Reps. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are vying to lead Democrats on the key panel next term.
WASHINGTON—The race for top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has showcased a divide between the moderate and progressive wings of the party.
The New Democrat Coalition, a moderate congressional caucus, has endorsed Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) to lead Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, while the Congressional Progressive Caucus has backed Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Connolly and Ocasio-Cortez are running to succeed Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who will be the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee after the panel’s ranking member Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said he will not run to remain in that spot.
The GOP will be controlling the House with a narrow majority, and therefore will be in charge of committees.
The race between the two Democrats highlights the debate within the party since their presidential election loss, including how to respond to President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming policies.
In a Dec. 13 statement, the New Democrat Coalition, which includes 100 House Democrats, said that Connolly is the best to lead the committee’s pushback against the incoming Trump administration. Connolly is a member of the caucus.
“Connolly is a strong and talented communicator and a dedicated workhorse prepared to expertly lead the committee in defending our Democratic priorities and standing up to the Trump administration’s extremist actions. He is the right choice to advance the interests of our full caucus,” said the group’s chair, Rep. Annie Kuster (D-N.H.), and incoming chair, Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), citing Connolly’s 16 years on the committee.
“As we prepare for the new Trump administration and Republican-controlled Congress, the Oversight Committee Democrats will play a critical role in protecting our democratic institutions and pushing back on bad faith actors.”
Announcing his bid on Dec. 3, Connolly said that committee Democrats “must be an aggressive team focused on defending American democracy from President [Donald] Trump and articulating a Democratic agenda that resonates with our constituents.”
“Our constituents need to know that when it comes to them and their priorities, we are going to fight,” he said in a letter to his Democrat colleagues.
Connolly has represented Virginia’s 11th Congressional District since 2009.
In a Dec. 13 thread on X, the Congressional Progressive Caucus touted Ocasio-Cortez as “a powerful voice for working people” and “has wielded her seat on this committee to hold CEOs, Wall Street, and mega-corporations accountable to the American people.”
The caucus, which includes 100 House Democrats and one senator—independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who caucuses with the Democrats—said Ocasio-Cortez holds Big Pharma accountable and fights for lower drug prices. Ocasio-Cortez is also a member of the caucus.
In a Dec. 6 letter to Democrat colleagues announcing her run, Ocasio-Cortez said the decision to compete against Connolly was “not a position I seek lightly” and that being the top Democrat on the powerful committee is “consequential.”
“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,” she said.
She promised to work with Republicans “on constructive, shared interests that serve the American people whenever such opportunities arise.”
Ocasio-Cortez, the committee’s vice-ranking member, has represented New York’s 14th Congressional District since 2019.
The committee is chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.). Despite their policy stance differences, he recently told CNN he supports Ocasio-Cortez as the ranking member, saying she’s “a good person” and “very well-spoken.”