2022 in DC, cropped and modified