Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made her mark as a progressive outsider, might now be about to become a Democratic insider.
Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) will face off against the more senior Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) to replace Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee next Congress. The post would position her to be a lead her party’s congressional oversight of the incoming Trump administration.
Raskin is poised to become the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee after that panel’s current ranking member, Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.), reluctantly agreed to relinquish his position.
The jockeying before the Steering Committee meeting today comes as younger Democrats have agitated to shake up their leadership in the wake of an election where they fell just short of the majority. They are looking to sharpen their messaging to counter an aggressive GOP agenda, led by President-elect Donald Trump, and better position themselves before the 2026 midterm elections.
The 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, who has the support from many of the Oversight Committee’s rank and file, was known for clashing with party leaders during her first years in Congress and has a flare for drawing media attention.
She is “one of, probably, the best communicators of our generation, effectively making the Democratic case,” said Oversight Committee member Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), a fellow member of a group of young progressive members, known as the Squad, that Ocasio-Cortez helped to launch when she joined the House in 2019.
Connolly has the support of more senior committee members such as Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who said he “knows the job.” He also has won the endorsement of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, of which Connolly is a member.
“We have good candidates for all positions — I prefer him,” said Pelosi, who tangled with Ocasio-Cortez and other Squad members when she was speaker. While no longer officially in leadership, Pelosi has unmistakable sway in the party.
The push for change still faces some resistance from older lawmakers who have supported a seniority system that has kept them atop powerful committees, even as Republicans imposed their own term limits that resulted in fresh leadership.
“Here, seniority operates as a presumption, but it’s a rebuttable presumption,” Raskin said. “We can depart from it if there’s a compelling reason to do so.”
Raskin and others have cited the incoming Trump administration and GOP control of Congress as spurring Democrats’ seniority reckoning.
“We are in the fight of our lives, and we need to think about redeploying people to different fields of combat in order to win this thing,” Raskin added.
Oversight and Judiciary will be in the spotlight next year under the second Trump administration. House GOP leadership has investigated the Biden administration through those committees, and Democrats leading them next year will be key in rebutting Republican attacks.
Passing the Torch
Some members of the party are still smarting that 82-year-old President Joe Biden stayed in the presidential race for so long before passing the torch to 60-year-old Vice President Kamala Harris. That same dynamic that roiled the presidential race over the summer is returning on a smaller scale in the contested committee battles.
Democrats’ steering arm will also consider other unresolved ranking member races. Reps. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) will compete to lead the Natural Resources panel after Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) was essentially pushed out of the race.
Agriculture Ranking Member David Scott (D-Ga.) faces two credible challengers, Reps. Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Angie Craig (D-Minn.) — and Democratic leadership is not publicly protecting the 79-year-old Scott, who has faced concerns over his age and mental acuity.
The Congressional Black Caucus, which has defended the seniority system, has notably avoided endorsing Scott so far. Scott, who is the first Black lawmaker to chair the panel, skipped the caucus’ ranking member candidate forum last week, which both Costa and Craig addressed. Costa won the backing of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Not all committees are part of the generational shift. The 86-year-old Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the top Democrat on the Financial Services Committee, faced no challengers to retain the job next year. Ways and Means Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-Mass.), 75, will also stay on as his committee takes a central role in crafting tax legislation.
Lawmakers will continue whipping their colleagues up to this afternoon’s Steering meeting, when party leaders make their final pitches.
“You’ve just got to do the work,” Costa said while leaving the House chamber last week. “I just picked up two votes there on the floor.”
Skye Witley and Kellie Lunney in Washington also contributed to this story.
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