Washington In an effort to defeat the second Trump administration, a strong group of congressional Democrats on Monday suggested Virginia Representative Gerry Connolly over New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio Cortez for the top Democratic position on the House Oversight Committee.
According to a panelist, the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which closely resembles Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., held a closed-door meeting and Connolly received 34 votes while Ocasio-Cortez received 27.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on Oversight, challenged Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., for a comparable position on the Judiciary Committee, forcing Nadler to resign, creating the vacancy.
In a surprise move, the Steering group on Monday suggested Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota as the Agriculture Committee’s top Democrat. She received 34 votes, defeating two considerably more experienced opponents, Georgia Rep. David Scott, who received only five votes and has been the top Agriculture representative since 2021, and California Rep. Jim Costa, who received 22 votes.
The Steering group chose senior Representative Jared Huffman, D-Calif., over more junior Representative Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., to be the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee. 44 to 17 was the vote.
The recommendations made by the Steering panel are scheduled for a vote Tuesday morning by the entire Democratic Caucus. The complete caucus has occasionally overridden the panel’s votes and chosen a different candidate, even though the caucus usually accepts the committee’s recommendations.
As younger politicians demanded fresh blood and a generational shift in the leadership, the contests for committee ranking member positions were perceived as a litmus test for the Democratic Party’s future seniority.
The results on Monday, however, were conflicting on that issue.
Connolly, 74, was elected to Congress for the first time in 2008 and is a senior member of the Oversight panel. Despite declaring last month that he had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer, Connolly defeated a challenge from 35-year-old progressive icon Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who was elected in 2018.
In the Natural Resources election, the more experienced Democrat was also endorsed by the Steering group. Stansbury, a relatively junior member of the Natural Resources Committee who won a special election in 2021, lost to Huffman, 60, who was elected in 2012 and would be the second-most senior Democrat on the panel the following year.
Natural Resources will have a younger Democratic leader than in the past due to Huffman’s probable rise to ranking member. Prior to this, Huffman had unexpectedly challenged Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, 76, who had been the panel’s leading Democrat since 2015 and was elected to Congress in 2002.
However, the younger insurgent won the race for agriculture. One of the panel’s least senior members, Craig, 52, is a Democrat. He defeated incumbent Rep. Scott, 79, who was elected in 1982 and had been dealing with health problems for years, as well as another senior member, Costa, 72, a third-generation farmer who was next in seniority after Scott.
Craig declared, “I’m ready to help us win back rural Americans, and with them, a strong Democratic Majority,” following the defeat. “I’m excited to win over my colleagues in the entire Democratic caucus tomorrow.
In the event the Democrats regain control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections, these party committee chairmen would have significant oversight authority, even if they will still be in the minority in the new Congress that takes office in January.
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