Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announces bid to become top Democrat on Oversight Committee

By Sarah Ferris, Annie Grayer and Clare Foran, CNN

(CNN) — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Friday that she is jumping into the race to be the top Democrat on the influential House Oversight Committee.

The New York Democrat wrote in a letter to colleagues, “I write to you today to seek your support to serve as Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Accountability in the 119th Congress.”

“This is not a position I seek lightly,” she wrote, “The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one. Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life.”

Ocasio-Cortez will face Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia for the perch, which is an important role for Democrats as they look to counter Trump in his second term. If the high-profile congresswoman succeeds in her bid, the position would give her an even bigger national platform.

Ocasio-Cortez had been phoning Democratic members in recent days to inform them of her plans, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.

“I’m certainly interested in the position and I’m having a lot of conversations with my colleagues,” she told CNN Wednesday. “I think it’s incredibly important that we prepare ourselves fully for the incoming Trump administration.”

Ocasio-Cortez said she has learned a lot from serving under Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin, pointing to how Democrats were able to “derail” Republicans “effectively” from bringing impeachment articles against President Joe Biden to the House floor.

The jockeying is part of broader Democratic efforts to shake up committee leadership and push for a new generation of leaders as the party grapples with how to counter President-elect Donald Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress in the new year.

Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York has decided not to continue his post as the top Democrat on House Judiciary Committee, paving the way for Raskin to take over, leaving the vacancy atop House Oversight.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

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