Rep. Gerry Connolly has served on the Oversight Committee for nearly 16 years. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has only been in Congress for six.
For generations of Democrats who put a premium on seniority, that fact would have been the only one that mattered as Democrats sort out who should lead the party on Oversight. For all of the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez’s chutzpah and star power, the more seasoned 74-year-old Connolly has the wisdom and experience.
This Congress, however, that fact might be the very reason Ocasio-Cortez becomes a ranking member — a role in which she would go toe-to-toe with a roster of high-profile, Donald Trump-adoring Republicans on perhaps the most public-facing committee on Capitol Hill.
Age and tenure, Democrats supporting her candidacy told NOTUS, may no longer be a winning argument as the party tries to turn the page on septuagenarian — or, in some cases, octogenarian and nonagenarian — leadership to elevate a fresh slate of lawmakers who can hold their own against a hard-charging Republican trifecta.
The Oversight Committee ranking member race will test if that’s true.
In many ways, the battle is an ideal test case for the salience of seniority in the Democratic Party. It’s a test that many Democrats have a vested interest in as Joe Biden exits the White House. Democrats were dogged by questions about the 82-year-old president’s vigor and mental fitness — questions that some Democrats think cost them another four years.
The ranking member fight is also especially important as social media becomes a primary source of news. Viral moments are a more valuable form of political currency than the experience lawmakers earned by sitting through committee hearings for years just out of the C-SPAN frame.
“We should make the change generationally,” one undecided but AOC-curious Democratic member of the Oversight Committee told NOTUS. “Give people the opportunity,”
“She’s very good at comms,” this lawmaker said of Ocasio-Cortez. “In the minority, that position on that committee is very much comms. So she is, I think, uniquely talented and qualified to do that job, in that spot, at this time.”
An appetite for media-savvy, spry leadership has animated other lawmakers to challenge top Democrats on the Natural Resources, Judiciary and Agriculture committees. It was Rep. Jamie Raskin’s apparently successful bid to replace Rep. Jerrold Nadler on Judiciary that created the vacancy on Oversight that Ocasio-Cortez and Connolly are now jockeying over.
The Oversight Committee has been at the front lines of the media war between Democrats and Republicans. This Congress, under Raskin’s leadership, the punchy cohort of Democrats deployed some eye-popping tactics to clap back at GOP leadership as it investigated Biden and promoted Trump.
There was Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s hitting Trump for storing sensitive documents in a Mar-a-Lago “shitter.” There was Rep. Jared Moskowitz donning a Trump mask. And there was Rep. Robert Garcia repeatedly getting the phrase “dick pics” entered into the congressional record.
But for all the lighthearted gimmicks, House Democrats are taking the role of replacing Raskin seriously and told NOTUS they are weighing a range of qualifications.
There’s also an undercurrent pushing toward younger leadership that Connolly must confront. Last term, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the No. 2 and No. 3 Democrats stepped aside so Hakeem Jeffries and a new leadership team could take over.
As much as Pelosi was a stalwart supporter of the seniority system, she told Axios last week that she was supporting “some” efforts to replace senior ranking members. And this week, Jeffries has been conspicuously quiet about the seniority system, though Jeffries said at his weekly press conference that House Democrats have “really been in the midst of a generational transition.”
But Jeffries also issued a caveat that suggests a complete Democratic reorientation toward Generation X and millennial leadership isn’t fully afoot. Or, at least, that the caucus isn’t fully onboard.
“I wouldn’t read too much into the fact that committee challenges have emerged in certain quarters,” Jeffries said.
Even though some of the old guard of Democratic leadership has stepped aside, they haven’t entirely stepped out of the frame. Plenty of lawmakers still subscribe to the seniority system and would prefer at least some steady hands at the wheel.
As Rep. Troy Carter told NOTUS, “With ranking member issues, seniority plays a major role.”
The Democratic Oversight member who spoke to NOTUS on the condition of anonymity characterized Ocasio-Cortez’s candidacy as “very alive” but acknowledged a “generational split” among Democrats that will likely make for, as this member put it, a “tight, tight, tight, tight” vote.
“There’s going to be all sorts of these calculations going on,” this lawmaker said.
But seniority is only part of the calculation. With the Democratic Party at a political crossroads, style and ideology are also elements of the conversation around elevating Ocasio-Cortez. She’s one of the most identifiable members of the Democratic Caucus and a favorite of Republican attacks. As a member of the so-called “Squad,” she’s well known as a promoter of policies like the Green New Deal and “Medicare for All.”
And yet, as her boosters point out, Ocasio-Cortez has also been a rare conduit between the progressive and centrist wings of her party, speaking at both a rally for liberal Rep. Jamaal Bowman and at the Democratic National Convention for Vice President Kamala Harris.
Even Rep. Don Beyer, who is supporting Connolly, told NOTUS that he isn’t worried about Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive reputation.
