Will Jealous, Conservative Establishment Dems Stab AOC In The Back Again?
- Howie Klein
- 2 hours ago
- 6 min read
The Top Job On The Oversight Committee Is Opening Up Again
Massachusetts has 9 Members of the House. Trump lost all 9 districts. Stephen Lynch’s district— MA-08, which includes part of Boston as well as Quincy, Brockton, Weymouth, Braintree, Norwood, Walpole, Hingham, Dedham, Stroughton, Easton and a dozen smaller towns— gave Trump 35.7%, his 3rd worst performance in the state. But Lynch is far from the 3rd best Member from Massachusetts. In fact, he’s the worst— bottom of the barrel. Here’s are the Massachusetts delegation’s legislative Progressive Punch scores. (It doesn’t take into account, non-voting parameters, like members who take money and support AIPAC, the crypto cartel and Wall Street, for example.)
Ayanna Pressley- 97.11 (A)
Jim McGovern- 97.04 (A)
Katherine Clark- 96.80 (A)
Lori Trahan- 95.39 (A)
Jake Auchincloss- 93.16 (A)
Richard Neal- 86.44 (C)
Bill Keating- 84.10 (C)
Seth Moulton- 82.79 (D)
Stephen Lynch- 79.66 (F)
Why bring up the 70 year old Lynch? He put his name forward to replace Gerry Connolly as top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, the position AOC was slated for until a certain vindictive witch from San Francisco stepped in and demanded her cronies back a sick and incapable Connolly, who has now announced he isn’t running for reelection because of health concerns. (Pelosi ought to do the same.) Anyway, the conservative Lynch wants the job. Yesterday, Mica Soellner and John Bresnahan reported that progressives are not happy about that.
“We really need street fighters right now,” said Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA), who serves on the panel. Simon cited Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), currently Oversight vice ranking member, as top contenders to succeed Connolly.
The Oversight panel is stacked with younger liberals, many of whom openly criticize longstanding caucus norms around seniority. The House Democratic Caucus mood overall has started to shift on this issue, as evidenced by messy committee battles following last year’s disappointing election results for the party.
…Ocasio-Cortez lost to Connolly in a head-to-head match in December. She now serves on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. But several senior Democratic lawmakers and aides told us they think AOC could still run for the Oversight post due to precedent set late last year.
“I’m hoping that Alexandria will run,” said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL), who serves on Oversight. “She’s the best person to run the committee.” Ocasio-Cortez’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
AOC isn’t the only Democrat who could challenge Lynch for the job. Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Robert Garcia (D-CA), Frost and Crockett have been floated as alternative options to lead the often combative committee.
Crockett has started making calls to members about her bid and spoke to Lynch privately about interim leadership.
“[Lynch] can’t run if there’s no vacancy,” Crockett said. “But if and when a vacancy occurs so long as the president is still Donald Trump and I’m still on Oversight, I have every intention of going forward.”
But is the committee chair the best thing for AOC at this time? I think so but yesterday Politico reporters Nicholas Wu and Holly Otterbein wondered. “Democratic voters,’ they wrote, “are yearning for younger and more assertive leadership. Many see exactly what they are looking for in Ocasio-Cortez, 35, who has traveled the country in recent months, packing rally after rally with Bernie and fueling speculation about a potential White House run. In other words, the stage afforded as ranking member of the House Oversight Committee is suddenly looking a whole lot smaller, and Ocasio-Cortez is remaining publicly and privately noncommittal as speculation swirls about Connolly’s successor.”
I disagree and think it would be a great stage for her to show the American people her chops. But Wu and Otterbein insist that “Even colleagues who enthusiastically backed her Oversight bid last year have been left guessing about her final decision. ‘The group of us who were her whip team have asked for her plans, and she’s still sorting out what she wants to do,’ said Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT). ‘I think, to the person, we’ve all said, Just let us know what you want to do, and we’ll work on your behalf.’” That’s a common sentiment inside the House Democratic Caucus, where many members see her as the perfect fit for the Oversight job— a skill requiring media savvy, quick thinking and a political killer instinct.”
