Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said this week that she supports the push for younger Democrats to replace veteran lawmakers at the top of committees — but there is at least one glaring exception to the rule.
In an interview with the National Catholic Reporter, Pelosi suggested seniority should not be paramount when it comes to Democrats choosing committee heads, endorsing the generational change of leadership at the panel level — a modest but much-discussed transition — that’s occurred in the month since voters gave all power in Washington to Republicans.
“I’m supporting the newer members who are running for office,” Pelosi told NCR. “This is with all the respect in the world for the chairmen who had been there and the contribution that they had made over time. But now others have come forward, and I respect the fact that they’re ready to take charge of their committees, and I support that.”
The comments arrive just days after Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), an eight-year veteran, pushed Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who has 34 years of House experience, out of the top Democratic seat on the powerful Judiciary Committee — a surprise takeover that was reportedly encouraged by Pelosi.
Yet in another contest of generational rivals, Pelosi has suggested she’ll support the more senior member. That race pits Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a 16-year House veteran, against Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), first elected in 2018, to replace Raskin as the top Democrat on the Oversight and Accountability Committee. Pelosi recently told Politico that she wants Connolly in that seat.
“I have supported Mr. Connolly for that, should it be open,” she told Politico.
The contrast highlights a trend that’s defined Pelosi’s approach to committee assignments throughout her long tenure on Capitol Hill, and particularly during her 20 years as the top House Democrat. While Pelosi has largely endorsed the primacy of seniority in deciding committee leadership — an idea that helped her win and maintain the backing of the Congressional Black Caucus, whose members have ascended to the top of key committees — she’s also broken sharply from that tradition on high-profile occasions.
In 2008, for instance, Pelosi helped to orchestrate Henry Waxman’s (D-Calif.) remarkable takedown of John Dingell (D-Mich.) as head of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Dingell had been the top Democrat on the powerful panel for decades, but Waxman was the more liberal lawmaker — one better poised to address issues like climate change, in the eyes of liberals like Pelosi.
Pelosi also took the remarkable step in 2014 of endorsing Rep. Anna Eshoo, a fellow California Democrat, in a contest against the more senior Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) for the top Democratic seat on Energy and Commerce. Pallone prevailed, but Pelosi’s active lobbying for Eshoo revealed that seniority was not Pelosi’s chief criterion in her approach to committee heads.
The issue of seniority — and longevity — is a fraught topic in the Democratic Party, where President Biden was pushed out of a reelection bid by party leaders, including Pelosi, who had concerns that he lacked the stamina and mental acuity for another term.
Pelosi herself has been a subject of similar discussions for years, as a younger crop of Democrats had sought — unsuccessfully — to remove her from the top spot among House Democrats. In 2022, after Republicans seized control of the lower chamber, Pelosi stepped down voluntarily, paving the way for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) and his next-generation deputies to take the reins of the Caucus.
