Brooke Pinto
Non-Voting Delegate to Congress — Democratic Primary, June 16, 2026
Not in DC Fair Elections ProgramBrooke Pinto (age 33) graduated from Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration and Georgetown University Law Center. She worked at the DC Office of the Attorney General as Assistant AG for Policy and Legislative Affairs and in the Tax and Finance Section before running for DC Council. She had never lived in DC before 2020, the year she was elected as the Ward 2 Councilmember representing. She chairs the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. Her council record spans public safety, Downtown recovery, and education. She co-authored Secure DC and Peace DC, which she credits with a 50% reduction in violent crime (the bills also increased penalties for gun crimes, expanded pre-trial detention, and introduced teen curfews). She authored the RECOVERY Act to incentivize commercial-to-residential conversions Downtown following COVID, sparking thousands of new units. She passed legislation training teachers in literacy instruction and a cellphone ban in DC schools. She chose not to participate in the DC Fair Elections Program, enabling her to accept large contributions from out-of-district donors; she raised more money than any other delegate candidate. In the delegate race she emphasizes statehood and DC self-governance, opposing the Trump administration's encroachment, and supports adequate resources for MPD, firefighters, and EMS while opposing federal or National Guard deployment to enforce local law. Her housing plan, "Breaking Ground DC," calls for repealing the federal Height Act and replacing it with a local DC Height Act; upzoning near Metro stations and bus corridors; legalizing rowhouses and ADUs citywide; streamlining permitting; reforming DCHA; first-time homebuyer property-tax abatements for long-term DC residents; and at the federal level, making rent (up to $15,000/year) tax-deductible, expanding Opportunity Zones, frontloading tax deductions on rental construction, and shifting homelessness housing to a non-congregate model like the Aston.
Endorsements (36)
Elected/Appointed Officials
- Angela Alsobrooks (US Senator, D-MD)
- Richard Blumenthal (US Senator, D-CT)
- Anita Bonds (At-Large DC Councilmember)
- Tony Williams (Former DC Mayor)
- Charlene Drew Jarvis (Former Ward 4 Councilmember, 1979–2001)
- Bill Lightfoot (Former At-large Councilmember, 1989–1997)
- Michael D. Brown (Former DC Shadow Senator, 2007–2025)
- The Honorable Mary Cheh (Former Ward 3 Councilmember)
- Rick Murphy (Former Georgetown ANC Chair)
- Allister Chang (Ward 2 Representative on the State Board of Education, Ward 2 Resident)
- Tom Birch (Former Georgetown ANC Chair)
- John Lever (Former Georgetown ANC Commissioner)
- James Pittman, Esq. (Former Deputy Attorney General for the District of Columbia)
Advocacy & community organizations
- DC YIMBYs
- Opportunity DC
- DMV New Liberals
- Small Multifamily & Rental Owners Association (SMOA)
Individuals & public figures
- Gretchen Wharton (Campaign Co-chair, Lifelong Shaw Resident, Community & Arts Activist and Chair of Shaw Main Streets, Ward 2 Resident)
- Shawn Townsend (Campaign Co-chair, Community and Business Leader, Ward 5 Resident)
- Elizabeth Miller (Campaign Finance Co-chair, Community and Arts Leader, Ward 2 Resident)
- Rahsaan Bernard (Campaign Finance Co-chair, Advocate for bridging the DC community across the Anacostia River, Ward 8 Resident)
- Dave Hoagland (President, District of Columbia Firefighters Association, IAFF Local 36 and Ward 5 resident)
- Kerry Kennedy
- Jenise 'Mama Jo' Patterson (DC family advocate and Ward 1 Resident)
- Nancy and Marc Duber (Community Leaders)
- Lisa D. T. Rice, S.M. (Ward 7 resident, mom of a Ward 8 DCPS teacher, gun safety advocate, democracy reform activist and proposer of Initiative 83)
- Ian Callender (Award Winning Cultural Architect, Suite Nation, Ward 6 resident)
- Amy Titus (President, Citizens Association of Georgetown)
- Brenda Richardson (Community and Public Safety Advocate, Ward 8 Resident)
- Alexander M. 'Alex' Padro (small business, arts and preservation advocate, Ward 2 Resident)
- Jessica and Ezra Glass (small business owners, hospitality and real estate developers, Ward 2 Residents)
- Clint Mann (President of Urban Pace and Ward 1 resident and community leader)
- Ernie Drew Jarvis (Business leader and Ward 2 resident)
- Katherine Weishaar (Ward 6 resident and public school education advocate)
- Graham McLaughlin (Ward 7 community leader and resident)
- Gerren Price (Business leader, Ward 5 Resident, and Father of 2)
Positions on the issues
All positions are sourced directly from the candidate's campaign materials, official questionnaire responses, or verified news coverage. Stances are rated on a scale from Strongly opposes (−2) to Strongly supports (+2). A stance of Unknown means no public position has been found.
