Robert Garcia is a young Democrat with an old-style approach to moving up the House ladder

Politico

5 hours ago

Rep. Robert Garcia wants to usher in a new era for Democrats on the House Oversight Committee. But don't ask the 47-year-old Californian if he's seeking 'generational change.'
Garcia has instead fashioned his candidacy for his party's top leadership post on the panel around his experience as a big-city mayor and contributions on the Oversight panel, sidestepping the age and seniority questions that have roiled the Democratic Party.
That careful approach — calibrated to appeal widely inside a House Democratic Caucus whose members are both eager to promote fresh faces and wary of sticking fingers in the eyes of party elders — has allowed Garcia, only in his second term, to emerge as the prohibitive favorite in the closely watched internal contest to replace the late Rep. Gerry Connolly.
Garcia has emerged as a middle-ground choice ahead of next week's caucus election for Oversight ranking member that is putting two older lawmakers — Reps. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, 70, and Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, 76 — against two younger Democrats: Garcia and 44-year-old Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas.
His careful pitch was on display in a recent interview, when he sought to thread a needle between a Democratic base demanding an aggressive confrontation with President Donald Trump and the more delicate sensibilities of fellow House Democrats, whose votes he is courting.
'The seniority system in Congress is not going to go away,' Garcia said, playing down the notion that the race is a proxy battle in a larger war over the future of the Democratic Party. 'There's an opportunity here to expand who's at that table, and I bring a different kind of experience. I may not have the most time served in Congress, but I certainly would put my experience up against anybody's.'
His approach was no doubt informed by the last election for Democratic leadership of the Oversight panel, where Connolly was elected at age 74 last year over 35-year-old progressive stalwart Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. Connolly's sudden illness and death from esophageal cancer in May only served to rekindle the quiet but urgent conversation about whether Democrats need to promote younger leaders.
Crockett has been more outspoken in presenting herself as the face of that younger, more confrontational generation. She's built a reputation as a partisan brawler in viral committee-room exchanges and cable-TV appearances. She has raised eyebrows inside the caucus, for instance, by openly discussing pursuing a Trump impeachment should Democrats retake the majority next year.
'For me, it starts with: How do we motivate the base? I think that I am the singular candidate that can really motivate and excite the base,' she told reporters last week leaving a closed-door candidate meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus.
Committee leadership contests, however, tend to center on inside-the-building glad-handing than appeals to voters at large, and that is the campaign Garcia has undertaken. After backing Ocasio-Cortez for the Oversight job last Congress, Garcia has taken pains to avoid the pitfalls she faced. He has personally met with all but a handful of the 214 sitting House Democrats, according to a person granted anonymity to describe his strategy.
In the interview, the former mayor of Long Beach cast himself less as an anti-Trump attack dog and more as a consensus-builder. He shied away from talk of impeaching Trump, calling it 'premature' without buy-in from other Democrats, and emphasized that the committee would do more than bulldog the Trump administration under a Democratic majority.
That has been welcome to members who have been put off by some of Crockett's comments, including her willingness to entertain impeachment. 'You can't get out ahead of your skis if you're weighing something as serious as this, that requires real buy-in from battleground members and safe-seat members,' said one battleground Democrat who was granted anonymity to react candidly.
There are signs the more prudent approach is paying off. The Congressional Hispanic Caucus has already endorsed Garcia, the only Latino member running for the job, while other powerful groups including the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Progressive Caucus and New Democrat Coalition appear unlikely to endorse.
He's also expected to receive strong support from the 43-member delegation of California Democrats — a historically formidable bloc — and he's earned plaudits from colleagues who appreciate the millions of dollars he's raised for the party and candidates as they gear up for an expensive fight to retake the House.
'I really value the people who pay their dues early and on time and who give to other people,' said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), a DCCC national finance co-chair who is supporting Garcia.
Garcia isn't entirely playing the inside game by any means. He has occasionally sought to bait his Republican colleagues on the Oversight panel and at times has tested what kind of rhetoric crosses the line.
At a hearing of an Oversight subcommittee set up to work alongside Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency initiative, Garcia announced he would display a 'dick pic.' He proceeded to unveil a headshot of Musk, after reminding colleagues how Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — the well-known conservative provocateur who chairs the subpanel — had shown nude photos of presidential son Hunter Biden at a previous committee meeting.
Garcia is also among a handful of Democrats — alongside California Gov. Gavin Newsom, New Jersey Rep. LaMonica McIver and California Sen. Alex Padilla — who have found themselves in federal law enforcement crosshairs under Trump: In February, a prosecutor appointed by Trump threatened to investigate him after he openly suggested that the public wants Democrats to 'bring actual weapons to this bar fight' for democracy.
Garcia denied making any actual threat and said he would not be intimidated.
'I'm not afraid of Elon Musk, the richest man on the planet, or Donald Trump, or other folks that are trying to cause harm,' he said in the interview — a sentiment that could appeal to Democrats, like Rep. Becca Balint of Vermont, who want younger, more aggressive leaders to step up.
'We as a caucus need to have structures in place to allow young talent to be cultivated whether it is members who have only been here a few years,' said Balint. 'This is what our voters want, so let's do something about it.'