Anxious House Dems revolt against oldest leaders
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries' (D-N.Y.) members are breaking ranks and trying to shove aside older colleagues for top committee spots.
Why it matters: The impending Trump administration has given some Democrats a foothold to argue that the party can't manage another two years under gerontocracy.
- "There is growing anxiousness among younger members to get their chance," one senior House Democrat told Axios.
- "Some of them need to be put out to pasture," a ranking House Democrat said of their party's committee leaders.
The challengers aren't young either, but they're all going after Democratic committee leadership members in their late 70s.
- Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), 60, is challenging Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), 76, as ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee. Grijalva announced a cancer diagnosis in April and said he won't seek reelection.
- Rep. Jim Costa (D-Calif.), 72, is trying to unseat Rep. David Scott (D-Ga.), 79, as the ranking member of the House Agriculture Committee. Scott's health has long been a concern and he has been absent the last two weeks.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), 61, will announce Monday whether he runs to unseat Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), 77, as the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Axios first reported.
What they're saying: "I think the question we should all be asking ourselves is, 'Do we have people who are ready to roll up their sleeves and fight like hell?'" Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) told Axios.
- "In many of those instances you have the people already, and in others some people may not feel they do," she added.
- A senior House Democrat told Axios that "members are beginning to think that 2026 could be a 'change' year and want to get ahead of it."
- Said another House Democrat: "That feeling is almost universal from all colleagues I talk to, not just younger members."
Between the lines: Some Democrats see this as a moment to strike on House GOP-style term limits for committee leaders.
- "We may be seeing some shift in the norm of whether or not that gets you in hot water," said Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), a champion of term limits.
- Foster said Dems recognized the "tremendous boost when Kamala Harris took over for Joe Biden" as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Zoom out: One generational challenge has already failed, with Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) losing 152 to 59 in her bid to unseat Democratic Policy and Communications Committee chair Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.).
- Many lawmakers cast that race as unrepresentative of the trend, noting that Dingell spent months longer than Crockett locking down support.
- 27-year-old Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) was elected as a DPCC co-chair, becoming the first Gen Z congressional leader with an explicit pitch of modernizing the party's communications strategy.
