WASHINGTON — Rep. Gerry Connolly’s surprise announcement that he plans to soon step down as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee has set off a scramble to succeed him that could pit the party’s old guard against an up-and-coming class of progressives who have aggressively opposed President Donald Trump.
Connolly, 75, said Monday that his esophageal cancer had returned after “grueling treatments” and that he would not seek re-election next year. The Virginia Democrat’s decision came just four months after he defeated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., for the highly visible committee post.
If Democrats retake the House in next year’s midterm elections, the ranking member would be in line to chair the committee, with the power to issue subpoenas to the Trump administration.
A senior Democrat on the panel, Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, said Tuesday that he is taking over as interim ranking member and will handle day-to-day responsibilities as Connolly focuses on his health. And Lynch said that Connolly has pledged to endorse him for the role once it formally opens up.
“He told me he’s publicly supporting me,” said Lynch, 70, who has served in the House since 2001. “I worked with him for almost 25 years. So we’ve traveled together — Iraq, Afghanistan — we’ve done investigations, we’ve worked on a whole bunch of stuff together. There’s a friendship there.”
A handful of progressives on the panel — Reps. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., 48; Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., 76; Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., 28; and Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, 44 — have been reaching out to colleagues and expressing interest in the Oversight Committee post, lawmakers told NBC News.
But Democrats said there is one person who could clear the field of progressives if she decides to seek the position: Ocasio-Cortez. The 35-year-old New York Democrat, who has millions of followers on social media, is raising massive amounts of campaign cash and is quietly building support inside the Capitol, left the Oversight Committee this year for a spot on the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Frost, who supported Ocasio-Cortez’s oversight bid last year, told NBC News Tuesday he is interested in the job if it becomes vacant. But Frost said he would endorse Ocasio-Cortez if she decided to run. Other progressives looking at the post said they would rally behind Ocasio-Cortez, too.
“We would coalesce around her,” said one progressive member of the Oversight Committee.
It would not be a simple process for Ocasio-Cortez to run for the position, though. To rejoin the Oversight Committee, Ocasio-Cortez would need the House Democratic caucus to grant her a waiver, which are sometimes given out in special circumstances.
And Ocasio-Cortez has not yet given any indication that she wants the job or plans to seek the waiver. Her office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In recent weeks, she’s been criss-crossing the country with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., attracting huge crowds for their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour and fueling speculation she’s gearing up for a potential 2028 presidential campaign.
The Oversight Committee job could boost Ocasio-Cortez’s national ambitions, handing her a formal platform to investigate and keep the heat on the Trump administration.
Lynch pushed back on the idea that Ocasio-Cortez could easily be granted a waiver to seek the post.
“If you’re not on the committee, under the rules, it makes it very difficult to run,” Lynch said.
Democratic leaders haven’t weighed in, arguing that there is no opening yet since Connolly technically remains the ranking member and is still a member of Congress.
“There’s no vacancy in the Oversight Committee. … That’s our position,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., the chair of the House Democratic caucus, told reporters after a closed-door meeting of Democrats where Lynch made a presentation about the Oversight Committee’s efforts.
Many of those who are eyeing a potential bid declined to comment on the future race, saying they are focusing on supporting Connolly.
“He and his family are in my thoughts and prayers. I am focused on the work of the committee and am hopeful Rep. Connolly will recover and be back,” Khanna told NBC News on Tuesday.
Mfume also said he was focusing his thoughts on Connolly, saying they had worked closely on the Oversight Committee and on issues central to Virginia and Maryland.
“My comments are my heartfelt comments for my friend Gerry. And I think it’s just too early to be talking about what happens next,” Mfume said in an interview. “When I say he’s a dear friend, he really, really is. So I’ll leave a speculation up to everybody else right now. For me, my priority is making sure that Gerry knows how much he’s appreciated.”
Mfume represents the seat formerly held by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., who served as ranking member and chairman of the Oversight Committee during Trump’s first term.
Several Democrats have held the party’s top position on the committee since Cummings’ death in October 2019. Then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., who was the most senior Democrat on the panel, became interim chairman and eventually ran against Connolly, Lynch and then-Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., for the post.
Speier and Lynch ultimately dropped their bids, and Maloney easily defeated Connolly. But Maloney eventually lost her primary race in 2022 in New York due to redistricting, once again opening up the Oversight Committee post.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who built a national profile during Trump’s impeachments and the Jan. 6 hearings, soundly defeated Connolly for the oversight post. But after the 2024 elections, Raskin decided to run for a different job on the Judiciary Committee. The third time was the charm for Connolly, who beat back a challenge from Ocasio-Cortez in a closed-door, secret-ballot vote, 131-84.
That battle, like many that have occurred within the Democratic Party following Trump’s 2024 victory, centered on the idea of generational change.
Speaking to reporters, Lynch argued that experience should count for something.
The committee has “got more younger members, newer members, who have moved up quickly in this committee,” Lynch said. “So there is a need, I think, for a mix of some experience … It’s an investigative committee. I’m an attorney. Gerry and I have done a ton of investigations together. I think that has value.”
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