AOC’s loss in bid for House committee chair signifies generational choice for Democrats

The year of President Biden – and should he stay or go – almost split the Democrats this summer.

In fact, the president’s decision to retire early — and give other candidates, along with Vice President Kamala Harris, a chance to run for the Oval Office — may have saved the election for the party.

The divisions between old and new and the direction of the party threaten to drive a wedge into the Democratic coalition. In fact, the race between Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., serving as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee represented a microcosm of that skirmish.

Connolly, 74, who is recovering from esophageal cancer, defeated 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez recently for a prominent position in the Democratic Caucus. A Democrat on that panel will battle daily with Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. Connolly is also expected to serve as the party’s point guard for looming entanglements with the incoming Trump administration.

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Comer was rooting for Ocasio-Cortez. He knew that her selection would strengthen her positions regarding the direction of the party.

“I hope they put her there because she symbolizes what the Democrats stand for. She’s a socialist. She’s the architect of the Green New Deal in the House,” Comer said.

It was a generational choice for the Democrats.

Youth versus experience.

But what about the future of the party?

Ocasio-Cortez is an icon of the progressive movement. She is one of the strongest stars in Congress – albeit a lightning rod at times.

Does the party want to tout liberal policies like Ocasio-Cortez — who would resonate in the left-leaning, multicultural neighborhoods of Jackson Heights and College Point, New York? Or figure out how to talk to large numbers of swing voters and even moderate Democrats in Omaha, Nebraska, parts of Ohio and the Dakotas?

It wasn’t that long ago that Democrats represented many of these seats. The entire delegation of North and South Dakota – the House of Representatives and the Senate – was composed of Democrats. Former Sens. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., and Bob Kerrey, D-Neb., were political icons in the Cornhusker State. Ohio was a presidential swing state.

Connol is by no means a “conservative” Democrat. He lacks the political appeal of Ocasio-Cortez. That’s neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Connolly is a workhorse. He is a serious legislator with a nimble mind and can hold his own with the best verbally on the committee floor or in the House of Representatives.

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The question is: Have House Democrats stiffed progressives again? Have they turned off youth and strength again?

vaguely.

An Ocasio-Cortez victory would signal that the Democrats have turned left. That was one of the party’s problems in the elections. But when it comes to “youth” and “turning the page” in the party, few are more knowledgeable on the subject than outgoing Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. Certain sections of the Democratic establishment criticized Phillips when he quixoticly challenged President Biden in the party. Now Phillips is retiring from Congress.

“It’s time to elevate the best and the brightest. We’ve literally prevented them from reaching leadership positions, which means they go elsewhere,” Phillips lamented. “And when we lose that kind of talent of ambitious, competent, patriotic young Americans, we’re in trouble.”

Democrats are trying to figure out where they will end up after a brutal election defeat. The road to rebuilding a sustainable coalition is a challenge. Especially after President-elect Trump he figured out a way to grow the GOP base and draw disaffected voters in his direction.

“It’s quite obvious that the Democratic caucus has long valued people who have been here a long time,” Phillips said, criticizing the party’s failure to recruit “young, talented Americans.” He said Democrats “will continue to lose” if they don’t “open up” to younger voters.

For his part, Connolly argued that the old vs. young debate is “a fake story, frankly, put out by the media.”

But even though Connolly won, the party selected several younger lawmakers (and note that “younger” is a relative term when it comes to Congress) to serve as ranking members on several committees.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, DN.Y., who is 77, has stepped down as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee in favor of practically sprightly 62-year-old Rep. Jamie Raskin, MD. Raskin had just recovered from lymphoma.

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Tail. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., 78, has been sidelined for most of the year with cancer. Grijalva was the leading Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee. He stepped down from that role while Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., 60, beat out a congressional newcomer — Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., 45 — to become a member of the panel.

“Only in Congress can I be young at 60,” Huffman joked. “So it’s like the fountain of youth.”

Like Grijalva, the 79-year-old rep. David Scott, D-Ga., has been absent for some time over the past year due to health issues. He is one of the Democrats on the Agriculture Committee. Scott refused to back down. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who is 72, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., 52, challenged Scott as Democrats clashed over age and experience.

“I don’t know if it’s a conflict,” Costa said before the vote. “We have a great group of members in our Democratic caucus. Members who were elected in the last classes. But we certainly have a broad spectrum, tremendous experience and a solid bench.”

The younger Craig defeated both Scott and Costa to take the position in the farming standings.

Once he prevailed, Craig didn’t focus on age. Instead, she dealt with political practicalities.

“Democrats generally don’t connect with rural communities. That’s something we’ve been able to do in my district. I represent a D-plus one district and I just won it by about 14 percentage points,” Craig said.

In other words, her southeast Minnesota district nominally favors Democrats, but the moderate Craig has been whipping her opponent.

“(When) we show up, we listen to people and they know we care about them and their lives,” Craig said. “And I think the Democratic Party needs to do more of that. Show up. Listen. And make sure people know they care.”

While Democrats were picking their committee leaders, yours truly spotted 78-year-old Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, near the Capitol steps.

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Kaptur is an anomaly in Congress, in many ways.

First elected in 1982, Kaptur is the longest-serving woman in Congress history. She is a pro-life Democrat. And despite her seniority — and one could argue her gender — Kaptur has never chaired or served as the leading Democrat on any House committee.

This is largely due to her stance on abortion. But Kaptur’s experience and Ocasio-Cortez’s experience round out this discussion. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., championed Connolly over the New York Democrat. And Kaptur has been claiming for years that the powerful Pelosi blocked her rise as well.

“In the case of the Appropriations Committee, the people who are elected in my party tend to come from the coast,” Kaptur noted, saying it took her a decade to even get a seat on the appropriations list. “I had to beat Nancy Pelosi to do it by about five votes. I started to understand the way this organization called ‘Congress’ works.”

Kaptur says most of the Democratic members on the committees “are all from the coast. They’re not from our region of America.”

Kaptur believes the party needs to focus on “bread and butter issues at home” if they want to win back the voters President-elect Trump won in November.

“The president-elect was right when he talked about the prices when he went to McDonald’s. Many of my constituents work and eat there,” said Kaptur.

She added that Trump’s ride in the garbage truck sealed the deal with working class Americans.

“He skillfully identified with their plight,” Kaptur said.

Kaptur’s characterization is the essential distillation of the entire presidential race. This explains many reasons why Trump won. It highlighted how Democrats are struggling to talk to “working class” Americans and those living in the middle of the country.

The tug-of-war will continue for Democrats as moderates and progressives — plus newcomers and the old guard — give up on the party’s future.

However, it is difficult to argue with Kaptur — both from electoral experience and from politics. She won re-election in a Trump-carried state. That doesn’t mean Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, also won statewide.

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When it came to elected seats on key committees, Democrats ignored lawmakers like Kaptur and shut them out. Ocasio-Cortez lost to Connolly. Raskin, Huffman and Craig are now the top Democrats on several committees. It’s a mix of younger members, but more pragmatism. Does this mean the Democrats got the message? It’s not necessary.

Check back in six months to see if these maneuvers represent a major course correction.