WASHINGTON — House Democrats are considering pushing aside some of their most senior leaders from top posts in the next Congress, driven by a worry that aging members are not up to the task of countering President-elect Donald Trump and his loyal Republican allies in Congress.
The debate has grown most intense in recent days as dozens of Democrats have been privately pressing Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland to challenge Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York for his position as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. They are doing so out of concern that Nadler will be ineffective in pushing back against any efforts by Trump to abuse his power.
Nadler, 77, the dean of New York’s congressional delegation, has made it clear that he has no plans to step aside. And while Raskin, 61, is mulling a challenge, he has not decided whether to pursue one, according to colleagues familiar with his thinking who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter.
“As a New Yorker, I have stood up to Donald Trump my entire career,” Nadler wrote in a letter to colleagues announcing his run for reelection to the post, in which he emphasized his history of going after Trump. “When he became president, I led the Judiciary Committee’s efforts to hold him accountable for his various abuses of power, culminating in two historic impeachments.”
Raskin, a former professor of constitutional law, developed a progressive fan base for his work as the lead impeachment manager against Trump in 2021 and as the top Democrat on the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol that year. He is seen by many colleagues as more aggressive, articulate and shrewd than Nadler when it comes to taking on the former and future president.
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been among those privately encouraging him to challenge Nadler, according to the people familiar with the internal discussions.
Raskin and Nadler are also close friends, making the internal drama even more uncomfortable. Nadler led the whip operation for Raskin’s run for the top post on the Oversight Committee, which he now occupies. They are both members of the unofficial Jewish caucus in the House.
Neither responded to requests for comment.
House Democratic leaders have stayed neutral, telling members that the caucus “should work its will” in an internal election to choose the top Democrat on the panel.
But even that seemingly innocuous statement marks a break from the typical stance of Democratic leaders, whose policy in the past has been to protect incumbents in top posts on House committees and discourage challengers.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the minority leader, declined to comment for this story.
The intraparty intrigue exemplifies how Democrats are trying to regroup in the wake of Trump’s victory and the GOP’s sweep of Congress, and mount a more effective opposition to Trump and his Make America Great Again allies on Capitol Hill.
Many Democrats expect that the Judiciary Committee, headed by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, one of Trump’s closest and most combative allies on Capitol Hill, will be the center of the action next year. It is where important fights will play out over the independence of the Justice Department, the rule of law and presidential powers, and reproductive rights.
There has been growing discontent among some Democrats about Nadler’s leadership of the committee. Some grumble that he rarely veers from talking points, whereas Raskin is seen as a sharp-tongued debater more adept at spontaneous sparring.
Progressive Democrats in particular have been pushing aggressively to get Nadler out. One prominent activist on the left warned that should he fail to step aside voluntarily, Nadler could end up like Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who was forced to take a hiatus from the top Judiciary spot at age 89, long after it had become clear that her health and cognitive issues had made it impossible for her to be effective in the post. She died less than six months later.
“Jerry Nadler is a legend in Congress and New York who will inevitably step aside at some point in his political life,” said Adam Green, the co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “The question is: Will it be more as a Nancy Pelosi or a Dianne Feinstein?”
There is no sign that Nadler is suffering from any health issue or cognitive decline similar to Feinstein’s.
The powerful Judiciary Committee is not the only one poised for a potential shake-up. Across prominent House panels, Democrats are considering elevating more combative, slightly younger lawmakers over aging bulls whom many regard as past their prime and unsuited to the hand-to-hand political battling of the Trump era.
On the Committee on Natural Resources, Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva of Arizona, 76, the current ranking member, is facing a challenge from Rep. Jared Huffman of California, 60. Huffman is mounting an aggressive campaign, sending out memos noting that he has outperformed Grijalva in fundraising and dues paid for six cycles in a row.
“With the shock wave of Trump’s ‘First 100 Days’ agenda about to slam into our committees, effective committee work led by our ranking members will be critical to limiting the damage from Trump’s Project 2025 agenda, advancing our affirmative agenda, bolstering members in tough districts and drawing contrasts that enable Democrats to reclaim the House majority in 2026 or sooner and make Hakeem Jeffries speaker of the House,” Huffman wrote in a letter to his colleagues announcing his run.
Raskin, however, is dragging his feet. As he has waffled over whether or not to challenge Nadler, some who want him to do so have invoked a line that Pelosi often quotes: “No one gives you power. You have to take it from them.” Still Raskin, who prizes his reputation for kindness and integrity, is wrestling with whether to undercut a more senior colleague who is not ready to go and has privately expressed anger about a potential challenge.
“Jamie is a cut above — he is so widely respected and is such a star, he’s just one of our very best,” Huffman said. When asked about the encouragement Raskin has received to run, he said: “It probably reflects the high esteem he’s held in.”
Huffman declined to comment about Nadler.
In his letter to colleagues, Nadler wrote that he wanted to continue serving in his post “at a time when the very fabric of our democracy is threatened by the incoming administration and their allies in Congress.” He said that he and his colleagues on the Judiciary Committee would stand as “a bulwark against the MAGA majority’s dangerous agenda.”
As the top Democrat on the oversight panel, Raskin has positioned himself as a leader of the resistance to Trump’s agenda. Over the past two years, he has tried to embarrass Republicans on the committee and make sure there are professional consequences for launching investigations without merit. He has warned House Republicans about the risks and consequences of blindly following Trump, to little avail.
He has also encouraged the younger Democrats on his committee, including Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, to vocally push back against Republicans on the committee.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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