{"id":38261,"date":"2024-12-16T21:12:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-17T05:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=38261"},"modified":"2024-12-16T21:12:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-17T05:12:07","slug":"aoc-fights-on-for-oversight-role-as-race-is-blown-wide-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/16\/aoc-fights-on-for-oversight-role-as-race-is-blown-wide-open\/","title":{"rendered":"AOC fights on for Oversight role as race is blown wide open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/_next\/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fimages.axios.com%2FiIKH-H-mdPaBwwfwRy3agsLpAvw%3D%2F52x0%2Fsmart%2F2024%2F07%2F02%2F1719887987721.jpg&amp;w=128&amp;q=75\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/authors\/asolender\">Andrew Solender<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>December 16, 2024 (Axios.com)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/KFkCKedFdMRe2SZDJNt6wLJNpS4=\/0x34:3516x2012\/1920x1080\/2024\/12\/17\/1734396866086.jpg?w=3840\" alt=\"Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, wearing a brown dress and holding a microphone, standing in front of a gray wall and an American flag.\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at a rally at Texas State University on Oct. 1, 2024.. Photo: Sergio Flores for The Washington Post via Getty Images.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Rep.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/12\/16\/aoc-house-steering-committee-oversight-connolly\">Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>&nbsp;(D-N.Y.) is still contesting the race for House Oversight Committee ranking member despite losing a key vote Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Why it matters:&nbsp;<\/strong>House Democrats&#8217; Steering and Policy Committee voted to recommend Rep.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/12\/02\/house-democrats-oversight-connolly-khanna\">Gerry Connolly<\/a>&nbsp;(D-Va.) for the role, but the full Democratic caucus still has to vote on whether to approve their pick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>It is not unprecedented for the caucus to reject a steering suggestion \u2014 but the vote may give Connolly critical momentum after Ocasio-Cortez was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/12\/12\/aoc-pelosi-oversight-committee-connolly-raskin\">seen by some as the favorite<\/a>&nbsp;going into this week.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;I&#8217;m gonna support Steering and Policy. I&#8217;m not on that committee but I&#8217;m assuming they listened to the candidates and hashed through it. So, there has to be a reason,&#8221; said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;And obviously I want to get on the committees I want to get on, so I&#8217;m not going to piss anybody off,&#8221; she added.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Driving the news:&nbsp;<\/strong>The steering panel \u2014 roughly 60 members who are mostly allies of leadership and senior lawmakers \u2014 voted for Connolly over Ocasio-Cortez in a 34-27 vote Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>The battle between Ocasio-Cortez, 35, and Connolly, 74, came after&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/12\/04\/nadler-judiciary-committee-raskin-house-democrats\">multiple septuagenarian committee chairs<\/a>&nbsp;were pushed out by relatively younger colleagues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>But Connolly allies made the case that, despite his&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/local\/washington-dc\/2024\/11\/08\/around-the-beltway-racist-text-threats\">recent cancer diagnosis<\/a>, he has the kind of vigor to lead a committee under the incoming Trump administration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying:&nbsp;<\/strong>Ocasio-Cortez said after the vote that she plans to take it to the full caucus, telling Axios she is &#8220;locked in&#8221; and &#8220;just working hard right now.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Her allies argued that the seven-vote margin was actually a stellar result for her and that she has a better chance in the full caucus, where members hew younger and less beholden to leadership.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The caucus as a whole, I think, may be more favorable than that very narrow group of people,&#8221; said one House Democrat backing Ocasio-Cortez, who nonetheless acknowledged the steering vote &#8220;matters.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>A veteran House Democrat not supporting either candidate said the steering vote was a &#8220;great result&#8221; for Ocasio-Cortez, predicting, &#8220;This thing is going to be a dead heat.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The other side:&nbsp;<\/strong>Two other senior House Democrats predicted that Connolly would win the caucus vote, in large part because of the strength of his relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;I think Gerry will win. I think it&#8217;ll be close &#8230; [but] he&#8217;s been here a long time, he&#8217;s worked at it. I think it&#8217;s a nod to the respect that they have for him,&#8221; said one of the lawmakers.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), for instance, said he committed to vote for Connolly &#8220;way back before some others got in.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dd8ed04fc8205698c8911aecf907119a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-40\/html\/container.html\">https:\/\/dd8ed04fc8205698c8911aecf907119a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com\/safeframe\/1-0-40\/html\/container.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zoom out:&nbsp;<\/strong>In 2014, the full caucus&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall.com\/2014\/11\/19\/pallone-defeats-eshoo-for-energy-and-commerce-slot-updated-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">voted to elect Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.)<\/a>&nbsp;to lead the Energy and Commerce Committee over Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), who won the steering vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>Eshoo was supported by then-House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Now the speaker emerita, Pelosi has been supporting Connolly.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Ocasio-Cortez ally noted that another Pelosi-backed candidate, Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), lost the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/12\/16\/angie-craig-david-scott-steering-agriculture-democrats\">steering vote to lead the Agriculture Committee<\/a>&nbsp;on Monday, telling Axios: &#8220;Does it help or does it hurt to have Nancy Pelosi making calls for you?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;She was really out there saying I&#8217;m making calls to lots of people. I&#8217;m locking up the California vote. But &#8230; people want to feel like their states are just as important,&#8221; the lawmaker said.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The bottom line:&nbsp;<\/strong>Even Connolly&#8217;s allies acknowledge that if she falls short tomorrow, Ocasio-Cortez is well-positioned to get the Oversight role \u2014&nbsp;or another leadership slot \u2014&nbsp;in the near future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Our caucus is moving ever so gingerly toward bringing more and more young leadership in,&#8221; said Cleaver.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>He added of Ocasio-Cortez: &#8220;If she doesn&#8217;t get it when we have the vote, it&#8217;s just a matter of time.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep.&nbsp;Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez&nbsp;(D-N.Y.) is still contesting the race for House Oversight Committee ranking member despite losing a key vote Monday. Why it matters:&nbsp;House Democrats&#8217; Steering and Policy Committee voted to recommend Rep.&nbsp;Gerry Connolly&nbsp;(D-Va.) for the role, but the full Democratic caucus still has to vote on whether to approve their pick&#8230;. <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2024\/12\/16\/aoc-fights-on-for-oversight-role-as-race-is-blown-wide-open\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38261"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38262,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38261\/revisions\/38262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}