If the Democrats retake the House next year, which is very much a possibility, then the most important job will be the speakership, which will presumably go to House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY). But what is the second most important job? It could be House Majority Leader, though that person tends to get completely overshadowed by the speaker. In fact, pop quiz: Can you name the current House Majority Leader? We will put the answer below, in case you would care to test your knowledge of current leadership.
Another possibility for second-most-important is the House Majority Whip. That may be the literally correct answer (and, by the way, the current majority whip is Tom Emmer, R-MN), but it's very inside baseball. The great majority of Americans likely couldn't tell you what the whip does, much less who the current occupant of the post is.
Consequently, we would say that the second-most-important member of the majority party—again, after the speaker—is one of the committee chairs. And customarily, the most important committee chair is the chair of ways and means, since that person has substantial control over trillions of dollars in government spending. Indeed, when (Z) took Intro to American Politics in college, the professor (Michael Lofchie) argued that the chair of ways and means is the fourth most powerful person in Washington, behind the president, the speaker, and the majority leader of the Senate.
Maybe that is still true, or maybe it isn't—Lofchie's class was a long time ago. On top of that, Donald Trump is not your usual president, in that he's up to all kinds of things that are either outright illegal, or are in a very gray area. And for that reason, we would say the second-most-important person in the 120th House, should the Democrats regain control of that chamber, will be the chair of the Oversight Committee. That person can initiate investigations, and can also go on TV constantly to talk about bad behavior (or alleged bad behavior) by the executive branch.
If Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) had lived, then spending 2 years taking the wood to Donald Trump would have been the capstone of his career. Now that he's gone, the Democrats had to choose someone else to be in the on-deck circle for that role. And it looks like that person will be Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), who yesterday received the backing of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. While it's not guaranteed, it's very likely that the House Democratic Caucus will vote on Thursday to make him ranking member of the Oversight Committee.
Garcia is young (47) and is only in his second term, but he's got a reputation for being able to work with different factions within the Democratic Party. He also came to Congress after having served two well-regarded terms as the mayor of Long Beach, CA (he got a staggering 80% of the vote when he stood for reelection). It undoubtedly does not hurt that he is Latino (the first Peruvian American to be elected to Congress), that he's gay, and that he's very telegenic.
When Connolly was elected to the #2 slot on Oversight, it was a battle of "old guard" vs. "new guard," as the other option was Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). In that case, of course, the old guard was victorious. Now, it's the same basic dynamic, except with two "old guard" candidates (Kweisi Mfume, D-MD, who is 76 and Stephen Lynch, D-MA, who is 70) and two "new guard" candidates (Garcia and Jasmine Crockett, D-TX, 44). And this time, it looks like the "new guard" is going to come out on top. Perhaps Democratic leadership is sensitive to complaints that the Party has turned into a gerontocracy. (Z)