Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Friday introduced she is working to be the rating Democrat on the Home Oversight Committee, a spot that may give her a extra highly effective and visual position as President-elect Donald Trump returns to energy.
Ocasio-Cortez, a fourth-term Bronx/Queens lawmaker, advised fellow Democrats that they have to push again in opposition to Republicans but in addition supply working-class voters a imaginative and prescient of a greater path ahead.
“We must balance our focus on the incoming president’s corrosive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for America’s working class,” she wrote in a letter to colleagues. “I will lead by example by always keeping the lives of everyday Americans at the center of our work.”
Ocasio-Cortez, 35, recognized to most as a fiery progressive, is vying for the highest Democratic spot left vacant by Rep. Jamie Raskin’s swap to the Judiciary Committee, the place he efficiently elbowed apart veteran Manhattan liberal Rep. Jerrold Nadler.
Her predominant opponent is anticipated to be Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Virginia), 74, who is taken into account a extra mainstream, old-line Democratic determine.
Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Photos)
The panel, which performs a key position in investigations of the manager department, might be led by chairman Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), who relished his position spearheading latest probes of presidential son Hunter Biden, the supposed “weaponization” of the justice system in opposition to conservatives and the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Democratic leaders together with Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries usually are not taking sides within the struggle for the oversight position or different committee fights as youthful and extra dynamic lawmakers push for extra seen roles.
As soon as a pacesetter of the far left wing of the celebration, Ocasio-Cortez has labored exhausting to construct a popularity for political flexibility and as a sensible and hard-working legislator.
She makes little secret of her purpose to finally run for increased workplace. The oversight position would give her a main perch to indicate off her chops to extra People throughout the state and nationwide.
Home Democrats did surprisingly effectively within the 2024 elections, choosing up one seat to chop the Republican edge to only 220-215.
Historical past says the celebration has a great opportunity to win again management of the chamber within the 2026 midterms, a win that might catapult Ocasio-Cortez into an much more distinguished position as oversight chair.
