Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), chair of the House Oversight subcommittee on the environment. Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
Several House Democrats are eyeing the top spot on the House Oversight and Governmental Reform Committee just one day after Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), the committee's current chair, lost her primary.
Why it matters: If Republicans win the House majority in November, the panel's ranking member will be Democrats' point-person on countering a vast array of planned probes into the Biden administration.
- Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.) is planning investigations into everything from Hunter Biden to the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago.
Driving the news: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)'s name "has been floated in conversations about the top spot on Oversight given his leadership as Chair of the House Oversight Environmental subcommittee," a Democratic House aide told Axios.
- The aide added that "no decisions have been made" as to whether Khanna will vie for the gavel.
The backdrop: Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), who chairs the subcommittee on governmental operations, announced in a statement on Wednesday that he was running for the top spot.
- "We need a tested leader who will not be timid in the face of Republican insurrectionists," he said. "I believe I can be that leader."
- Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), the chair of the national security subcommittee, sent out a letter to colleagues, first reported by Punchbowl News, noting he is "the most senior member of the Oversight Committee seeking this position."
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who chairs the civil rights and civil liberties subcommittee, told Punchbowl he's "strongly considering" a run.
Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington D.C.'s delegate to Congress, is second in seniority after Maloney. She said in a statement she will continue running for the top spot on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, rather than Oversight.
What’s next: The role will be chosen by a vote of Democratic caucus members at the start of the next Congress.
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the role will be chosen by a vote of Democratic caucus members, not just members of the committee.