Jasmine Crockett is clear choice to lead Oversight Dems
I told you I wouldn’t pick sides in this race because I don’t have a vote. Then I realized it’s up to all of us to make sure our party gets this one right.
Democrats make things more complicated than they need to be.
You’ve seen the YouTube clips.
There’s only one Democratic member on the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (“House Oversight”) whose success in taking MAGA Republicans to task during committee hearings has moved fellow Democrats in Congress to adopt a more vigorous Trump response. This member’s committee statements, questions of witnesses, retorts, and rumbles with Republicans have generated millions of views on multiple social media platforms and wide coverage on network and cable news. This member also fires up our Democratic base and sits as the #2 Democrat on the committee currently. Well, this member – Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas—just announced her candidacy to lead Democrats as Ranking Member on the House Oversight Committee.
I’m excited for her, I’m thrilled she’s in, and I’m hardly alone. Some in my party are the opposite of excited about her candidacy. They wish to decide this ranking member election on seniority alone in as closed and as fast of a process as possible—moving on and not disrupting what we always do—because Rep. Crockett needs to wait her turn. These opposition forces make up a significant part of folks who will decide or influence this election. They make up no part at all (zero people) among Americans outside our nation’s capital who, by the way, are paying attention.
Rep. Crockett joins a now four-candidate field with Rep. Robert Garcia of California, Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, and Rep. Kweisi Mfume of Maryland. The previously announced contenders are 47, 70, and 76 years old, respectively, setting up the type of generational battle that has become a perennial fixture of Democratic intraparty elections.
On previous committee ballots, the 70+ crew has won repeatedly against the Reagan babies. Congress is old, folks! And the majority of Democrats have been dead-set on prioritizing seniority above all—something I’ll discuss in much further detail later in this post.
Rep. Connolly’s passing leaves rare mid-session vacancy
The open ranking member post emerged following the untimely passing of Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, who served as the committee’s ranking member and fought the Trump administration until his dying breath. As a lifelong Virginia Democrat, I can confirm he will be deeply missed in the Commonwealth. A special election will take place to fill Rep. Connolly’s long-held 11th District seat on September 9th. The district covers much of heavily Democratic Fairfax County— so yes, we should and need to keep the seat. For us, and also to honor his legacy.
Vacancies in the middle of Congressional sessions are extremely rare, and the election is already generating outsized attention. Prior to the start of each session, a bonanza of elections takes place determining leaders from each party for 16 standing House committees in addition to leadership elections. Leadership elections suck up the oxygen. And Democrats who were practicing self-care last December will be laser focused on this race, largely on account of Rep. Crockett’s candidacy.
My respectful take on the candidates
Folks, as I like to say, there are rising stars—and then there’s Jasmine Crockett.
Rep. Crockett did not step forward and offer her leadership only when a big vacancy was in sight; rather, she led from the moment she was notified of her assignment, a coveted post for freshman members. This was no celebrity post, however. Crockett was no stranger to rough-and-tumble fights against right-wing extremists in the committee chamber environment, having served as a state representative in the Lone Star State. Her legal career further cemented her credentials, and she has done nothing but prove herself ever since. She’s just plain good at speaking to the American people through her committee gravitas, controlling hearing narratives, and making us feel good as Democrats.
Hailing from California, Rep. Garcia will likely benefit from strong backing among his state’s House delegation, the largest in Congress. Now the committee’s interim ranking member, Rep. Lynch was chosen for the role by Rep. Connolly, a clear asset he will tout as he seeks to knock “interim” from his current title.
Upon announcement of Rep. Mfume’s candidacy, some observers expected Rep. Crockett to bow out, because apparently there can’t be two Black candidates or something (?). She considered bowing out, after being given the same, tired, wait-your-turn crap she’s been hearing—and ignoring—for decades. Politico reported that Rep. Mfume is offering himself in the mold of the late Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, revered as our “North Star.” Yes, the caucus still needs its North Star, but Oversight Dems need their scrappy streetfighter.
Through her much-noticed and well-documented work as vice ranking member, Rep. Crockett has led many committee Democrats and many in the caucus as a whole out of the mild-mannered wilderness of irrelevancy.
As I wrote previously:
Many Democrats pretend to fight on a field where the game is no longer being played. They get owned by Trump’s sound-bite nastiness and the pro-wrestling theatrical skills of MAGA Republicans. But Jasmine Crockett doesn’t spin in circles when she’s throwing a punch.
