Rep. Gerry Connolly reportedly beat out Rep. AOC to clinch the lead function for Democrats at the Space Oversight Committee.Tom Williams/CQ Roll Name/ZUMA
The after rating member of the Space Oversight Committee will reportedly be nine-term Democrat Gerry Connolly of Virginia.
Connolly, 74, beat out his competitor, 35-year-old Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), 131-84 at a closed-door assembly on Tuesday, the Related Press reports. The flow Oversight rating member, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), is vacating the submit to switch Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) as rating member of the Space Judiciary Committee, as my workman Pema Levy reported closing occasion. The Oversight Committee—which is now managed by way of Republicans and chaired by way of Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.)—played a key function in conserving President-elect Donald Trump and participants of his management responsible during his first promise.
The scoop comes as Democrats had been grappling with the way to advance ahead within the face in their losses of each the White Space and the Senate closing occasion, and their failure to recapture the Space. Date some pundits, and Democrats themselves, have known as for a generational alternate in management—and a few more youthful Democrats have certainly controlled to oust their elders from committee management roles—that didn’t appear to have been enough quantity of a priority to propel AOC to victory right here. Lawmakers told Axios that occasion Connolly—who revealed closing occasion he used to be not too long ago recognized with esophagus most cancers—campaigned on his revel in, AOC emphasised her far-reaching platform and her function as an efficient communicator for the celebration.
“Tried my best,” AOC wrote in a submit on Bluesky then the vote. “Sorry I couldn’t pull it through everyone—we live to fight another day.”
“I think my colleagues were measuring their votes by who’s got experience, who is seasoned, who can be trusted, who’s capable and who’s got a record of productivity and I think that prevailed,” Connolly reportedly instructed newshounds then the vote.
Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) instructed Axios she used to be “disappointed” by way of the end result, including, “I know Gerry will do a great job. But there’s no substitute for having someone in that position that literally has millions of Americans following her [on social media].” (AOC has 12.8 million followers on X and eight.1 million on Instagram; Connolly has simply over 87,000 fans on each platforms mixed.)
“I think that the seniority issue in this building gets in the way,” Balint added. “Our people back home, they don’t care about seniority.”