Dem
47
GOP
53
Yesterday, we mentioned that House Democrats are looking to replace some of their elderly leaders with younger ones. Case study 1 is the House Judiciary Committee. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) was set to challenge Rep. Jerry Nadler for the ranking member position on the House Judiciary Committee. Yesterday Nadler saw that the votes weren't there and dropped out of the race. Raskin will be the new ranking member of Judiciary. This change will set off a chain reaction.
First, Raskin will leave the top minority party slot on the powerful House Oversight Committee, which has the power to oversee just about everything. Then a contest will be set up to replace him.
The jousting for that slot will be a real test of how well the old system of seniority holds. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) is interested in the job, even though she is not next in line in terms of seniority. But if the Democrats want to remake themselves as a party that speaks to young people, she is #1 on the list, especially as she just became the first person to get a million followers on Bluesky. Also, she has proven that she is extremely good at questioning witnesses at hearings. If she runs for and gets the job, she will be the most powerful 35-year-old in Congress in quite a while, maybe in a century or more.
Of course, the old order is not going to give up without a fight. Reps. Gerald Connolly (D-VA), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) all outrank her and are all potentially interested in the job as well. So far, the only one of the three who has formally announced a bid is Connolly, the most senior of the trio.
Judiciary and Oversight are not the only committees where younger members want generational change. Rep. David Scott (D-GA), who is 79 and has health issues, is the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. He is going to be challenged by Reps. Angie Craig (DFL-MN) and Jim Costa (D-CA). Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), who is 76, has announced he will not run for the ranking member position on the Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) is expected to run for the job. All in all, Democrats are starting to shake up the seniority system. (V)