As ranking member, Rep. Crockett would continue leading committee Dems to both reach higher and punch lower. Americans know the leadership Rep. Crockett would bring to the role. It’s a leadership the American people craved—and our party lacked—prior to her arrival in Washington. Make of that what you will.
There are three candidates who still must demonstrate that they are up for the job, and Rep. Crockett is not one of them. Legacy media can play an important role in introducing the three candidates, whose committee work or even membership is largely unknown to the American people. (Their committee work is also unknown to us at The Alt Media, and we live and breathe this stuff every day.)
I personally have nothing against the other candidates, and I trust they can work their way into the role of bringing the fight to MAGA that the American people deserve. To do so, they will need Rep. Crockett’s guidance. If our party decides to bench our star player so our veteran who has played with the team the longest can have a go at it—in a sport that essentially has no rules anymore—I will still fight like hell for our candidates, and I hope you would, too.
Rep. Crockett will still be busy and her work will remain critical, as our party will task her with cleaning up any mess we create in this process. We can go that route if seniority is really that important to us. But, why? Why make an unforced error? And why not seize a perfect opportunity? This is not a tough call, but I fear many will needlessly make it one.
Men get respect because we’re men. But women have to fight to earn it. It’s unfair. Two of the most qualified people ever to seek the office of President lost to Donald fucking Trump—although Hillary got millions more votes and V.P. Harris held him under 50 percent, marking his third time failing to secure a majority of support.
If our party wishes to have the sustained and strong backing of our most loyal voters—Black women—we don’t necessarily have to elect Rep. Crockett as ranking member, though I believe we certainly should, on merits. We absolutely do, however, need to give her the respect in this election that she has more than earned.
Conventional wisdom is that merit, effectiveness, demonstrated leadership, and ability to connect with the American people will all take a backseat in this election. Expectations are that Democrats will pick a candidate based on seniority alone. If that’s the case, then I hope it’s possible for men to discover their inner Jared Moskowitz in our 70s and present it naturally to the camera daily.
I joke, of course, but we live in a vastly different political era now than existed when the seniority folks joined. The only way their relative experience might be an asset is if our country had a snowball’s chance in hell of returning to some civility in the next 18 months. But we all know that’s not happening. This is a cage match, folks, and we know who our best fighter is.
Sometimes old ways are good ways. Sometimes.
In fairness to old ways, generally, there’s nothing wrong with our Partt doing what we’ve always done—if what we’ve always done 1) brought our Party success, 2) did right by the American people, 3) is still the best approach in the current political environment, and 4) sends the right message about our Party and its values. If our old ways do not meet those criteria, we need to change.
But each time we do things the same way, we should be forced to justify—under increased scrutiny—why we’re so convinced we’ve gotten it right every time. At some point, party leaders should take moderated questions from across the country and explain their thought process. Hell, maybe I’ll submit questions of my own.
Disembodied voices < Rep. Crockett’s superior track record
I respect in advance those in our party who will step forward to vigorously and substantively advocate on the record for our longtime practice of seniority supremacy. Legacy media stories about this election based on what I call “disembodied voices” are merely expressions of self-interest by the unnamed sources who provide them. Hopefully the coverage will be worth reading and hopefully any unvetted candidates face scrutiny.
To those with names: Does anyone wish to present the case—and it doesn’t even have to be about Rep. Crockett or her opponents—but could someone please tell me why a theoretical backbencher who skips hearings, does not prepare, asks no questions despite ample opportunity, has little social media presence, and has no broad relationship with the American people deserves a critical committee post over an all-star go-getting effective leader who excels in the modern media landscape and is trusted by the American people to hold the Trump Administration accountable precisely because of the leadership demonstrated on the very committee for which the leadership position is sought?
My wish is that Democratic members elect the candidate who has the best track record of demonstrating she can best fight Trump, take MAGA to task, and advocate with the clarity, conviction, and connection that the American people deserve. The American people do not give a comparative rat’s ass about seniority unless that seniority is accompanied by superior merit.
Families have hard conversations. To my family of Democrats, let’s talk.
Seniority absent any standards or benchmarks is one fucked up joke of a modern measure of members’ respective ability to lead critical committees. Let’s spare the American people historical committee rosters from simpler times and just roll the fucking tape of who is leading committee Dems in this moment of unprecedented chaos in America. Please, everyone. Let’s not make this election about what’s best for members of Congress and what is supposedly owed to any of them.
