Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) on Monday claimed the primary spherical of the two-step contest to guide Democrats on the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee within the subsequent Congress, besting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to win the advice of the Democrats’ influential Steering and Coverage Committee.
The 34-27 vote lends a lift to Connolly, the extra senior of the 2 candidates, heading right into a vote of the total Caucus later within the week. The Steering and Coverage panel is headed by Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and is filled with management allies.
A vote of the panel — whereas primarily symbolic — additionally sends a sign to the broader caucus about which candidate the get together brass deems to be stronger.
However it’s not the ultimate phrase. That may come from the total Home Democratic Caucus, which is scheduled to vote Tuesday in a secret poll that may determine which Democrat will change the outgoing rating member of the Oversight panel, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.).
Raskin stepped out of the seat to problem Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) as the highest Democrat on the Home Judiciary Committee. Raskin received that problem after Nadler dropped out of the race.
With subpoena energy and a broad mandate to research federal affairs, the Oversight Committee is among the many most outstanding of the Home panels, notably with regards to scrutinizing the actions of the White Home. And Democrats see the seat as carrying outsized weight subsequent 12 months given their warnings about President-elect Trump and the menace they are saying he poses to the nation’s democratic traditions.
Connolly has been on the Oversight Committee for the whole lot of his 16-year tenure within the Home, and he’s leaned closely on that have to argue that he’s the higher match to push again towards Trump and his formidable second-term coverage agenda. Connolly final month introduced he’s been identified with esophagus most cancers, however he started therapy instantly and has been taking part in votes and different occasions across the Capitol.
Ocasio-Cortez, a six-year veteran of Capitol Hill, has stated it’s time for a brand new era of youthful Democrats to take the reins of the get together and refresh it with new concepts. That argument builds on her major victory in 2018 over former Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.), a caucus chair regarded as in line for the Speakership. The upset surprised Washington and made Ocasio-Cortez an icon on the left.
Whereas a advice from the Steering and Coverage Committee is often a great predictor of how the total caucus will vote, that’s not at all times the rule. In 2014, as an example, Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.) received the advice of the Steering panel in her problem towards Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) to guide Democrats on the Power and Commerce Committee. Pallone prevailed, nevertheless, when each Home Democrat bought the possibility to vote.
