Trent Holbrook

Achieving DC statehood should be the top priority for the District's Congressional Delegate.

Strong proponent of DC statehood; highlights over 200 years of disenfranchisement and commits to continuing work on full voting representation.

Sources: [Issues — Trent Holbrook for DC Delegate]

MPD should not assist ICE or other federal agencies in immigration enforcement operations within DC.

Answered Yes to all sanctuary-related questions in his Free DC questionnaire, including opposing MPD/ICE cooperation and opposing Congress increasing police in DC.

Sources: [Trent Holbrook — Free DC Candidate Questionnaire]

DC's Delegate should pursue statehood primarily by building bipartisan coalitions and legislative deals in Congress, rather than through confrontation and protest.

The legislative-strategist candidate: as Norton's Senior Legislative Counsel he 'took the DC statehood bill from losing in 1993 to passing in the House of Representatives twice,' and frames his path as working the legislative process — uniting the Washington, DC Admission Act with the Freedom to Vote Act and the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — rather than confrontation or protest.

Sources: [Issues — Trent Holbrook for DC Delegate]

Defending DC's budget and legislative autonomy from congressional interference should be a top priority for the District's Delegate.

Calls Congress's roughly $1 billion (he cites over $2 billion) cut to DC's local budget a harm to teachers, police, and local business owners, and pledges to 'work to ensure that never happens again.' Would legislate to treat DC at least as well as states, cities, and counties for federal funding, and spent eight years drafting legislation to loosen Congress's grip on DC.

Sources: [Issues — Trent Holbrook for DC Delegate]

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.

States in the strongest terms: 'I vehemently oppose the federalization of the Metropolitan Police Department.' Helped advance Norton's District of Columbia Police Home Rule Act to strip that authority from the President, and the DC National Guard Home Rule Act to give the mayor (not the President) control of the Guard — calling its enactment a top priority.

Sources: [Issues — Trent Holbrook for DC Delegate]

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.

Centers his candidacy on protecting the federal workforce: 'I was a federal employee myself,' and says he 'fought against the illegal firings of our federal employees, fought for pay raises, fought for back pay after the shutdown, and fought for better retirement' alongside Norton. Opposes relocating federal agencies out of the National Capital Region, arguing the agencies need to be where Congress is.

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.

Would 'transfer as much federal property over to the District of Columbia' as possible, then leave development decisions to DC ('much rather work with the DC Council than the federal government'). For land that isn't transferred, would press the National Park Service and GSA to maintain federal property and would fight the relocation of federal agencies out of DC.

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).

Says DC 'should be able to tax people who work in DC just like you could anywhere else,' supporting a commuter tax in principle — but tempers it by noting existing federal offsets (e.g. the DC TAG dollars DC receives that states don't), framing it as a balanced trade-off rather than an unqualified priority.

Sources: [Hill Rag / East of the River DC Delegate candidate forum (May 14, 2026)]

The federal government should make a permanent funding commitment to Metro (WMATA), and the Delegate should fight to secure it.

'Yes, it should absolutely have permanent funding.' Handled Metro funding (PRIIA) for Norton and calls it 'so outdated and not nearly enough'; would work with the Maryland and Virginia regional members, as he did with Norton, to secure it. Rode Metro daily to work.

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.

Calls equity in federal contracting 'critically important.' Worked with Norton on policy requiring agencies to report minority-owned contracting (e.g. advertising dollars) and would expand that reporting to other contracting — favoring transparency and enforcement mechanisms as the route to equity.

Sources: [Washington Informer DC Delegate candidate forum (May 2, 2026)]