Washington — Democrats on the House Oversight Committee are meeting Tuesday to elect a new ranking member following the death of Rep. Gerry Connolly last month.
Though Democrats are currently in the minority, the new ranking member would be in line to chair the Oversight Committee if Democrats retake the House in 2026, halfway through President Trump’s second term. During Mr. Trump’s first term, the committee led numerous investigations into the Trump administration after Democrats won the House in 2018.
Connolly’s death came weeks after the Virginia Democrat announced that he would not seek reelection in 2026 and would be stepping back from his post as the top Democrat on the committee because his cancer had returned. He was 75 years old.
Connolly had been elected to the top committee post months earlier, as the committee’s members rejected a push by some to tap a younger generation of lawmakers to lead the party on top panels. Connolly defeated 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York to become the ranking member of the powerful committee.
Oversight Committee Democrats have vied for the ranking member post since Connolly announced his departure from the role. And though Ocasio-Cortez opted not to seek the post, having left the committee months earlier, the contest quickly became crowded.
Four Democrats are seeking the top post — Reps. Stephen Lynch of of Massachusetts, Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, Robert Garcia of California and Jasmine Crockett of Texas.
Lynch, 70, currently serves as the acting ranking member, and Mfume, 76, is high in the committee’s ranks. But whether the seniority that typically drives committee leadership races holds in Tuesday’s contents remains to be seen. Garcia, 47, currently serves as Democratic Caucus Leadership Representative, and Crockett, 44, is seen as a rising star in the caucus, known for viral moments on the committee.
The selection of a new top Democrat on the committee comes after a shakeup in committee leadership assignments in the party at the beginning of this Congress illustrated tensions over a potential generational shift. Long-serving top Democrats on the Judiciary, Agriculture and Natural Resources Committees stepped away from the top spots amid challenges from younger Democrats as the party prepared to counter Republican efforts with a GOP trifecta in Washington.
