Photo by María Helena Carey.

Since 1991, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton has held her seat as the District’s lone representative in Congress. Every two years she’s up for reelection, and every two years, she’s reelected with hardly any opposition.

But that’s not stopping 39-year-old Tim Krepp, a local tour guide and author, from running against her. What’s even more bold is that his whole campaign started as a joke.

“A good friend of mine, for years, has been writing me in for Norton’s seat,” Krepp said during a recent interview at Pound. “It gathered steam after a couple cycles. She’d post on Facebook. … Now it’s four people, now it’s 16 people … and this past election it really exploded.” In April’s Democratic primary, Norton ran unopposed, but 2,652 people cast their ballot for a write-in candidate. Of course, it’s impossible to know how many of those write-ins were for Krepp But he points to “a distinct spike in Ward 6” — 670 write-in votes against Norton— where he lives with his wife and two daughters.

Even with a campaign that started as a joke, with the Twitter hashtag “#Kreppmentum” popping up around the April primary, Krepp insists that his campaign to take Norton’s seat as D.C.’s Delegate to Congress is seriously serious. In fact, his campaign slogan is “Seriously? Seriously.”

It all started after the joke started to gain Kreppmentum momentum during the April primary, with Krepp and some friends wondering why no one had challenged Norton yet. “She still has power and has authority and no one challenges. No one says ‘What do we want out of a Congressman?'” Krepp says. “At that point, I said ‘Why not? Why not me?’ It seemed to be an open field and it works for my schedule, and I think it’s something that I’d be good at. It’s something that suits my talents.”

Krepp says he and his friends are frustrated by what Norton’s doing with the position, or rather what she’s not: Championing D.C. statehood enough and making enough of a fuss to other members of Congress. Since the position is a non-voting one, it’s up to the D.C. Delegate to sway enough voting members to vote in favor of the District when relevant bills are on the table.

“The Delegate should be someone that is a proponent of D.C., a champion of D.C. Someone that’s a bomb-thrower and disruptive,” Krepp said. Though he says he greatly respects and appreciates all Norton’s done for D.C., he thinks it’s time for a change: “I respect her greatly. She’s a hero. She’s down heroic things. I can run as a white, straight male because of the legacy she has given our city and our country. But some people come up to me and say ‘It’s time for some change here.'”

Krepp, who lives in Capitol Hill and is a full-time tour guide, as well as the author of a couple of books about D.C., has no political background and has never run for office. The last election he ran in was for senior patrol leader in his Boy Scout troop when he was 16. But Krepp thinks his lack of experience is an asset. “It lets me see things without the entrench ways of doing business,” he says. “I’m not a prisoner of ‘We’ve always done it this way.'”

Though his campaign may have started as a long-running joke, it’s not run that way. Krepp has enlisted friends to play key roles in his campaign, including ANC Commissioner Brian Pate as his campaign manager. Still, it’s very much a grass-roots campaign, with not a lot of money behind it or any serious donors (as of yet). “This is very much a do-it-yourself campaign,” he says. “This is like the bookshelf you make at home: It doesn’t look as pretty as the professional one, but it’ll work.”

Krepp’s campaign is running on three primary pillars: To reenergize and revitalize the statehood movement on Capitol Hill; to redefine what the city wants out of its Delegate; and to serve as a local and vocal voice to be the connection between the federal government and D.C. Krepp feels that the statehood movement is “lackadaisical” right now.

Unlike Norton, who is a Democrat, Krepp is running as an Independent. Though he has progressive, left-of-center-leaning stances on most issues, he feels like the Democratic party has let D.C. down. “I don’t think the D.C. Democratic party is serving us locally, and I don’t think the national Democratic party is doing squat for D.C.,” he says. “I think Del. Norton has taken more of a partisan tone than I would have on some of these things. I am partisan, I am progressive, I am left of center on most of these issues, but I’m not willing to get into the Democratic party’s water when they ignore us.”

But Krepp isn’t the only Independent looking to take Norton’s seat. Monica Carpio, a former federal government economist and “mother of two Native Washingtonians,” has also filed papers with the D.C. Board of Elections to run against Norton.

Despite going up against an incumbent who’s held that position for 23 straight years, Krepp feels confident about his campaign. “The interesting thing about the American political system is that it comes down to a person we have to vote for,” he says. “It’s a little awkward that I have to sell myself as that person, but I’ve got a big ego, so I can carry it.” And even if it proves to be a failed campaign, “I go back to the really awesome job, the great family, and the life that I enjoy quite a bit,” he says.

So why does Krepp think D.C. residents should vote for him? “There’s virtually nothing happening with this position,” he says. “What’s the downside for voting for me? Nothing, and that’s the status quo.”