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Photos of the year: 2020 as seen by Tom Williams

Starting off with an impeachment trial was a sign this would not be an average election year. Among the other noteworthy developments this year were the lying in state of civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., the elation (for some) of an administration change and the defiance (for others) of wanting to see the current power structure stay in place.

The highlights below were just a few moments that encapsulate the diverse perspectives of Americans in the midst of the social and political discord that was 2020.

Editor’s Note: Tom Williams is a D.C.-based photojournalist with CQ Roll Call. This is the continuation of a series where our photo staff shares their most iconic images of the year 2020. Follow him on Twitter here.

JANUARY 23: Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg speaks to the U.S Conference of Mayors Winter Meeting in Washington. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
JANUARY 29: Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., arrives in the Capitol for President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
FEBRUARY 3: Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, boards the Senate subway as reporters follow after the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump adjourned for the day. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
FEBRUARY 4: Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. is reflected in the teleprompter during President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in the House chamber. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
MARCH 4: Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., shows off his hand sanitizer — that he carries as a precaution to the coronavirus outbreak — to Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Paul Tonko, D-N.Y., on the Rayburn subway. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
MARCH 24: A customer wears a face mask due to the coronavirus pandemic while waiting for his takeout order at Kelly’s Irish Times on Capitol Hill. Bars and restaurants were limited to offering takeout orders only during the early days of the pandemic. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
APRIL 1: Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reminds photographers to practice social distancing after her television interview in the Russell Senate Office Building. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
APRIL 29: A skeleton with a face mask and Nationals hat rides in the passenger seat of a 1975 Buick Electra 225 on Florida Avenue Northeast during the coronavirus pandemic in Washington. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
JULY 27: The hearse carrying the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., pauses on Black Lives Matter Plaza on 16th Street Northwest during the procession to the Capitol for his memorial service. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
AUGUST 20: Democratic delegates, from left, Tia Hopkins, Reese Espy Glassman and Herb Smith pop champagne at their watch party in Columbia, Md., as Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden takes the stage on the last night of the virtual Democratic National Convention. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
AUGUST 28: Poetry Pole, of Baltimore, holds an African American flag in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool as thousands rallied on the National Mall for the 57th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
SEPTEMBER 25: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden leaves the Capitol after the memorial service for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
OCTOBER 13: Supreme Court justice nominee Amy Coney Barrett holds up her notepad at the request of Sen. John Cornyn on the second day of her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in the Hart Senate Office Building. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
OCTOBER 31: Aides take photos of Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., and supporters during her campaign event at J.D.’s on the Lake in Canton, Ga. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
NOVEMBER 3: Georgia Tech women’s basketball player Eylia Love holds a voting sign outside of McCamish Pavilion which served as a polling place on Election Day in Atlanta. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
NOVEMBER 7: Najee Thompson celebrates on 14th Street Northwest after Joe Biden was projected to become the 46th president of the United States. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
NOVEMBER 7: Leslie Luna, left, and friends sit near the Lincoln Memorial to watch President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris deliver remarks after the election was called for the Biden-Harris ticket. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
NOVEMBER 17: Sen.-elect Roger Marshall, R-Kan., carries belongings through the Cannon tunnel while moving from his House office to his temporary office space in the Senate. Marshall won the election to fill the seat of retiring Sen. Pat Roberts. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
NOVEMBER 19: Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani conducts a news conference at the Republican National Committee on lawsuits regarding the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
DECEMBER 1: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks during a news conference in the Mansfield Room in the Capitol. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

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