In DC: Senator Max Baucus bought a three-bedroom, three-bath Victorian on Capitol Hill for $970,000. Built in 1885, the house has twin fireplaces in the living room and an outdoor hot tub. The Montana Democrat was elected to the Senate in 1978.

Palestinian-American businessman Hani Masri sold a five-bedroom, seven-bath Colonial in Kalorama for $4.4 million. The house, which listed for $5 million, has an outdoor terrace, wine cellar, and au pair suite. Masri, a top fundraiser for Hillary Clinton in the 2008 presidential election, is an advocate for Palestinian causes in Washington.

Political writer Elizabeth Drew sold a five-bedroom, seven-bath house on Eskridge Terrace in Kent for $2.8 million to marketing executive Frederic W. Malek and his wife, clinical psychologist Britlan Gorse-Malek. The house has a two-story foyer, a library, an embassy-size dining room, and a pool. Drew is a former Washington correspondent for the New Yorker and author of more than a dozen books. Malek is CEO and cofounder of TIG Global, an Internet-marketing firm based in Chevy Chase.

New Obama-administration official Evan Segal and his wife, Tracy, bought a four-bedroom, five-bath Federal-style home on P Street in Georgetown for $3.6 million. The house, which listed for $4 million, was built in 1840. The former owner of Pennsylvania-based Dormont Manufacturing Company, Segal is chief financial officer at the Department of Agriculture.

In Virginia: Legal scholar Viet Dinh and his wife, lawyer Jennifer Ashworth Dinh, sold a three-bedroom, five-bath home in Alexandria’s Wellington neighborhood for $3.7 million. The riverfront house listed for $4.3 million and has a pool, a dock with boat lift, and a guest house. (In November, the couple paid $3.8 million for a seven-bedroom Georgian on Tracy Place in DC’s Kalorama neighborhood.) Viet Dinh, a Georgetown University law professor, clerked for Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O’Connor, was an assistant US attorney general from 2001 to 2003, and is one of the authors of the USA Patriot Act.

Entrepreneur Paul DeBenedictis sold a five-bedroom, seven-bath Colonial on Windy Hollow Road in Great Falls for $3.7 million. The house has an exercise room, library, and terraced swimming pool. DeBenedictis is former CEO of AOL’s Digital City, a lifestyle Web site.

In Maryland: Journalists Bob Levey and Jane Freundel Levey bought a condominium for $825,000 in the Adagio Bethesda, a new building on Wisconsin Avenue. Levey is a former columnist for the Washington Post; His wife is a historian and writer.

Lobbyist Mark Irion and his wife, Mary, sold an eight-bedroom, seven-bath home with wine cellar in Bethesda’s Edgemoor neighborhood for $3.7 million to Eyal Banai. Irion is CEO of Dutko Worldwide, a lobbying-and-public-affairs firm in DC. Banai is president of Mistral Group, a Bethesda-based government contractor.