Gerry Connolly beats AOC in race for key Democratic congressional post – Mother Jones

Rep. Gerry Connolly reportedly defeated Rep. AOC to secure the top Democratic position on the House Oversight Committee.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/ZUMA

The next ranking A member of the House Oversight Committee will reportedly include nine-term Democrat Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

Connolly, 74, defeated his rival, 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), 131 votes to 84 in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Current Oversight member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), is vacating the post to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.) as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, as my colleague Pema Levy reported last month . The oversight The committee, now controlled by Republicans and chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), played a key role in holding President-elect Donald Trump and members of his administration accountable during his first term.

The news comes as Democrats wrestle with how to move forward given last month’s losses in both the White House and Senate and their failure to retake the House. While some pundits and Democrats themselves have called for a generational change in leadership — and some younger Democrats have actually managed to push their elders out of leadership positions on committees — that doesn’t appear to have been worrisome enough to propel AOC to victory here to help. the lawmaker said Axios that Connolly — who announced last month that he was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer — touted his experience while AOC emphasized her wide-ranging platform and her role as an effective communicator for the party.

“I did my best,” AOC wrote in a post on Bluesky after the vote. “Sorry I couldn’t make it clear to everyone – we live to fight another day.”

“I think my colleagues measured their votes based on who has experience, who is experienced, who can be trusted, who is capable and who has a track record, and I think that came through,” Connolly reportedly said the vote towards journalists.

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) recounted Axios She was “disappointed” with the outcome, adding: “I know Gerry will do a great job.” But there’s no substitute for having someone in that position who is followed (on social media) by literally millions of Americans. .” (AOC has 12.8 million followers on X and 8.1 million on Instagram; Connolly has just over 87,000 followers on both platforms combined.)

“I think the seniority issue is getting in the way in this building,” Balint added. “Our people back home don’t care about seniority.”