Candidates with seniority are already at a big advantage because they had the benefit of additional time to demonstrate their mettle. What did they do during that time? How did they lead? How were they effective, innovative, or game-changing? And importantly, why has their purported effectiveness been gone so relatively unnoticed for so long? These are fair questions.
For Rep. Crockett, we have other questions. What advice do you have for Democratic members who, for whatever reason, do not have standout moments at a time when standout moments really, really matter? What kind of message does it send if our party continues to shun aspiring leaders who grew up with modern technology and understand social media? If you had to do it all over again, do you think you would have kept your head down a little more when you arrived in Washington?
Rep. Crockett stepped up and filled a void in exposing Trump’s transgressions and holding MAGA’s feet to the fire—without complaint or consternation. She did not criticize timidity within the caucus—she led members to more strategic and effective ground.
Losing a ranking member race will not derail or deter Rep. Crockett from effectively continuing her fight. Women in Congress have a well-earned reputation of getting over themselves and just getting the work done. Her star will not fall behind closed doors based on an expected outcome. But if Democratic members find it within themselves to write a new chapter and elect Rep. Crockett, the biggest winner will be the American people.
Nothing trivial about it
The Texas Congresswoman has earned a large following precisely because of her leadership among Democrats on House Oversight. She speaks truth, people hear it, and it moves them because they are clamoring for someone who will fight for them with the righteous indignation and the are-you-guys-fucking-serious lines of questioning for these MAGA clowns. Again, she’s just really fucking good at what she does on this committee.
Floating around with other shitty hot takes right now are attempts to trivialize a brilliant leader’s unique ability to speak to millions of otherwise disaffected Americans. Social media is not real life in America. (Narrator: And Politico is??) White male billionaires who own social media companies can run/ruin the world but when a Black woman born in the 1980s masters that same medium and uses it for public good, then her accomplishments, support, and reach are minimized. Fuck that.
To anyone who dismisses Rep. Crockett’s leadership as political theatre, welcome to the circus of the last 10 years where House Oversight is center fucking stage. Donald Trump’s entire existence is an act and there is one Democrat who better than anyone exposes that act for the clown show it is. No, Rep. Crockett does not mimick Donald Trump’s tactics — she speaks from the heart, speaks truth, and speaks for the American people. Her tactics reasonate and draw a broad audience. Why would we mess with a winning performance? It’s showtime, Democrats. Let’s have fun, be noticed, roll the satire, get the American people talking, and give every committee member a role to play. Or let’s give a bunch of boring lectures that no one sees or remembers and see how that pans out.
Whatever decision Democratic members make in this ranking member election will send a blaring message about our party. What message we send is their choice. But members should understand that this is no ordinary committee election. The American people are watching, and we would be wise to send a message that bodes well for our party and our level of fight, how much the American people’s needs are our priority, whether we can actually listen and adapt, etc.
I don’t have a vote, and neither do you. But we do have our voice. Let’s use it.
Our authoritarian federal government is of the belief that everyone’s starting line in life is the exact same, whether you’re the son of a racist Manhattan billionaire and U.S. president or a young Black woman from Dallas—the daughter of a postal worker and preacher. “We all have the same chance in America because it’s America,” these white men declare on behalf of everyone.
The Democratic Party, on the other hand, purports to value diversity, equity, and inclusion. We believe in an America in which two candidates of similar qualifications will have similar job opportunities without regard to race or gender or age and the like. This ranking member race is not an instance of similar qualifications. It is a bizarre instance in which a higher-qualified candidate with the better track record and limitless potential who also happens to be a young Black woman faces an uphill climb for a promotion, whereas her competition of three men have not even been asked to sit down for a sufficient interview. Let’s take a hard look at ourselves in the mirror. Or at least a glance.
Rep. Crockett has played this game her whole life, running circles around her “equals”—and sometimes having her credentials properly recognized. Rep. Crockett and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are, as of this writing, both 44 years old. Hegseth is a historically unqualified fuck-up woman abuser and threat to national security, but no one in his party expected him to step aside. Let that sink in.
The Gentlelady from Dallas, moreover, is older and has more federal government experience than Barack Obama did when speculation emerged that the then-U.S. Senator might run for president. Sure, he had to demonstrate his preparedness in the form of hundreds of town hall meetings around Iowa and dozens of debates and forums across the country. He overcame criticism about his level of experience, including, full disclosure, from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, on which I worked tirelessly. Hillary presented her 35 years of experience to the American people in detail.
