Key party committee recommends Raskin to be top Democrat on Oversight panel

A key Democratic committee voted Wednesday to recommend Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) be the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee in the next Congress, lending a boost to the six-year veteran heading into a deciding vote of the full caucus next week. 

Raskin, a high-profile member of the House Jan. 6 select committee, is squaring off against two other members of the Oversight and Reform Committee — Reps. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) and Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) — to become the panel’s ranking member in the 118th Congress. 

The committee’s current chair, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), lost her primary contest this cycle to Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) — a race prompted by New York’s chaotic redistricting process earlier in the year.

Wednesday’s vote to recommend Raskin was conducted behind closed doors in the Capitol by the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, an influential panel that helps to guide the party’s committee assignments. 

Lynch, a 22-year veteran, and Connolly, in his 14th year, are more senior to Raskin both within the Congress and on the Oversight and Reform Committee. But Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, has quickly built a national profile in his short time on Capitol Hill, leading the House’s second impeachment of former President Trump after last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol and playing a high-profile role as a member of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 rampage. 

The Steering panel’s recommendation is not the final word. The full House Democratic Caucus will vote next week to choose between the three candidates. But the Steering panel is essentially hand-picked by Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), the New York Democrat who will replace Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) at the top of the party next year. And the panel’s counsel holds outsized sway in the process of choosing committee heads to work with party leaders. 

The Oversight panel, with subpoena powers and a broad mandate to probe federal affairs, is among the most sought after panels in Congress. And with Republicans set to take control of the House next year, the position of ranking member will assume even greater importance, acting as a line of defense for President Biden against the majority Republicans, likely led by Rep. James Comer (Ky.), who are vowing aggressive investigations into the administration. 

Comer is already forecasting his top priorities, which include investigations into the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the origins of the coronavirus and the international business dealings of Biden’s son Hunter Biden.