New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive darling, confirmed Friday that she’s jumping in the race to be the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, where she currently serves as the vice ranking member.
“This is not a position I seek lightly. The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one,” she wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. “Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life.”
The New Yorker’s entrance pits her against Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a senior member of the committee.
The winner of this contest will offer a clear window into Democrats’ future. A win for Ocasio-Cortez would make her the youngest Democrat to lead a major committee. It would also signal that Democrats are truly ready to embrace generational change: Connolly is 74, while Ocasio-Cortez is 35.
Connolly has served on the Oversight Committee for all of his 16 years in the House and is emphasizing that experience to argue he deserves the role.
“To me, it’s not generational. It’s about experience and record and capability, that’s how I got to present it,” Connolly told reporters earlier this week, adding that Ocasio-Cortez “has a lot of promise” but does not run a subcommittee.
“I think that’s really important,” he said.
Still, Ocasio-Cortez has built a national brand as an outspoken voice for progressivism since she was first elected in 2018. While she’s occasionally landed in the hot seat for bucking party leadership, she has also learned to work within the system: She stumped for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign and serves as the Oversight Committee’s vice ranking member under Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland. (Raskin announced on Monday that he is leaving the post to run to become the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.)
More recently, Ocasio-Cortez has supported calls for the older generation of Democrats to pass the torch to a younger group of lawmakers—an idea that’s gained steam in the party especially after President Joe Biden was pushed out of running for reelection following concerns about his stamina and mental fitness.
Indeed, Ocasio-Cortez’s bid comes at a time when other insurgent Democrats are working to oust older, higher-ranking members. After the party’s disappointing defeats in November, some Democrats are explicitly stating their desire to replace aging top members of at least three key House committees—Judiciary, Agriculture, and National Resources—with younger leaders in Congress. The contest to be the top Democrat on Oversight will surely be seen as a litmus test of Democrats’ commitment to a changing of the guard.
Beyond the question of age, Connolly’s health issues may also present a challenge to his bid. Two days after the November election, the Democrat announced he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer.
The Oversight Committee, which has subpoena power and jurisdiction over a broad range of topics, will be crucial for Democrats, who are trying to combat the incoming Trump administration. While in the minority, Democrats won’t get to choose which issues get heard, the ranking member will have a platform to push back against hard-line Republicans’ legislative agenda and any plans to continue investigating the Biden family.
Plus, if Democrats win back the House in 2026, the new chairperson would have broad power to subpoena and investigate the Trump administration.
According to Politico, Ocasio-Cortez has a sizable network of support and could win the endorsement of Democrats’ Steering and Policy Committee, which is reportedly planning to make recommendations for committee leaders later this month.
In other words, by the end of next week, we should have our first signal as to whether Democrats are committed to change or if it’s back to business as usual.
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