The race for the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee opened up old wounds within the Democratic coalition, revealing that the party is not yet ready to fully embrace its loudest voices on the Left.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), dubbed a Democratic “star” on the Right for her headline-grabbing quotes and confrontations, came in last among four contenders in the race to succeed the late Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) for the high-profile committee position.
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Crockett’s loss echoes a similar defeat last year for Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) when her Democratic colleagues rejected her bid for the ranking member position on the Oversight Committee. It also follows the Democratic National Committee voting to undo the vice chairman election of gun control activist David Hogg, after he launched a $20 million bid to oust incumbent Democrats for a newer generation of leadership.
Those Democrats represent some of the most progressive and aggressive voices on the Left calling for change, who are not afraid to use confrontational styles to make their points, excite the base, and generate attention.
Crockett admitted that her colleagues’ vote was a “rebuke” of her vision for the Oversight ranking member role and the party as a whole.
Based on the low number of votes she received, it was clear “my style of leadership is not exactly what they were looking for,” she said.
However, Democrats say the winner represents the right kind of change for the moment.
Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA), a progressive Democrat, defeated three other candidates Monday evening for the Steering Committee’s recommendation to the whole caucus. In the final vote between Garcia and interim ranking member Stephen Lynch (D-MA) on Tuesday, the California Democrat won with nearly 70% of the caucus’s support.
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“It is an opportunity for us to continue holding the corruption of Donald Trump accountable and also doing incredible work on government reform,” Garcia told reporters following his win.
“Efficiency is not DOGE. Efficiency is actually making government work better for our constituents across the country, and that’s what we’re going to focus on,” he added.
The race set up a generational reckoning for the party. Younger party members and candidates are demanding change within leadership and seeking to remove incumbents, claiming the establishment is too stuck in the status quo to oppose the Republican trifecta in Washington properly.
Many eyes had turned to Crockett after Connolly announced that he would step away as ranking member before he died. Since President Donald Trump took office in January, Crockett has become a vocal mouthpiece for the Democrats.
She’s taken the microphone and targeted individual Republicans for their support of the president, famously telling Elon Musk to “f*** off” while speaking to reporters, and arguing that she and like-minded members of the progressive “Squad” are the future of the party.
Many in the base admire her blunt and fiery approach to attacking Republican policies, while establishment Democrats have concerns that she could harm the party’s ability to bring focus back to the kitchen table issues that helped Trump win the White House.
“It’s not her aggressive approach that I think turns people off,” said one House Democrat, granted anonymity to speak freely on party conversations. “It’s not her style. I think a lot of people see that she’s very talented.”
“It’s that she is not perceived within the caucus as somebody who has big eyes for what the group needs,” the Democrat added.
Crockett and Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-MD) dropped out of the race before the final vote Tuesday after not getting enough support from colleagues.
“I didn’t think that it was fair for me to then push forward and try to rebuke that, because at the end of the day, what I care about is winning,” Crockett told reporters.
“Obviously my approach to traveling the country and doing well over 100 events on behalf of other people, my approach to giving almost $600,000 out to the caucus and other people, my approach of raising over $4 million to the caucus, my approach of actually having been a litigator, that is not what they wanted, and that is fine, because when you enter into leadership, this is about service,” she added.
AOC’s generational fight set up the dominoes for Garcia’s victory
Democrats faced a similar crossroads in December, when Ocasio-Cortez ran for the Oversight Committee ranking member position against Connolly. She did not win, particularly after Connolly received the backing from former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).
Viewed as a setback for younger party members, many had looked to Ocasio-Cortez to potentially seek a waiver back on the committee to launch another bid for the ranking member spot this year.
When she declined to do so, eyes then turned to Crockett as the new generation’s champion. But, like Connolly, Garcia had the support of Pelosi, though the speaker emerita told reporters she thought all four candidates were “excellent.”
“I think any one of them could have done a great job internally,” Pelosi said. The question is, how do we spread that word outside?
Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) said she thinks Garcia wouldn’t have been successful in getting the position if Ocasio-Cortez hadn’t “paved the way” last year.
