Democrats Are Overdue for New Leadership

As Democrats begin the long process of extricating themselves from the 2024 election debacle, the list of prescriptions for reinventing the party’s core governing agenda and messaging complex grows longer and longer. But there is one near-term pressure point in this battle that is showing encouraging signs of change. compete for a leadership position within the pending 119th Congress.

Congressional power struggles are not like major ideological showdowns, especially when parties continue to operate in the minority. But as the next House of Representatives session prepares to take office next month, some important generational and political changes are already underway. Rep. Jamie Raskin, 61, of Maryland, replaced Jerry Nadler, 77, as ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee. And after Raskin stepped down as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, a key new leadership position was created. There is a seniority system to become a ranking member. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 35, is hoping to fill Raskin’s oversight committee spot by challenging Jerry Connelly, 74, a nine-term Virginia congressman who is battling esophageal cancer. Other House committees, such as Agriculture and Natural Resources, are also poised to have younger members occupying higher ranks than leaders who traditionally claim seniority.

This primitive youth movement is not a jab at wresting control of the party from elder statesman types, but it is a useful act that recognizes the need to reinvent the party in fundamental ways. The House Republican Conference imposes term limits on committee leaders. They served for three terms, and the party’s Steering and Policy Committee decided to exempt them from a fourth term. While it is true that this system has created great instability in the Republican effort in Congress, the presence of hardline opposition groups like the Freedom Caucus has made the party’s broader leadership challenge more ideological than structural. Although it may seem like something like exercise a de facto veto On the agenda of the Republican Congress.

In contrast, Democrats have been strictly devoted to seniority as the main pillar of power, both in the House and Senate, and across all branches of government. Nancy Pelosi, the longtime House Democratic leader, withstood challenges to her term in the Trump administration’s first term, while Democrats faced Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and President Joe Biden. However, during his time in office, he has seen people cling to power far beyond optimal effectiveness, with dire consequences. Against this backdrop, the current turmoil in the parliamentary leadership is a welcome departure for the party, which has steadily become more rigid toward geriatric politics.

“Democrats have almost the highest numbers of any House minority party,” said Matthew Green, a Catholic University political science professor and former Democratic Congressional staffer. “They have the ability, if they act as a team, to make things very difficult for Donald Trump and his policies. But it’s not just about the numbers. It’s about who the leadership is. , what they represent, how they appear to voters, and the strategies and tactics they employ.”

In this respect, Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez are particularly harbingers of change. Mr. Raskin used his supervisory position to lead the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The committee also includes Trump as a member. threatened with criminal prosecution. Ocasio-Cortez is already being speculated as a possible 2028 presidential candidate. It’s also worth remembering that her surprise victory in the 2018 primary represented a different kind of blow to the Democratic Party’s seniority system. Defeated incumbent New York State Representative Joseph CrowleyPelosi was grooming him as her eventual successor in the party leadership.

There is another broader political lesson in the expected leadership change that is worth noting. The modern Republican Party was similarly spinning its wheels thanks to its long-term minority status on the Hill until a new House leader named Newt Gingrich put it back in place in the early 1990s. . Gingrich used his position on the House Ethics Committee to target then-Democratic Chairman Jim Wright on charges related to bookselling and real estate deals. After the accusations prompted Wright’s resignation, Gingrich was promoted to minority whip. His partisan campaign to oust Wright became the model for the 1994 “Contract with America,” which propelled the party to its second majority for the first time in more than half a century. While Gingrich’s ideological takeover also served as a template for subsequent Tea Party and right-wing MAGA revolts, in sharp contrast to the Democratic opposition, the party’s leadership is often left behind at the moment it becomes ideologically unpopular. It endorsed a model of parliamentary governance that cuts out leaders.

Greene, author of a study of Mr. Gingrich’s career as a party power broker, said the former speaker’s rise occurred in a political environment isolated from today’s deeply partisan Congress. “When Mr. Gingrich was first in Congress in the ’70s and ’80s, it was more partisan, but it was still very bipartisan,” he says. “There was an ethos during the campaign not to attack colleagues, not to give floor speeches as a way to get attention. I explained that this was an effort to change from the idea of ​​”everyone working together on spending to get things done,” and I think that’s accurate. After all, we are in the minority. ”Yes, I want to win, but what should I do? Gingrich’s answer was “No, we are.” opposition. We fight for committee members and we fight for everything. ”

Raskin and Ocasio-Cortez are unlikely to function as bomb-throwing power arbiters like Gingrich, but that’s a good thing. Gingrich’s tumultuous Republican revolution soon collided with bitter internal divisions within the Republican conference itself and with Gingrich’s own ethical failings. Within four years, he was also forced to resign as chairman. However, they can still be effective and innovative prophets of party renewal, even in the realm of media appeals. Green notes that the pair’s posts received widespread attention on social media. instagram live video It mocked then-Republican leader Kevin McCarthy’s eight-hour speech to Congress to block passage of climate change legislation. “This highlights how familiar and comfortable these new ranking members and future chairmen are with messaging in new media,” Green says. “It may seem superficial and partisan, but it is strategic in terms of reaching new audiences.”

Of course, new message-savvy Congressional leadership, like the party’s self-congratulatory consultant class, won’t immediately solve Democrats’ long-running electoral woes. But a more nimble and proactive group of House leaders could provide greater focus on a cohesive agenda for the next Congress, at least ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. And a strong Democratic majority in the 119th Congress is a necessary first step on the path to political renewal. Relevance. One can only hope that the broader pro-movement logic behind this initial committee operation extends to next month’s vote for a new Democratic National Committee chairman. This is another key pressure point in the Democratic Party’s efforts to rebuild the party from the ground up.