“The Oversight platform isn’t where we’re going to be talking about Medicare for All or a lot of the more progressive issues,” he said. “This will be where we’re fighting to make sure that the oversight of our federal government is done really well.”
On Wednesday, after she made her pitch to the Congressional Black Caucus, Ocasio-Cortez told NOTUS she’s enjoying support from colleagues across the caucus. In a Dear Colleague letter last week, she promoted herself as experienced in her own right as vice ranking member and comfortable as a leader in an ideologically diverse caucus.
“I know firsthand how the Majority uses their chaos to confuse, disorient, and distract the public’s attention away from their disastrous agenda,” she wrote. “We cannot and will not allow that to happen. I will lead by example by always keeping the lives of everyday Americans at the center of our work.”
In his own pitch to colleagues, Connolly — who was recently diagnosed with cancer — cast himself as a “workhorse,” leaning specifically on his role as a chair and ranking member of a subcommittee for seven consecutive Congresses.
Beyer — Connolly’s Virginia neighbor and one of his most loyal supporters on Capitol Hill — described Connolly as a “bulldog” up to the task.
“There’s a big difference between 16 years worth of not just sitting on the committee, but 16 years of exemplary service on the committee,” Beyer said, “and six.”
Another Viriginian, Jennifer McClellan, told NOTUS that she had “seen Gerry in action.”
“He’s just as fiery and effective as he’s ever been,” she said. “He brings a depth of experience that will be invaluable to House Democrats’ efforts to keep Republicans in check during the 119th Congress. I have every confidence he will lead the House Oversight Committee effectively and advance our caucus’s priorities.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s camp includes Rep. Ro Khanna — who was, until recently, rumored to be considering his own run — and fellow Squad member Rep. Ayanna Pressley, who said she is actively whipping for Ocasio-Cortez. Politico reported Wednesday that a majority of Oversight members are supporting Ocasio-Cortez.
“She is strategic, surgical in her approach. She works very well with other members and our staff,” Pressley said. “And at a time when people are looking for more diverse representatives and animated leadership from the Democratic Party on the front line, she could be incredible.”
Other lawmakers on the committee told NOTUS they hadn’t made up their minds but were open to her candidacy. When asked what qualities he’d like to see in the next Oversight ranking members, Rep. Maxwell Frost told NOTUS, “someone like Jamie Raskin.” He said he’s “excited” that Ocasio-Cortez is in the race.
While Oversight Committee members have the greatest stake in the outcome of the ranking member contest, they aren’t the only members with a say. Ultimately, it’s up to the party’s Steering Committee to make a recommendation, which will then require confirmation from the caucus at large.
Raskin told NOTUS he has committed to staying neutral until his own campaign for Judiciary chair ends. He did, however, lay out the stakes of the race.
“Playing defense, the ranking member of Oversight will have to lead our efforts to protect the whole federal workforce against the campaign to replace them with political sycophants and flunkies,” Raskin said.
“On offense, of course, when we win the House back in 2026, the Oversight ranking member will lead our efforts to conduct oversight of the government to make sure it is acting as an effective instrument of the people and freedom and justice in the country,” he added.
Despite both potential successors to Raskin having a reputation as stalwarts against Trump, and despite both being known for their comfort throwing a punch at the GOP, Republican Oversight Chair James Comer conveyed some unexpected hope that his committee would operate in a more bipartisan fashion next term.
Of Ocasio-Cortez, Comer said, “We obviously disagree on a lot, but I think she’s a person of her word, and I think she’s sincere.” And of Connolly, he said he has “a lot of respect” for him.
Comer did not share the same enthusiasm for Raskin.
“You can quote me on this: The Democrats have nowhere to go but up,” Comer told NOTUS, repeating himself twice to ensure his point got through.
When NOTUS conveyed Comer’s quote, Raskin playfully responded that Comer had “clearly chased me out of the committee with his rhetorical genius and parliamentary skills.”
“So, I’m looking forward to working with Jim Jordan,” Raskin said.
It’s precisely these types of jabs that make the Oversight Committee a favorite among reporters and a special challenge for the Democrats looking to take the reins. If Democrats don’t have power on Capitol Hill or in the White House, the next ranking member can still exert influence in front of the TV cameras and via social media. It’s in the Oversight Committee, after all, that Crockett coined the phrase: “Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Body.”
Crockett — who has not endorsed a candidate yet — told NOTUS that no matter who leads Democrats on the committee, she expects her party to deliver “a lot of the same.”
“The Oversight Committee has shown, throughout the entire 118th, that we are able to go toe-to-toe with some of the most extreme members of Congress, that is for sure,” she said. “We’re walking into an environment of nothing but extremism.”
“Anyone who ultimately ascends to that post will be excellent,” she added.
—
Riley Rogerson is a reporter at NOTUS. Violet Jira is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.