Oversight Chair Maloney Loses Primary

Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chairwoman of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform, lost her primary bid in a race to represent a redrawn congressional district that pitted two longtime incumbents against each other.

Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Judiciary panel in the House, won the race with 55% of the vote in New York's 12th congressional district. Maloney polled just under 25% of the vote.

The unusual August primary was held because the New York Supreme Court overturned a redistricting map that was designed by state lawmakers to increase the number of Democratic representatives in the already heavily blue delegation.

Maloney's defeat sets up a race to see who will be the top Democrat on the Oversight committee in the next Congress. Most polls expect control of the House to switch to Republicans, although the prospects of a wave election are fading in the wake of the Supreme Court decision to allow states to ban abortion in the Dobbs case that was decided earlier this summer.

Senior members of the panel include Reps. Eleanor Norton (D-D.C.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). 

Of this group, Connolly is by far the most active on government technology and management issues, and he has been a longtime leader of the Government Operations subcommittee. He announced his intention to seek the post in a press release on Wednesday morning.

Raskin has a national profile, thanks to his participation in the Jan. 6 committee and as a manager in the second Trump impeachment. Norton is the most senior member, but may face hurdles as a non-voting member representing the District of Columbia. Another senior member of the committee, Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.), is not seeking reelection.

The committee also includes some of the younger, more progressive members of the Democratic caucus, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.)