Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, known for her clashes with House Democratic leadership, is now aiming to join their ranks. On Friday, she announced her candidacy for the prominent position of top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, challenging a more senior colleague for the role.
If successful, Ocasio-Cortez, 35, would become the youngest Democrat to serve as a ranking member on a House committee. The position would provide her with a powerful platform to scrutinize the administration of President-elect Donald J. Trump and play a key role in shaping her party’s strategy for recovering from electoral losses.
“Democrats will face an important task: 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,” Ms. Ocasio-Cortez 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.”
Rep. Ocasio-Cortez must face off against Representative Gerald E. Connolly, a 74-year-old, widely respected eight-term incumbent from Virginia, who has positioned himself as a seasoned and experienced investigator.
The contest will serve as a key test of how much Ocasio-Cortez, one of the Democratic Party’s brightest stars, has integrated into the party’s mainstream since her arrival in Congress six years ago as a left-wing insurgent.
There’s little doubt that Ocasio-Cortez, once known for joining a sit-in protest in the Speaker’s office before being sworn in, has become more adept at navigating her party’s power structures. She earned a prime-time speaking role at the Democratic National Convention and was a high-profile surrogate for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, occasionally diverging from her fellow progressives.
The question now is whether her colleagues are prepared to reciprocate, elevating a sometimes confrontational member of the left-wing “Squad” to a prominent position as one of Donald Trump’s most visible Democratic critics.
“When you have a secret ballot vote, there are a lot of mixed motives,” said Henry A. Waxman, a retired California congressman known for his own leadership of the Oversight Committee told The New York Times.
He continued: “She is so much in the minds of American voters as an example of the left wing of the Democratic Party. Members of the caucus have to decide if it helps or hurts the party’s future if she becomes leader of that committee, especially since she would have absolute control over what agenda she wants to pursue.”
