Ocasio-Cortez passes on top Oversight Committee position bid

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on Monday said she will not run for the top Democratic spot on the House Oversight Committee, passing on the opportunity as Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), the current ranking member of the panel, prepares to step down from the post.

Ocasio-Cortez, who was seen as a potential successor to Connolly, suggested that she was opting out of the race because the caucus tends to value seniority when selecting top committee posts, which was evident in her loss to Connolly for the job late last year.

“It’s actually clear to me that the underlying dynamics in the Caucus have not shifted with respect to seniority as much as I think would be necessary, and so I believe I’ll be staying put at Energy and Commerce,” she told reporters.

When asked by NBC News how she came to that decision, Ocasio-Cortez once again pointed to the seniority dynamic in the House Democratic Caucus.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations across the caucus and I’ve been very grateful for the support that’s been extended, but at the end of the day a lot of this has to do with the dynamics around seniority in the Caucus and I just, from a lot of the conversations that I’ve had, I just think that those dynamics would not be fundamentally changed in the race at this time,” she responded.

Ocasio-Cortez’s decision comes months after the New York Democrat, a more junior member, unsuccessfully ran for the top Democratic spot on the Oversight Committee, losing to Connolly, a veteran lawmaker, in a 131-84 vote.

The position, however, is poised to open back up. Connolly announced last week that he would step down from his position atop the Oversight Committee, citing the return of his esophageal cancer. It remains unclear when Connolly plans to formally leave the position. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), another senior member of the panel, was selected by Connolly to serve as interim ranking member for the indefinite future.

Ocasio-Cortez was seen as a potential candidate for the job, despite the fact that she no longer sits on the Oversight Committee. Without Ocasio-Cortez in the race, progressives may look to Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) as possible successors to Connolly.