Imagine if our campaign expected to win voters’ support on the sole basis that Hillary had breathed Washington, D.C. air for the longest amount of time. No specifics about what she actually accomplished during that longer time, just her mere presence. It would not have gone over well. That’s what we got going on here, folks. That’s seniority supremacy and it is no longer acceptable.
Were Democratic primary voters somehow able to select the next ranking member of House Oversight in a snap election, Rep. Crockett would win in a landslide on account of her ability to take the committee’s work into living rooms and onto smartphones across America.
Americans who possess a preference in the race, whether mine or another, and wish to express that preference must be afforded the respect and space to do so. Their elected Democratic members of Congress can, under House rules, ignore those preferences. But now is the time for YOU, readers, to respectfully express your First Amendment right. These folks ultimately report to you, so let them know what you think.
To the extent Rep. Crockett enjoys broad popular support, I hope that preference factors into Democratic members’ votes. To the extent the American people—to all neutral observers’ shock—prefer another candidate over Rep. Crockett, I hope that preference factors into Democratic members’ votes, and I will update this post to say I was wrong.
Overblown as it may be – and let’s not forget to remind pundits we are winning special elections – we exist in a moment of historic unpopularity for our party. We can deny it or make excuses for it, or we can have a strategy to move forward. Typically these committee leadership decisions take place without a second thought of what is best for the American people.
Maybe this time could be different. Maybe this exact moment in our party’s history demands that it be different. Maybe getting this one right can mark a turning point for our party.
Am I being overly optimistic? What’s your take? Let me know in the comments.
We are making this harder than it needs to be. It’s what we do!
As Democrats, we cherish our track record as the party of the New Deal, Social Security, civil rights, Obamacare, and so much more. Outwardly, the Democratic Party stands for progress.
Within our organizational structure, however, approaches are mixed and old methodology—with or without success—are still implemented. Our apparatus is often to loath chane even after defeat.
Donald Trump, for all his failings, competes at break-neck speed in a digital world. He’s not-all-there yet he adapts, cashes in, and sets the news cycle. He’s doing a shit ton of damage. He knows how to stir up misplaced anger in folks, who for some reason aren’t fully convinced the Democrats are fighting for them.
The old ways just won’t cut it.
We fashion ourselves as the party of innovation but downgrade any member of our caucus who grew up using modern technology. In a rapidly changing world, we seek leadership from the tech-unsavviest, social media-unsavviest in our ranks—folks who came into Congress with their heads down instead of ready to kick ass and take names. That is not criticism; it’s fact. And if we keep doing it then we owe the American people a better explanation as to why.
Trump feels unconstrained by the U.S. Constitution. We feel constrained by self-sabotaging rules. We expect to defeat both the Trump Administration and the Chinese Communist Party using free hours of AOL.
Again, I kid. Mostly.
But here’s the truth. Donald Trump poses an existential threat to our Republic that legacy media ignores. Due process for all is already a relic. Visas are revoked for First Amendment expression. American citizens are being deported. Oligarchy rules and more tax cuts for the wealthy, complete with cuts to Medicaid, could be on the way. Let’s elevate the person who we know can expose the living fuck out of this nightmare.
Winning is about addition, not subtraction. Our legacy Party spends more time trying to figure out what to do with inspiring leaders like Rep. Crockett rather than lifting them up and putting them front and center. That needs to change. Leaders like Rep. Crockett communicate effectively to millions of more Americans than other members even aspire to. They also fire up the base—something Republicans are excellent at and Democrats are terrible at. There’s no singular fix, but elevating the Rep. Crocketts of the Party is a good start.
Our Democratic members know what they must do. As folks who want to see them do the right thing, let’s help them find the courage.
My previous story:
Jasmine Crockett offers weak-kneed Democratic leaders a path forward
There are rising stars – and then there’s U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett.
I'm 62 years old. I have been longing for the old style F**K YOU Democrat in the manner of Harry Truman, LBJ, Ted Kennedy, and Dan Rostinkowski. Jasmine Crockett is a throw back to those days and that attitude and energy. She is exactly what we need. We also need others to join her. Tim Walz has been making inroads in that way, AOC is good, and Secretary Pete in a calmer manner. The world is different now. Democrats have to abandon the old ways and go after these clowns and bullies with relentless intelligence and call them out for their hypocrisy and evil legislation.
I'm 71 y/o and totally agree it's time for the old farts to STEP ASIDE!