Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives gave committee leadership posts to three members on Tuesday, completing a post-election shakeup that ousted some longtime lawmakers.
The caucus voted to name Gerry Connolly of Virginia as ranking member on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee, Angie Craig of Minnesota as top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee and Jared Huffman of California as ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee Announcements posted to X.
Connolly will fill the seat vacated by Maryland’s Jamie Raskin, who was running for the top Democratic spot on the powerful House Judiciary Committee.
With the exception of Connolly, who won a race against progressive New Yorker Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all promotions came at the expense of senior members.
Craig, who is entering her fourth term, had challenged David Scott of Georgia, who had just won his 12th term. On Monday, Scott reportedly dropped his bid to return to the committee as the ranking Democrat. Representative Jim Costa of California also applied for the position.
Before Scott, the top Democrat on the committee was another Minnesotan, former Rep. Collin Peterson.
Huffman, 60, will succeed longtime Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Arizona, a 76-year-old who underwent cancer treatment this year.
Grijalva initially tried to keep the natural resources post he had held for a decade, but I dropped out this month in the face of Huffman’s challenge.
Grijalva, a favorite of the progressive members, endorsed Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico as his successor, but Huffman prevailed.
Raskin elated, Progressive disappointed
Connolly’s victory over Ocasio-Cortez was the only victory by a higher-ranking member in the contested committee election. The Virginian won election to his ninth term last month, while Ocasio-Cortez won her fourth.
However, the seat was only available because Raskin had challenged longtime New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, who was chairman or ranking member of the Judiciary Committee for three terms.
In a lengthy written statement, Raskin congratulated Connolly and said he was the right choice to lead Democratic oversight of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration.
“I know that new Ranking Member Connolly has the great tenacity, zeal and fighting spirit needed to lead the Oversight Democrats in combating oligarchy, kleptocracy and plutocratic attacks on the federal government and our workforce said Raskin. “Gerry Connolly is the fighter we need. With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the entire committee behind him, he will be an outstanding leader.”
In a statement that didn’t mention Connolly, the progressive group Our Revolution called the selection a “missed opportunity.”
“House Democrats had a chance to choose bold, progressive leadership from Rep. Ocasio-Cortez,” wrote Joseph Geervarghese, the group’s executive director.
Ocasio-Cortez “represents working-class values and a novel generation of leadership that this moment demands — someone who is unafraid to expose Trump’s lies, expose corporate corruption and hold power to account in a way that resonates with ordinary people “Instead, the party establishment chose to double down on the status quo,” he said.
Focus on economic issues
At a news conference following the caucus meeting, Democratic leader Pete Aguilar of California congratulated the novel members and those running against them, but did not elaborate on the results of the committee elections.
The winners represented “very different ideas and viewpoints within the caucus,” Aguilar said.
Aguilar and other House Democratic leaders said they would try to focus on purse issues in the coming Congress – and would work with Republican President-elect Donald Trump’s administration to achieve results.
But Aguilar and others criticized Trump for reneging on his campaign promise to lower consumer prices.
After announcing on the campaign trail that he would end inflation, Trump said in an issue of Time magazine published last week that doing so would be arduous.
“Has he been lying all along or has something changed?” Aguilar asked rhetorically on Tuesday.
While he has eased his focus on inflation, Trump is sticking to his promise to cut taxes on high earners and corporations, which also drew scorn from Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday.
“What we’re seeing now is that he’s keeping the promises he made to the … richest people in this country and that he’s putting profits ahead of our lives and our livelihoods as working people,” said Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost .
Michigan Rep. Debbie Dingell also criticized Trump’s proposal to privatize the U.S. Postal Service, saying it would hurt rural Americans and seniors who rely on mail delivery of medications.
Last updated on December 17, 2024 at 4:14 p.m
