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House Agriculture ranking member David Scott (D-Ga.) could become the latest House Democrat to lose a committee leadership post in the wake of the 2024 election.
Facing dual challenges to his leadership from Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) in the 119th Congress, he could become the first Democratic leader in the chamber to lose a challenge if his bid to retain leadership fails . Judiciary Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (DN.Y.) and Natural Resources Ranking Member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) resigned from their positions this month.
His potential loss could also cause conflict with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which counts Scott as a member and has historically supported seniority as a leadership determinant, although its members have recently indicated they may be open to rivals.
Both challengers to Scott, who has led the committee’s Democrats since 2021, are considered moderates within the caucus but have disparate levels of experience. Costa, first elected in 2004, is the second-oldest Democrat, while Craig, elected in 2018, is the third-least senior.
Scott has been sidelined by health issues, missing two weeks of voting in November due to treatment for a back injury, a similar situation to Grijalva, who underwent cancer treatment in beginning of the year But while Grijalva finally decided to back down earlier this month and supported Rep. Melanie Stansbury (DN.M.) to take the position as the ranking member of the Natural Resources Committee after she committed initially seeking another term, Scott has vowed to continue competing to keep it. his position, saying last week that “it’s in God’s hands.”
Age is a notable elephant in the room amid the challenges: Scott, Nadler and Grijalva are all over 75, and the leadership shuffle comes after an election season marked by panic over the fitness of President Biden, President oldest in U.S. history, which ultimately led him to abandon his re-election bid in July.
The party’s broader balance sheet on its election losses and how it can move forward is also approaching the shakeup.
Craig, in a Nov. 25 letter to colleagues announcing his candidacy for the ranking member of the House of Agriculture, said the election results indicate that “we have real work to do as Democrats to show the American people that our policies are the ones that make a difference, especially for rural communities.”
Costa announced his own bid in similar terms, writing on Nov. 21: “As someone who has represented a rural, agriculture-focused district through a coalition of bipartisan support, I understand how to represent rural Americans. The Committee of Agriculture can and should be better used as a link to rural America and to showcase what our Caucus stands for.”
Scott’s district, Georgia’s 13th, is in the Atlanta metro area and is 93 percent urban, according tothe US Census Bureau.
The CBC has long supported seniority as a primary factor in leadership because of the historical difficulty of black members reaching office. The caucus, which will have a record 62 members in the next Congress, will wield considerable influence in determining leadership.
However, at a press conference last week, CBC leaders suggested that seniority should not be treated as the deciding factor.
“While we have and will continue to advocate for seniority, we will also make sure that we have the best person serving,” said Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), the CBC’s incoming first vice president. He explained that while “seniority is an important part of the program … seniority without competence or skill is a challenge. We will give deference to seniority, but we want the best person to serve, so sometimes it may not necessarily be in that order.”
Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Ill.), a member of both the CBC and the Agriculture Committee, expressed similar sentiments, telling The Hill on Wednesday that he intended to back Scott for another term as ranking member. but he had no objection to the leadership challenge. .
“I favor healthy debates. I’m glad people are coming out and exercising their leadership,” Jackson said. “We’re on the same team, we’re going in the same direction. I don’t see a big difference between the candidates.”
Jackson is one of eight CBC members on the committee, including Scott.
Whoever is selected as the committee’s top Democrat is likely to be at the helm during negotiations on a new farm bill after Congress extended the 2018 Trump-era bill for another year in 2023 and is will almost certainly do the same until 2025. Republicans, who passed their own proposal for a new long-term version of the bill out of committee earlier this year, reject a proposal by Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) in late November.
Democrats and Republicans have long been deadlocked over benchmark prices, or subsidies paid to farmers when crop prices fall below a certain threshold, as well as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. But the Republican trifecta going into 2025 will likely pave the way for a new farm bill more favorable to GOP preferences.
