WASHINGTON — Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a former constitutional regulation professor who served as Democrats’ lead prosecutor within the Trump impeachment trial after the Jan. 6 assault, instructed colleagues Monday he’ll problem Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., for the highest Democratic spot on the highly effective Judiciary Committee.
Nadler, 77, has held the highest job on the Judiciary panel since 2019, served in Congress since 1992 and has suffered some well being scares lately. While Raskin is 61 years outdated, his daring problem to Nadler is one other instance of a brand new era of Democratic stars taking up the outdated guard — and the occasion’s seniority system — and follows disappointing losses for the occasion within the 2024 elections.
“In the 119th Congress, the Judiciary Committee would be the headquarters of Congressional opposition to authoritarianism and MAGA’s marketing campaign to dismantle our Constitutional system and the rule of regulation as we all know it,” Raskin, a most cancers survivor who additionally served on the particular House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 assault, wrote in a letter to colleagues Monday.
“I hope to be on the middle of this struggle and — as somebody who has battled most cancers and chemotherapy — I can let you know that I’ll by no means, by no means give up,” he continued.
In his three-page letter, Raskin, the present rating member of the Oversight Committee, additionally provided reward for Nadler, who’s operating for his fourth time period main Democrats on the Judiciary panel.
“I ought to say, lastly, that I take this step with respect and boundless admiration for my pal Jerry Nadler and his outstanding half-century of service in public workplace in New York and Congress. … If I’m fortunate sufficient to be chosen for this duty within the 119th Congress,” Raskin wrote, “I’ll flip to Jerry first and all through for his at all times clever counsel and political judgment.”
Raskin, who was first elected to the House in 2016, will not be the one Democrat to announce a problem to a longtime committee chief this yr. Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., instructed colleagues in his personal letter Monday that it was time for him to “cross the torch” because the main Democrat on the Natural Resources Committee after Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif., introduced he would problem the 76-year-old for the job.
Grijalva, who has served in Congress since 2003, had missed votes for a number of months after he introduced a most cancers analysis in April. Huffman, 60, was first elected to Congress in 2012.
A race for the highest place on the Agriculture Committee can also be shaping up, with Reps. Jim Costa, D-Calif., and Angie Craig, D-Minn., vying to unseat longtime Rep. David Scott, D-Ga., who’s 79 years outdated and has battled well being points for years.
The Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, which is intently aligned with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is predicted to make suggestions to the complete Democratic Caucus subsequent week about which members ought to function the highest Democrats on every committee within the subsequent Congress. The caucus would then take a ultimate vote.