Norton uses Colbert rally to trumpet D.C. voting rights

Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) is trying to use comedian Stephen Colbert’s upcoming rally in the nation’s capital to promote her push to grant Washington, D.C., a voting representative in Congress.

Norton urged D.C. voters on Thursday to post on her Facebook page the reasons why they think the city should gain a voting representative in Congress, using “as much wit as Colbert uses to make fun of us for not having our full rights,” she said.

“The buzz surrounding the Colbert and Jon Stewart rallies coming to D.C. on October 30, is too great an opportunity to miss to pay back Colbert and to remind those who come that, unlike Colbert, D.C. has a cause worthy of a rally,” said Norton in a press release.

Colbert and Stewart are holding their events — “The March to Keep Fear Alive” and the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” respectively — on the National Mall at the end of this month, after being spurred to action by a rally held by Fox News pundit Glenn Beck and other conservative figures in August.

Colbert, who gained new notoriety on Capitol Hill with his testimony before the House Judiciary’s subcommittee on Immigration, Citizenship, Refugees, Border Security and International Law last month, has often jabbed at Norton for D.C.’s lack of representational vote when she’s appeared on his show, "The Colbert Report."

The D.C. Voting Rights Act — legislation that would grant both Utah and D.C. a new voting representative in Congress — failed to get through Congress so far this session. The National Rifle Association prompted Republicans to threaten attaching an amendment to the measure that would loosen D.C.’s gun laws. The move made some conservative Democrats wary of supporting the measure. Norton has often said the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill gives the bill its best chances at passage.