“I feel like it is also about warming up the caucus and folks who are so committed to seniority, warming them up to the idea of, actually, we need to do things differently in this moment, and it can’t just be about seniority,” Balint said. “That moment has passed, not just for the caucus, but for the country we need.”
“We need to offer the caucus an opportunity to highlight all the different talents that we have in caucus. … [Garcia] benefited from the work that Alex did before him, and getting people to think differently about who should be in that role,” Balint added.
Crockett said caucus leaders did not tell her to withdraw her candidacy.
But the steering committee results were a “signal from leadership that they were not interested in working with me,” Crockett said.
“It was a loud signal. And I know how to read the tea leaves,” Crockett added.
Crockett said she won’t be lingering on her loss.
“I don’t want to be an impediment,” Crockett said. I will still be me. I will still be loud and proud. I mean, I will still do my things. It’s just that I will have less structure and I won’t have a budget to do the more robust things that I wanted to do to hopefully push this caucus to a place where people start to trust us.”
Some progressive Democrats see Garcia as a “happy medium” between what the establishment and left-leaning lawmakers are advocating toward as the party looks to rebrand itself and reel back in voting blocs lost to Republicans.
“I think that Jasmine has demonstrated a capacity to break through, but in good and bad ways,” one House Democrat said.
“Whether it’s some of the commentary we heard on impeachment, that we heard in the course of the Oversight race, or the fact that — you have to understand who your electorate is when you’re running for anything,” they added. “And I think that was a mistake, that there was more of an outside game for an internal position.”
Crockett dismissed claims on Tuesday that she would seek an impeachment inquiry if selected. She said she has “never shied away from my stance on anything,” but that it “wasn’t true” she would be “advocating for impeachment.”
“Now, do I think that he’s done things that we absolutely should potentially conduct an inquiry of, which is what I said? They wanted to make it seem as if I was going off the rails and going against, and all the things,” Crockett said.
Democrats praise Garcia’s leadership potential while Republicans nail his progressive record
Heading into the vote, many had speculated Lynch, 70, would stay in the role, given that Connolly endorsed him to take his place after stepping down due to a resurgence of his cancer.
Instead, Democrats selected Garcia, 40, a member of the Progressive and Hispanic caucuses and co-chair of the Equality Caucus. He has experience in a leadership position, having served as the Caucus Leadership Representative for the 118th Congress’s freshman class.
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE) said Garcia is a “strong leader” and “young voice that has the capacity and ability to break through” in ways Democrats lacked last cycle.
“He’ll be able to empower other members of the Democratic caucus within that committee, and I think, guarantee that we’re fulfilling our obligations as a majority in that committee in a way that’s principled and smart,” McBride added.
Other Democrats think Garcia was victorious because he solidified support from the California Democrats and frontliners.
“So that all paid off for him when it came to this leadership race, because I talked to frontline members who were like, ‘Yeah, Robert helped me a lot more than the others did,’” one House Democrat, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations, said. “So, I think it’s more about the work he put in with the caucus previously, as well as having California and the CHC, like two really solid bases, I think that’s why he won.”
Garcia will be the chief antagonist to Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who is chairman of the House Oversight Committee and is leading a wide-ranging investigation into Biden’s health while in office and whether aides covered up his decline.
Comer congratulated Garcia on his election, noting that he has “big shoes to fill” after Connolly’s passing.
“While I’m sure we’ll have our fair share of spirited debates and disagreements, I look forward to working together wherever we can find common ground,” the Kentucky Republican said.
Comer is likely to find more common ground with Garcia than he would with Crockett. Although both Crockett and Garcia promote similar ideals and values, Garcia is more soft-spoken and able to work across the aisle in ways the fiery Texas congresswoman is not.
When Punchbowl News asked Comer what he thought of Garcia becoming his new counterpart, Comer said, “Anyone is better than Jamie Raskin.”
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Raskin was Comer’s previous counterpart, now the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Republicans have been quick to point out Garcia’s progressive record, including reducing police budgets during his time as mayor of Long Beach, California, supporting Medicaid for All, and defending former President Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
“It’s no surprise House Democrats would put one of their most extreme, socialist members in charge of government oversight,” National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “Not only are the radical lunatics taking primaries to the left nationwide, now they’re doing it in committee rooms.”