Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Loses Bid For Top House Committee Post
Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) beat out Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) in a Democratic caucus vote Tuesday to decide which lawmaker will be the top-ranking party member on the House Oversight Committee in the new Congress starting in January.
The vote was 131-84, according to a Democratic aide.
The caucus voted for Connolly, a 74-year-old, eight-term congressman, over the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez in a race seen as an example of congressional Democrats’ internal struggles with the role seniority should play in their party. The Democratic Steering Committee, a party panel seeded with leadership allies, endorsed Connolly for the ranking member slot Monday night.
Connolly, for his part, rejected the idea that the contest was about generational fault lines.
“We’re looking at capability, we’re not looking at age,” he told reporters after the vote, calling the ‘generational change’ theme a “false narrative” fostered by news outlets.
The spot will be a prime one for Democratic efforts to highlight potential abuses by the incoming Trump administration. Connolly did not shy away from the traditional attack-dog role the post has offered in the past.
“Our strategy is going to be to tell the truth, and if that hurts, then we know we’ve made our mark,” he said.
Democrats told HuffPost that while Ocasio-Cortez is a rising star, Connolly had proven himself a stalwart Oversight Committee member and earned the job.
“Gerry’s been on the committee for a long time. We watched him in the first [Trump] term. He’s a tenacious bulldog,” Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) said. “And I’m glad that AOC ran as well. I think she presents a vision of the future, so kudos to her.”
“Gerry’s just been there and really devoted to that committee, and I think over time that really pays off,” Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) said. “[Ocasio-Cortez is] great, though. I mean, not taking anything away. She’s a talent. Got to figure out a way to make sure that we use her skills.”
Another Democrat said that despite his age, it was “completely unfair” for outside analysts to put Connolly in the same category as other older lawmakers, such as outgoing committee leaders like Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.), 79, and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), 76, who are less physically vigorous than Connolly.
“Gerry’s as feisty as ever,” said the lawmaker, who asked not to be named in order to speak candidly.
The caucus also ratified two other choices made by the Steering Committee on Monday night: Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), 52, as the ranking member on the House Agriculture Committee, and Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), 60, as the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee.
Huffman gave a joking nod to the age-related overtones of the committee slot selections.
“Thank you for reminding me that I’m 60 years old,” he told reporters afterward. “Only in Congress do I get to be young at 60 years old. It’s like the fountain of youth, we’ve found it!”
As for Ocasio-Cortez, in a post on social media after the vote, she sounded like an athlete who’d just lost a big game.
“Tried my best,” she wrote. “Sorry I couldn’t pull it through everyone ― we live to fight another day.”
