By Nia-Malika Henderson / Bloomberg Opinion
Just days after the funeral of Virginia Congressman Gerry Connolly, who died of esophageal cancer, House Democrats are set to have another battle over who becomes the ranking member on the all-important Oversight Committee, the chamber’s main investigative body.
Like the last one, this race will be a snapshot of the larger debate within the party over age, leadership style, experience and political ideology. Unlike the last one, this race won’t feature New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, 35, who was bypassed in favor of Connolly, and has declined to run after canvassing members and concluding that a more senior member would win. Again.
In December, I wrote about how in skipping over AOC, an authentic young progressive who understands the working class and the evolving media landscape, Democrats proved that they hadn’t learned much from November. A similar scenario seems likely as Democrats decide who should be the face of a powerful committee tasked with holding the federal government accountable and exposing waste, fraud and abuse. In the Trump 2.0 era, that essentially means being a check on the excesses of the White House. Whoever wins would likely become one of President Trump’s main foils.
Voting is set for June 24, but the jockeying and campaigning and texting has already begun among the four likely candidates. It is shaping up to be a contest between two 70-something members and two members in their 40s. Let’s start with the oldest. There is Kweisi Mfume, 76, a self-described “progressive moderate” who is in his second stint in Congress, having first served during the Reagan administration. He led the NAACP beginning in 1996 for almost a decade, a tenure marred by an internal investigation that alleged “a culture of favoritism and sexual harassment where Mfume hired and promoted women with whom he had close relations,” according to The Baltimore Sun. The nation’s oldest civil rights organization reportedly paid $100,000 to a former female employee. Mfume was pushed out of the organization and he has denied allegations of sexual harassment, while admitting he dated a subordinate. Picking someone with this kind of baggage for a watchdog committee isn’t a good idea.
Next up is Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch, 70, whose tenure began during the George W. Bush administration. Lynch is the interim ranking member, a former South Boston ironworker and labor union advocate. While personality and dynamism aren’t requirements for the Oversight post, they should be. On that score, Lynch, a moderate technocrat, is lacking. He is what longtime Democratic strategist Doug Sosnik would call an “indoor” politician, the type that wilts on television and speaks in paragraphs.
Rounding out the field so far are California Rep. Robert Garcia, 47, and Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, 44. These are the best choices for Democrats, with Garcia being a better fit and having the edge over Crockett. Both were elected in 2022. While Crockett has an upside with her considerable media skills and ability to go viral, this also happens to be her downside. She will likely find out what AOC already discovered: In this moment, Democrats are skittish about appointing outspoken progressives to top posts, fearing the party will be tagged as one big, woke squad.
That leaves Garcia, the former Mayor of Long Beach, Calif., who has working-class roots and is a member of the LGBTQ community. He is the Goldilocks choice, allowing Democrats to harness progressive energy without all the heat that Democrats think AOC and Crockett bring. At ease on cable news and in committee hearings, which are ultimately about theater and presentation, Garcia knows what Democrats want right now.
“What people want first and foremost is for Congress to fight like hell and match the energy on the ground,” Garcia said in a March appearance on MSNBC. Garcia is an “outside” politician, plain-speaking, comfortable in crowds and close to the ground. As the saying goes, Garcia, puts it where the goats can get it.
Democrats stand a very good chance of taking the House in 2026, when a net win of just three seats would flip the chamber. With control comes much more power to hold hearings, launch investigations and attract media attention, which means Democrats should make the right pick, right now for the long haul.
When members passed over AOC, some said that her future was bright and that it would just take a little bit more time for the congresswoman, first elected in 2018, to rise up the ranks of House leadership. The question then was how much time.
Because Democrats don’t have time to waste. Their low poll numbers show them hampered by a damaged brand, something their long-serving, risk-averse centrists appear unable to change. The House Oversight race is an opportunity to do something unexpected. Democrats cannot afford to wait any longer to seize it.
Nia-Malika Henderson is a politics and policy columnist for Bloomberg Opinion. A former senior political reporter for CNN and the Washington Post, she has covered politics and campaigns for almost two decades.
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