Democrats' anti-seniority rebellion is just getting started
House Democrats' younger wing notched a major victory on Tuesday as Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) won a landslide victory to become ranking member of the Oversight Committee — but they're not stopping there.
Why it matters: Multiple lawmakers told Axios that several initiatives around term limits are still coming.
"I think it gives them momentum," said Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), a 28-year-old member of Democratic leadership, told Axios of Garcia's win.
Said another House Democrat involved in the push: "The fact that it was so decisive, I think ... is an understanding that we need to be doing things differently."
What happened: What initially looked to be a tight four-way race to be the top Democrat on the House's main investigative panel gave way to a rout for Garcia, a 47-year-old former mayor of Long Beach.
He won a shock first-ballot victory in the Steering Committee, with 33 votes to 15 for Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), 8 for Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) and 6 for Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
By Tuesday morning, Mfume, 76, and Crockett, 44, had dropped out and Garcia defeated Lynch, 70, in a vote of the full House Democratic caucus.
A second-term member who also serves in Democratic leadership, Garcia will be Democrats' least-tenured committee leader.
Between the lines: Garcia's victory came after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the 35-year-old Democratic rising star, failed in her bid to become the panel's ranking member last December.
Adding insult to injury for younger Democrats was who she lost to: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), a 75-year-old who died from cancer in May — just months after he won the job.
Ocasio-Cortez's loss and the recent deaths of several other House Democrats in their 70s have sparked an open revolt among the party's grassroots aimed at forcing the old guard to relinquish power.
What we're hearing: Several Democratic lawmakers and operatives who spoke to Axios credited Garcia's lopsided win — despite only being in office two terms — in part to the outside pressure that has been building for months.
A senior House Democrat told Axios: "The national political predicament definitely makes people more open to the possibility of junior members being slotted in if they fit the bill."
"I think it is partially the outside fury and the understanding of what it would look like ... to elect either one of these older leaders," said Amanda Litman, the co-founder of Run for Something.
A third House Democrat who spoke to Axios anonymously told Axios: "It took the last couple of months and the passion of the base on full display for [members] to internalize ... where the wind was blowing."
The other side: Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.) credited Garcia's win solely to his quality as a candidate, telling Axios he was "very energized."
"I don't think members' age had anything to do with it," he said.
Garcia has strong relationships and few enemies, leaned heavily into his past mayoral experience, and is seen as having little ideological baggage despite his progressive politics.
What to watch: Frost said he is pushing for a congressional term limits measure to be included among the fast-tracked bills that the House votes on first if Democrats retake control of the chamber in 2027.
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