WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced a bid Friday to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, the latest example of generational shakeup that is beginning to ripple across the Democratic Party in the wake of their election losses this year.
The New York lawmaker, who at 35 would by far be the youngest to serve in the post, threw her hat in the ring in a letter to colleagues, saying this “is not a position I seek lightly."
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"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. “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.”
It’s just the latest example of a generational reckoning within the party as leadership and rank-and-file members seek a new approach to governing ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.
Earlier this week Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland took on senior New York Rep. Jerry Nadler to lead the House Judiciary Committee. Nadler, 77, abandoned his bid a day later. Other top committee posts are also being contested
The Oversight position, in particular, is prized because the committee is among the most high-profile in Congress, with sweeping jurisdiction over the government and subpoena power to conduct investigations. Republicans returning to the majority next year are pledging to open investigations into Democrats they believe are part of the “weaponization” of the federal government.
To win the job, however, Ocasio-Cortez will have to defeat Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who is vying for the top spot after serving on the Oversight Committee for the past 16 years. The 74-year-old told reporters this week that he feels comfortable about his chances.
“We must expose and dismantle bad faith Republican efforts to promote conspiracy theories, intimidate witnesses, and undermine democratic processes,” Connolly wrote in a letter to his colleagues, announcing his bid for the job.
House Democrats are expected to begin the selection for ranking members and committee assignments next week. The party has traditionally honored the seniority system, allowing veteran members to remain in top committee posts without limit.
But the Democrats' adherence to the seniority system has started to crack. And it will certainly be put to the test in the race between Connolly, the seasoned investigator, and Ocasio-Cortez, a national star who often goes viral for her questioning of GOP witnesses.
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