WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Tuesday picked 74-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly to lead the party next year atop an influential congressional committee, pushing aside growing calls for generational change in leadership ahead of a second term for Donald Trump.
In a closed-door meeting, the majority of the caucus voted for Connolly to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who campaigned on calls to pass the torch to younger leaders. Connolly has seniority on the committee, having served on it for 16 years. The vote was 131-84.
“I think my colleagues were measuring their votes by who’s got experience, who is seasoned, who can be trusted, who’s capable and who’s got a record of productivity and I think that prevailed,” Connolly told reporters after the vote.
The Virginia Democrat on Monday had won the endorsement of a Democratic panel that makes recommendation for committee assignments. But Ocasio-Cortez and her allies had said the initial vote was close enough to keep her in the race and try again at Tuesday’s caucus-wide meeting. She did not respond to reporters questions following the vote.
Rep. Annie Kuster, the chair of the New Democratic coalition, said some of her members, who come from swing districts and tend to vote moderately, had concerns about Ocasio-Cortez supporting primaries against other Democrats, even though she pledged not to do that in the closed-door session this week.
“I think there are members that very much want this generational change but I think, members who had only been here a couple of terms gave them pause,” Kuster said.
Ocasio-Cortez’s loss comes as several other younger Democrats won the ranking spots on committees, pushing out more senior members. It’s all part of a generational struggle in the party that has grown more urgent following Democrat’s electoral defeat last month that handed Republicans complete control of Washington come January.
“I think we’re all starting to realize that we can’t do things exactly the way we’ve always done them here in the Democratic Party,” Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, who was selected to be the top Democrat on Natural Resources after beating out two more senior members for the role.
Rep. Jared Huffman, 60, who was successful in edging out the 74-year-old incumbent to become top Democrat on Agriculture, said that his and Craig’s victories represent a “healthy” generation transition.
“But, this is a team, and it’s a multi-generational team, so we’re not pushing out these other more senior members,” Huffman told reporters after he won. “We welcome them. They have incredible value.”
The ranking member position on the Oversight committee is now held by Rep. Jamie Raskin, but the Maryland Democrat relinquished the position to seek another prominent post, as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The Oversight and Judiciary panels have traditionally been among the most high-profile in Congress, which means both positions will service as prominent foils to Trump and the Republican majority in the House.
Connolly had unsuccessfully run for the Oversight role twice before. He was facing concerns from colleagues over his recent cancer diagnosis. He defended his health status Monday, according to Rep. Don Beyer, one of the Democrats who nominated him for the post.
“Gerry pointed out that there’s many people in the room who are cancer survivors, and there was a bunch of heads nodding,” Beyer told reporters. “His chemo has gone really well and no surgery has been necessary.”
Kuster added, Connolly was very clear, telling colleagues “if he doesn’t have the capacity, if he will step down.”
Many of Connolly’s allies, including himself, denied that this race was about a generational challenge in the Democratic party, but pointed to who is more experienced and ready to lead the party on some of the most urgent issues facing the country.