Achieving DC statehood should be the top priority for the District's Congressional Delegate.
Strongly supports DC statehood and self-governance. Calls for repealing the federal Height Act and replacing it with a local DC Height Act as a concrete statehood-adjacent step. Emphasizes fighting the Trump administration's day-to-day encroachment on DC autonomy.
Sources: [Issues — Brooke Pinto for Congress], [Brooke Pinto — Free DC Candidate Questionnaire]
MPD should not assist ICE or other federal agencies in immigration enforcement operations within DC.
Expressed support for ending MPD/ICE cooperation; stated she wants to 'get rid of ICE' in her Free DC questionnaire. On the campaign trail, pledges to defend DC families regardless of immigration status. Opposes federal and National Guard deployment for local law enforcement.
The Delegate should fight federal attempts to take over DC's police department or to deploy the National Guard and federal agents in the city.
'Washingtonians know that we don't need Trump to keep us safe… our local police department and local communities make our city safe — not a deployment of National Guard from across the country.' Opposes federal and National Guard deployment to enforce local law while supporting adequate resources for MPD, firefighters, and EMS.
Sources: [Issues — Brooke Pinto for Congress]
Defending DC's budget and legislative autonomy from congressional interference should be a top priority for the District's Delegate.
Centers her campaign on DC self-governance: 'the Trump Administration is… trying to strip power from our local leadership,' and DC 'needs a champion in Congress to defend our values' and autonomy. Notes DC is 'the only jurisdiction in the country where the federal government tells us how and where we can build,' and would fight congressional interference in local decisions.
Sources: [Issues — Brooke Pinto for Congress]
DC's Delegate should pursue statehood primarily by building bipartisan coalitions and legislative deals in Congress, rather than through confrontation and protest.
Says the path to statehood 'starts with sending someone to Congress with a track record of working across divides to deliver tangible results' — a legislative, coalition-oriented approach — while also stressing willingness 'to take on the tough fights with the Trump Administration and Republicans in Congress.'
Sources: [Issues — Brooke Pinto for Congress]
DC should push Congress to repeal or loosen the federal Height Act so the District can build taller buildings.
Pinto's housing platform explicitly calls for repealing the federal Height Act and replacing it with a locally controlled one, framing it as both a home-rule and a housing-supply issue: 'We are the only jurisdiction in the country where the federal government tells us how and where we can build.' Strongly supports.
DC should use all available legal tools — including litigation and public advocacy — to protect federal workers from mass terminations and defend federal agencies from relocation out of the District.
Says she has 'not seen enough pushback' on behalf of the federal workforce and pledges that, 'behind the dais,' she will 'pose really difficult questions of the Trump administration' and make it answer for 'the kinds of abuses they've perpetrated on federal workers.' Frames defending federal employees as a core, day-one responsibility of the seat.
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
The Delegate should work to transfer federal land in DC — such as National Park Service parcels and vacant or surplus federal buildings — to local District control.
Supports transferring federal land to DC and stresses having 'someone at the table representing our community' to shape its use — so vacant GSA buildings 'don't just become hotels or luxury condos' but meet needs for senior, affordable, and family housing. Cites her work on a downtown master development plan and on securing housing/equity benefits in the RFK redevelopment as the model.
Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]
DC should impose a commuter tax on people who work in the District but live in Maryland or Virginia (if federal law allowed it).
Names DC's inability to tax non-resident commuters as a core federal disadvantage and pledges to 'eliminate that restriction and allow us to tax the people in Maryland and Virginia who come into the district, so DC will have more resources' for local priorities — a clear pro-commuter-tax position.
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
The federal government should make a permanent funding commitment to Metro (WMATA), and the Delegate should fight to secure it.
Says Metro 'has to be protected and fought for' with 'DC funding and federal funding and fair funding from Maryland and Virginia,' noting DC 'has not gotten sufficient funding from our neighboring jurisdictions' — it's 'the first thing I speak to Governor Moore and Governor Spanberger about.'
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
Federal contracting should give preferences to local, minority-, and women-owned businesses (such as DC's Certified Business Enterprises), rather than awarding contracts solely on lowest cost and open competition.
'I reject the premise that we can't have preferential treatment of our local minority- and women-owned businesses and a competitive economy.' Points to DC's 'most important preferences' for minority- and women-owned firms and says she's 'taken difficult and controversial votes to support our CBEs,' wanting federal policy to match and bolster them.
Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]
General sources
- Issues — Brooke Pinto for Congress — Brooke Pinto Campaign. Accessed 2026-05-28.
- About Brooke — Brooke Pinto for Congress — Brooke Pinto Campaign. Accessed 2026-05-29.
- Brooke Pinto — Free DC Candidate Questionnaire — Free DC Project. Accessed 2026-05-27.