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President Biden’s age, and whether he should stay or go, almost it split the Democrats this summer
In fact, the president’s decision to retire early — and give other candidates, including Vice President Kamala Harris, a chance to run for the Oval Office — may have saved the election for the party.
The divide between old and new and the party leadership threatens to drive a wedge into the Democratic coalition. In fact, the race between Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., serving as the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee represented a microcosm of that skirmish.
Connolly, 74, is recovering from esophageal cancer, he beat the 35-year-old Ocasio-Cortez for the high-profile post in the Democratic Caucus recently. The ranking Democrat on that panel will square off daily with Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky. Connolly is also expected to serve as the party’s top attack dog for tangles with the incoming Trump administration.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., fell short in her bid to become her party’s leader on the House Oversight Committee. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Comer was rooting for Ocasio-Cortez. He knew that selecting her would expand his positions in terms of party leadership.
“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 Democrats.
Youth versus experience.
But what about the future of the party?
Ocasio-Cortez is an icon of the progressive movement. He’s one of the highest-powered stars in Congress, even if he’s a lightning rod at times.
Does the party want to promote liberal poles like Ocasio-Cortez, who would resonate in the multicultural and left-leaning precincts of Jackson Heights and College Point in New York? Or figure out how to talk to diverse constituencies and even moderate Democrats in Omaha, Nebraska, parts of Ohio and the Dakotas?
It wasn’t long ago that Democrats represented many of these seats. All North and South Dakota delegations, the House and the Senate, were made up 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.
Connolly is not a “conservative” Democrat at all. He lacks the political appeal of Ocasio-Cortez. This is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. Connolly is a workhorse. He is a serious legislator with a nimble mind and can spar with the best of them verbally on the committee floor or in the House.
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The question is: Did House Democrats toughen up progressives again? Did they leave out youth and vigor again?
not clear
An Ocasio-Cortez victory would have signaled the Democrats’ turn to the left. This was one of the party’s problems in the election. But when it comes to “young people” and “turning the page” in the party, few are more knowledgeable on the subject than outgoing Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn. Some sections of the Democratic establishment outraged Phillips when he made a quixotic challenge to the party’s president, Biden. Phillips is now retiring from Congress.
“It’s time to elevate the best and the brightest. We’ve literally stopped them from rising to leadership positions, which means they go somewhere else,” Phillips lamented. “And when we lose that kind of talent from ambitious, competent, patriotic young Americans, we’re in trouble.”
Democrats are trying to figure out where they will land after a brutal election loss. The road to rebuilding a viable coalition is challenging. Especially after President-elect Trump he found a way to grow the GOP base and draw disgruntled voters in his direction.
“It’s pretty clear that the Democratic caucus has long valued people who have been here for 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 versus young debate was a “frankly false narrative put forward by the media”.
But even though Connolly won, the party tapped several younger lawmakers (and note that “younger” is a relative term when it comes to Congress) to serve as ranking members on various committees.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, DN.I., who is 77, stepped aside as the Judiciary Committee’s top Democrat in favor of practically energetic 62-year-old Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md. Raskin has just recovered from lymphoma.
Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., 78, was out for much of the year with cancer. Grijalva has served as the Democratic leader on the House Natural Resources Committee. He stepped away from that role, while Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., 60, defeated a congressional newcomer, Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., 45, to serve as member of the ranking. of that panel.
“Only in Congress can I be young at 60,” Huffman joked. “So it’s like the fountain of youth.”
Like Grijalva, Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., 79, has been absent for the past year due to health issues. He is the ranking Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. Scott refused to resign. Rep. Jim Costa, D-Calif., who is 72, and Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., 52, challenged Scott as the Democrats squared off on age and experience.
“I don’t know that it’s a shock,” Costa said before the vote. “We have a fantastic group of members in our Democratic caucus. Members who have been elected in recent classes. But we certainly have spectrum, tremendous experience and a strong bench.”
Young Craig defeated both Scott and Costa to claim the ranking position in Agriculture.
After winning, Craig didn’t focus on age. Instead, he addressed practical political aspects.
“Democrats in general are not connecting with rural communities. That’s something we’ve been able to do in my district. I represent a D-plus one district and I won it by about 14 percentage points,” Craig said.
In other words, his southeast Minnesota district nominally favors Democrats, but the moderate Craig whipped his 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.”
As Democrats settled on their committee leaders, yours truly spotted Rep. Marcy Kaptur, 78, D-Ohio, near a Capitol staircase.
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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 his seniority, and one could argue gender, Kaptur has never chaired or served as the top Democrat on any House committee.
Much of this is due to his position on abortion. But Kaptur’s experience and Ocasio-Cortez’s experience close that debate. ancient House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., championed Connolly over the New York Democrat. And for years, Kaptur says the powerful Pelosi also blocked his ascension.
“In the case of the appropriations committee, the people who get elected in my party tend to come from the coasts,” observed Kaptur, saying it took him a decade to even get a place on the appropriations list. “I had to defeat Nancy Pelosi to do it by about five votes. I started to understand how this organization called ‘Congress’ works.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is among the Democratic old guard who backed Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., to be the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio -Cortez, DN.Y. . (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Kaptur says most of the ranking Democrats on the committees are “all from the coasts. 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 scored in November.
“The president-elect was right when he talked about prices when he went to a McDonald’s. That’s where many of my constituents work and eat,” Kaptur said.
He added that Trump’s ride in a garbage truck sealed the deal with the American working class.
“He identified artistically with his situation,” Kaptur said.
This characterization of Kaptur is the quintessential distillation of the entire presidential race. It explains many of the reasons why Trump won. He emphasized how Democrats struggle to speak 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, along with newcomers and the older guard, grapple with the future of the party.
But it’s hard to argue with Kaptur, both because of electoral experience and politics. He won re-election in a state carried by Trump. That’s to say nothing of Sen.-elect Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who also won statewide.
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When it comes to up-and-coming spots on key committees, Democrats have ignored lawmakers like Kaptur and left 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 that mean the Democrats got the message? Not necessarily.
Check back in six months to see if these maneuvers represent a major course correction.
