[2][3] In November 1974, Dixon was chosen to represent Ward 4 when voters elected the first members of the Council of the District of Columbia, the legislature of the city's new home rule government.
[6] Dixon, who was halfway through his Ward 4 term, decided to run for Chair of the Council and won.
[6] Dixon was later appointed by Mayor Marion Barry to serve as a public member of the National Capital Planning Commission.
More than a decade later, Dixon returned to the council as an at-large member for a few months in 1997 when he was chosen in August by the District of Columbia Democratic State Committee to replace Linda Cropp, who had vacated her at-large seat to become chairman.
[7] The appointment lasted only until a December special election, in which he was defeated by then-Republican David Catania.