Firebrand Crockett Eyeing Bid for Top Dem on House Oversight Committee

Rising Democrat star Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, is making a bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. 

The panel’s previous top Democrat, the ranking (minority party) member, was Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who passed away on May 21. The election to replace Connolly will be held on June 24. The time frame is a slight extension from the customary 30-day time frame as dictated by caucus rules. The election will be conducted via app by secret ballot among the House Democratic Caucus.

Crockett has created a name for herself through a flair for media attention. In a contentious exchange a year ago in May of 2024, the Texas Democrat got into a shouting match with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., during an Oversight hearing. Greene accused Crockett of having fake eyelashes and suggested they were preventing her from being able to read.

Crockett replied with a snipe about Greene’s “bleach blond, bad-built, butch body.” The committee then devolved into raised voices between Greene, Crockett and others. 

Oversight is historically a very powerful House committee due to its jurisdiction over the federal civil service, the municipal affairs of the nation’s capital, the National Archives, and government management generally. The chairman of the committee is one of only a handful of officers in the House who can subpoena without a general vote of the committee or consultation with the ranking member. 

Crockett took office in January 2023 and currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee as well as Oversight. She was previously a member of the Texas House of Representatives and a public defender. Her profile rose after she represented protesters from the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020. 

The race to replace Connolly includes three other Democrats: Reps. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, and Robert Garcia of California.

Lynch is currently the acting ranking member on the committee and is a House insider, having represented Massachusetts in the House since 2001. Mfume is also a political heavyweight, having reclaimed his old seat in Congress in 2020 following the death of Rep. Elijah Cummings, a fellow Maryland Democrat who was chairman of the Oversight panel when Democrats held the House majority. He previously represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District from 1987 to 1996, leaving office to become president and CEO of the NAACP. 

Garcia, like Crockett, was elected to Congress during the 2022 elections, having previously served as mayor of Long Beach, California, as well as on its City Council. He took the unprecedented step of being sworn into Congress with his hand on a comic book in addition to the U.S. Constitution, a picture of his parents, and his citizenship certificate. 

Whoever wins the race to replace Connolly would have the opportunity to expand his or her public profile if Republicans were to lose control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections, as the Democrats would then have the opportunity to subpoena Trump administration officials for interrogations. Conducting interrogations that would likely be aired on C-SPAN is one way to raise campaign funds and gain national attention.

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