Home Agriculture rating member David Scott (D-Ga.) may turn into the most recent Democrat within the chamber to lose his committee management spot within the wake of the 2024 election.
Going through twin challenges to his management from Reps. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) within the 119th Congress, he may very well be the primary Democratic chief within the chamber to outright lose a problem if his bid to retain management fails. Judiciary rating member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Pure Assets rating member Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) each relinquished their posts this month.
His potential loss may additionally tee up battle with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which counts Scott as a member and has traditionally backed seniority as a determinant of management — though its members have lately signaled they may very well be open to challengers.
The 2 challengers to Scott, who has led the committee’s Democrats since 2021, are each thought of moderates throughout the caucus however have disparate ranges of expertise. Costa, first elected in 2004, is the No. 2 Democrat on the panel in seniority, whereas Craig, elected in 2018, is the third least senior.
Scott has been sidelined by well being points, lacking two weeks of votes in November on account of remedy for a again damage, a related scenario to that of Grijalva, who underwent most cancers remedy earlier this yr. However whereas Grijalva in the end determined to step again and in December endorsed Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) to take over as rating member of the Pure Assets Committee after initially pledging to hunt one other time period, Scott has vowed to proceed vying to maintain his place, saying final week that “it’s in God’s hands.”
Age is a notable elephant within the room amid the challenges — Scott, Nadler and Grijalva are throughout 75 years previous, and the management shuffle comes after an election season marked by panic over the health of President Biden, the oldest president in U.S. historical past, which finally led him to desert his reelection bid in July.
The occasion’s broader reckoning over its losses within the election and the way it can transfer ahead additionally looms massive over the shake-up.
Craig, in a Nov. 25 letter to colleagues saying her candidacy for the Home Agriculture rating member place, mentioned the electoral outcomes point out “we’ve got real work to do as Democrats to prove to the American people that our policies are the ones that make a difference, especially for those in rural communities.”
Costa introduced his personal bid in related phrases, writing on Nov. 21, “As someone who has represented a rural, agriculture-focused district through a coalition of bipartisan support, I understand how to represent rural Americans. The Agriculture Committee can, and should, be better utilized as the link to rural America and to showcase what our Caucus stands for.”
Scott’s district, Georgia’s thirteenth, is within the metro Atlanta space and is 93 % city, in accordance with the U.S. Census Bureau.
The CBC has lengthy backed seniority as a main consider management on account of Black members’ historic difficulties attaining the posts. The caucus, which can have a file 62 members within the subsequent Congress, will wield appreciable affect in figuring out management.
At a press convention final week, nevertheless, CBC leaders prompt seniority shouldn’t be handled because the deciding issue.
“While we have and will continue to defend the seniority, we’re also going to make sure that we have the absolute best person serving,” mentioned Rep. Troy Carter (D-La.), the CBC’s incoming first vice chair. He defined that whereas “seniority is a major part of the program … seniority without competence or ability is a challenge. We will give deference to seniority, but we want the very best person to serve, so sometimes it may not necessarily be in that order.”
Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Unwell.), a member of each the CBC and Agriculture Committee, expressed related sentiments, telling The Hill on Wednesday that he meant to again Scott for one more time period as rating member however had no objections to the management problem.
“I encourage healthy debates, I’m glad people are coming forth to exert their leadership,” Jackson mentioned. “We’re on the same team, we’re going the same direction. I don’t see a major difference between the candidates.”
Jackson is one in all eight CBC members on the committee, together with Scott.
Whoever is chosen as the highest Democrat on the committee is prone to be in management in the course of the negotiation of a brand new farm invoice after Congress prolonged the 2018 Trump-era invoice one other yr in 2023 and is all however sure to do the identical into 2025. Home Republicans, who handed their very own proposal for a brand new longer-term model of the invoice out of committee earlier this yr, rejected a proposal from Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) in late November.
Democrats and Republicans have lengthy been deadlocked over reference pricing, or the subsidies paid to farmers when crop costs fall under a sure threshold, in addition to the Supplemental Dietary Help Program. However the incoming Republican trifecta in 2025 will doubtless clear the way in which for a brand new farm invoice extra favorable to GOP preferences.
