Traditionally, the House Democrats have used a rigid seniority system to determine who will lead congressional committees. There are two main advantages to this practice and one additional side effect that has a benefit. The first and primary advantage is that it ensures picking committee leadership isn’t a popularity contest or just a matter of who can raise the most money. To become the chair or ranking member of a committee, a House Democrat must put in a lot of time on that committee and gain experience so that they are well prepared. The second advantage is that the rules are clear and well understood. This avoids a lot of conflict and hurt feelings. And a side effect of this system is that it works to the advantage of minority members who tend to serve in safe seats and thereby have an opportunity to gain seniority.
The Republicans use a different process which has shifted over time. I don’t have a copy of their current rules, but in general seniority is only one factor among many. They also limit how many terms someone can serve as the leader of a committee. I think right now the limit is six years, or three terms in office. This avoids staleness, as the committee leadership is constantly churning. It also makes it a bit easier to control members, as they can be easily denied a leadership role if they step out of line. But it comes at a cost of experience and knowledge, and it causes a lot of internal dissension. The main minority group among House Republicans is women, and they have been shut out of top committee positions in the next Congress.
The Democrats’ way has two big and related downsides. The first is that they frequently discover that the most senior member of a committee is no longer physically or mentally up to the job. This is bound to happen to every member eventually, and when it becomes necessary to force someone out of a leadership position for lack of competence, it can be a painful and divisive process. The second downside is that a strict seniority system ensures that younger generations of Democrats are mostly stuck as backbenchers, having little influence over the crafting of legislation. The lack of flexibility in the system can also be a weakness.
The best way to illustrate this weakness is with the the first impeachment of Donald Trump. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jerry Nadler of New York, was seen as so ineffective from a communications standpoint that Nancy Pelosi put the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Adam Schiff of California, in charge of the inquiry. Unsurprisingly, Nadler just lost his bid to remain the ranking member of Judiciary in favor of Jamie Raskin of Maryland. Schiff, who was just elected to the U.S. Senate, and Raskin are very strong communicators, and a party wants to put its best messengers in positions to utilize their talents.
Among the younger generations of Democrats, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez stands out as a strong messenger, and it makes sense to put her in a role where her talents can benefit the party as a whole. One of the most prominent committee roles for a party in the minority is as leader of the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. It’s a position formerly held by Raskin. If the Democrats were in the majority in the House, this committee would spend its time harassing the administration and highlighting their incompetence and malfeasance. Since the Democrats are in the minority and cannot control the committee’s agenda, these opportunities will be muted, but could become to the fore after the midterms if the Democrats gain control of the lower chamber. Knowing this, Ocasio-Cortez sought to leapfrog the seniority system and become the ranking member of Oversight, and many Democrats saw an advantage in supporting her bid.
While Pelosi is no longer the leader of the Democrats in the House, she is extremely influential and she successfully argued that leadership of Oversight should remain with the person in the most senior position, Gerry Connolly of Northern Virginia. I suppose you can find things to complain about with any member of Congress, but progressives have no particular reason to be unhappy with Connolly. He’s a strong advocate of the federal workforce, many of whom live in his district. This was a factor in the final vote of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which reportedly went 34 votes for Connolly and 27 for Ocasio-Cortez.
But things aren’t so simple. Connolly was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer and, as mistermix at Balloon Juice notes, “the 5 year survival rate for esophageal cancer is 22% (all stages combined). ”
This raises doubt about how well Connolly will be able to fill his messaging role over the next two or four years. Of course, it also makes it more difficult from a human compassion point of view to effectively kick him while he’s down by denying him a position he’s earned through the seniority system.
As for innate talent, Connolly isn’t a bad messenger, but he’s also not a standout. He’s certainly not a star like AOC who boasts an enormous social media following through multiple platforms.
And, in fairness, the Democrats have started to recognize their generational problem. It began when the leadership team of Pelosi, Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn, all octogenarians, was replaced in the last Congress by Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark and Pete Aguilar. It has continued in the battle for ranking member positions in the next Congress, where AOC lost, but Angie Craig and Jared Huffman beat out more senior members for the top positions on Agriculture and National Resources, respectively.
For supporters of AOC, this weakening of the seniority system may make her defeat all the more bitter. But signs of greater flexibility are positive. Rather than having a temper tantrum about the result, I’d rather focus on the overall youth movement and the likelihood that Ocasio-Cortez will be in good position to lead Oversight if and when the Democrats retake the House and the chairman will have actual power to direct the committee.
I wish Connolly good health. He’s a good dude and health permitting he is capable of doing a better than adequate job. But if the day comes when he can’t perform his duties anymore, AOC will be waiting in the wings.