Representative Robert Garcia of California told his colleagues on Thursday that he was running to become the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, intensifying a generational battle over a critical post at a time when younger members are agitating for more power.
Mr. Garcia, 47, is not the only young lawmaker seeking the position, a prominent role that has been vacant since Representative Gerald E. Connolly of Virginia died last week at the age of 75. Mr. Connolly stepped back from it last month as his cancer progressed.
Representative Jasmine Crockett of Texas, 44, who is the No. 2 Democrat on the committee, said on MSNBC earlier this week that she planned to seek the top post.
She and Mr. Garcia will vie for the job against two more senior members: Representatives Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, 70, who had assumed Mr. Connolly’s duties since he stepped aside; and Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, 76, who told colleagues in text messages in May that he wanted the position.
Democrats plan to hold an internal election for the position on June 24. The contest is unfolding as the party reappraises its identity following painful electoral losses in November, including whether it is time for its older members to relinquish power to a younger generation.
A book released this month has revived conversations over whether Democrats were too quick to shut down skepticism about former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s age and mental acuity as he ran for re-election. David Hogg, 25, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, faced an internal firestorm after he announced he’d support an effort to oust older incumbents in favor of younger progressives.
The ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee is one of the party’s most visible opponents to Republicans and the Trump administration. The position has seen remarkable turnover; Mr. Connolly was the fourth person to hold it in six years, none of them younger than 60 years old. That is in keeping with Democrats’ traditional approach to awarding powerful posts in Congress, where such decisions for decades were made almost entirely by seniority.
Mr. Connolly’s selection for the job last year appeared to be a rebuke to younger progressives who had argued the party needed fresh voices to lead their ranks on the panel during the second Trump administration. The Virginia Democrat, who was elected to the House in 2008, defeated Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, the millennial media phenom who is one of the most visible and popular members of her party.
Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, subsequently left the Oversight Committee and said earlier this month that she would not pursue the post again, in part because of Democrats’ emphasis on seniority.
In the letter that Mr. Garcia sent to members formally announcing his bid, the second-term lawmaker tried to position himself as a bridge between more experienced members and the younger generation.
Focusing on his time as mayor of Long Beach, Calif., he said that he “showed that government can be both progressive and effective,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The New York Times.
Mr. Mfume, in text messages he sent to colleagues in May that were viewed by The Times, highlighted his “15 years of service in the House” — experience that he said would help “aggressively push back against Trump’s daily encroachment on congressional powers.”
Michael Gold covers Congress for The Times, with a focus on immigration policy and congressional oversight.
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