But others off Capitol Hill think she’s better off seeking a bigger stage and continuing to build a national platform to reshape the future of the Democratic Party. Instead of chasing a mid-level House job, some suggest she’s better off preparing a run for Senate or even the presidency in 2028.
“I think the work being done in Oversight by the minority party is way less important than the work being done in communities and across America painting a different path, a different vision for the Democratic Party,” said Corbin Trent, a former Ocasio-Cortez aide.
“I think we really are in the midst of defining what the next political era could be and defining what the Democratic Party should be,” added an ally of Ocasio-Cortez granted anonymity to speak candidly. “And I think she has a much bigger role to play in that conversation than she does in the kind of nitty-gritty of gaining power within the House.”
There are signs that the congresswoman is torn herself. Even after losing to Connolly, she has continued to position herself as a team player after being seen for years as the leader of the Squad— the hard-left cadre that was often defined in opposition to the elected Democratic leadership in the House. She has paid her dues to the party campaign arm and worked to calm previous jitters about her support for primary challenges to Democratic incumbents.
She has garnered praise from fellow House Democrats for staying on message at her rallies with Sanders, and some said that Ocasio-Cortez, one of the party’s top communicators, could help them meet the base’s demand for more vigorous, visible opposition to Trump in a prime leadership role.
There’s also nothing preventing her from seeking the Oversight post and then seeking higher office down the road. If Democrats retake the House majority next year, Ocasio-Cortez would be in line to wield broad subpoena power and lead the charge in investigating the Trump administration. It could be a huge platform for an ambitious Democrat, albeit one with huge responsibilities.
Plenty of her colleagues are hoping she will take on the challenge, and they believe she would be the immediate frontrunner if she does.
“Folks are asking us to use every tool that we can to hold this administration accountable,” said Rep. Emily Randall (D-WA), an Oversight member who said she’d support Ocasio-Cortez if she ran.
“I think my constituents and the American people want us to show the fight against the harm being done, and Alex has been one of the strongest voices on that,” seconded Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY). “When you’re in an existential fight, and you’re on a team, you want to have your best players in all the key roles.”
A House Democratic aide, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said that the caucus had made a “mistake” in electing Connolly to lead the panel last year and now had “an opportunity to right that wrong and put in one of the most powerful voices in a high-profile position.”
Ocasio-Cortez said in an interview Monday that “right now there’s no vacancy” and that she wanted to be respectful of Connolly, who has not yet formally stepped down from the panel.
While she might be the prohibitive favorite if she runs, there are obstacles. For one, she would need to rejoin the panel after securing a junior post on the more coveted Energy and Commerce Committee, which would force senior leaders to waive some caucus rules and potentially do some reshuffling. Most Democrats believe that would be a formality if she ultimately decides to run.
…Lynch has twice sought Democrats’ top Oversight slot and, dogged by his past positioning as a [conservative], fallen well short. He opposed the Affordable Care Act, though he’s since embraced the legislation, and he opposed gay marriage as a state legislator, though he’s since become supportive of LBBTQ+ rights.
So clearly, not a leader on issues that differentiate Democrats from Republicans— and with no ability whatsoever to communicate anything to the public the way AOC can. Why bring up the elderly Lynch? He’s trying to fail upward. Again— the most conservative Democrat in the Massachusetts delegation wants a leadership role on a committee meant to hold government accountable. This is the same Lynch who’s sided with Republicans on reproductive rights, financial deregulation, gay rights, and national security, while consistently aligning himself with corporate interests and pro-genocide lobby groups like AIPAC. Giving him the gavel would be like handing the keys to the liquor cabinet to the town drunk— only this one is backed by Netanyahu. If Democratic leadership is serious about rebuilding trust, energizing the base, and fighting for working people, then elevating Stephen Lynch is the exact opposite of what they should be doing.