Washington – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York launched her bid on Friday to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, as the party is expected to want replaced its experienced leaders on various key panels.
“This is not a position I pursue lightly. The responsibility of the leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is deep and consequential,” the New York Democrat wrote in a letter to colleagues on Friday.
“In the 119th Congress, the Democrats Oversight Committee will face an important task: We must balance our focus on the new president’s subversive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for the American working class,” added them to it.
Although Democrats will remain in the minority when the new Congress convenes next month, a victory would put Ocasio-Cortez in line to become chairman of the powerful Oversight Committee if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in 2026, the halfway point of the president’s term. newly elected President Donald Trump. The committee led numerous investigations into the first Trump administration after Democrats won the House of Representatives in 2018.
Her candidacy poses a challenge against Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who is also seeking to fill Rep. Jamie Raskin’s position. Raskin, of Maryland, is leaving the post and aims to become the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the longtime Democratic leader of the Judiciary Committee, ended his bid to continue leading the panel after Raskin announced his challenge.
There is also an effort to replace aging Democrats on the House Agriculture Committee and the House Natural Resources Committee.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York did not publicly support or condemn the committee’s shakeup, but told reporters Friday that “the caucus is doing its will, and we are doing it in a cordial way. ”
contributed to this report.
