Raskin beats Connolly in race to be top Democrat on House Oversight
Rep. Gerry Connolly (L) and Jamie Raskin at a 2017 protest of Trump administration immigration actions at Dulles Airport in Virginia in 2017. Bill Clark / Getty Images
The Maryland Democrat has built a national profile from his work on impeachment and the Jan. 6 committee.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) won the vote to serve as the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
Raskin beat Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), currently chairman of the Government Operations subcommittee, for the slot. Connolly is well known inside the Beltway for his work on federal workforce, government technology and contracting issues, but Raskin has built a national profile over the last few years in his work as a manager on the second Trump impeachment and as a leading light on the Jan. 6 Committee formed to probe the insurrection at the Capitol in early 2021.
The Dec. 22 vote of the Democratic caucus was 133-75, a Capitol Hill source confirmed to FCW.
Raskin won the endorsement of the powerful House Steering Committee for the post, despite being less senior than Connolly in terms of service time in the House. Raskin also won that endorsement over Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) who was reelected to serve his 12th term in Congress in 2022. Lynch dropped out of the race, leaving the field to Raskin and Connolly.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), who lost her bid for reelection in 2022 after redistricting forced her to compete against Rep. Jerrold Nadler in a primary, praised the election of Raskin.
"As a proven leader of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, I am confident that Rep. Raskin is the leader the American people need to defend our democracy and champion an effective government at this critical moment in our nation’s history."
The Oversight Committee will be chaired by Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) when the House shifts to Republican control in January. Comer has pledged to use his gavel to investigate what he calls "the Biden family's influence peddling and shady business schemes," as well as the origins of COVID-19, the use of U.S. funds to support "dangerous research in Wuhan [China]," the withdrawal from Afghanistan, pandemic relief management, energy prices and more.
"It looks like we may move into a Benghazi-era again," Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) told Vanity Fair earlier this month.