Democrats pick Gerry Connolly for House Oversight post, rebuffing Ocasio-Cortez bid

WASHINGTON —  House Democrats on Tuesday picked 74-year-old Rep. Gerry Connolly to lead the party next year atop an influential congressional committee, pushing aside growing calls for generational change in leadership ahead of a second term for Donald Trump.

In a closed-door meeting, the majority of the caucus voted for Connolly, of Virginia, to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who campaigned on calls to pass the torch to younger leaders. Connolly has seniority on the committee, having served on it for 16 years. The vote was 131-84.

“I think my colleagues were measuring their votes by who’s got experience, who is seasoned, who can be trusted, who’s capable and who’s got a record of productivity, and I think that prevailed,” Connolly told reporters after the vote.

Connolly on Monday had won the endorsement of a Democratic panel that makes recommendation for committee assignments. But Ocasio-Cortez and her allies had said the initial vote was close enough to keep her in the race and try again at Tuesday’s caucus-wide meeting. She did not respond to reporters’ questions following the vote.

Rep. Annie Kuster of New Hampshire, chair of the New Democratic coalition, said some of her members from swing districts who tend to vote moderately had concerns about Ocasio-Cortez supporting primary challengers to other Democrats, even though she pledged not to do that in the closed-door session this week.

“I think there are members that very much want this generational change, but I think members who had only been here a couple of terms gave them pause,” Kuster said.

Ocasio-Cortez’s loss comes as several other younger Democrats won ranking spots on committees over more senior members. It’s all part of a generational struggle in the party that has grown more urgent following Democrats’ electoral defeat last month that handed Republicans complete control of Washington come January.

“I think we’re all starting to realize that we can’t do things exactly the way we’ve always done them here in the Democratic Party,” Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, who was selected to be the top Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee after beating out two more senior members for the role.

Rep. Jared Huffman, 60, who was unanimously chosen to succeed 76-year-old incumbent Rep. Raúl Grijalva as the top Democrat on the Agriculture Committee, said that his and Craig’s victories represent a “healthy” generation transition.

“But, this is a team, and it’s a multigenerational team, so we’re not pushing out these other more senior members,” Huffman told reporters after he won. “We welcome them. They have incredible value.”

The ranking member position on the Oversight Committee is now held by Rep. Jamie Raskin, but the Maryland Democrat relinquished the position to seek another prominent post, as top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The Oversight and Judiciary panels have traditionally been among the most high-profile in Congress, which means both positions will serve as prominent foils to Trump and the Republican majority in the House.

Connolly had unsuccessfully run for the Oversight role twice before. He was facing concerns from colleagues over his recent cancer diagnosis. He defended his health status Monday, according to Rep. Don Beyer, one of the Democrats who nominated him for the post.

“Gerry pointed out that there’s many people in the room who are cancer survivors, and there was a bunch of heads nodding,” Beyer told reporters. “His chemo has gone really well and no surgery has been necessary.”

Kuster added that Connolly was very clear, telling colleagues “if he doesn’t have the capacity, if he will step down.”

Many of Connolly’s allies denied that the race was about a generational challenge, but pointed to Connolly’s experience and readiness to lead the party on some of the most urgent issues facing the country.

Amiri writes for the Associated Press.