District 8 U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Takoma Park) has come under pressure over the past couple of weeks from several of his congressional colleagues to seek election as the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. Winning the post would put Raskin in the forefront of debate over a host of contentious issues as the Trump administration comes into office.
Raskin, currently the top Democrat on another high-profile panel – the Oversight and Accountability Committee – has not commented on his intentions. But he is expected to announce this week whether he will seek to move to the House Democrats’ ranking slot on the Judiciary panel, according to knowledgeable sources.
If he does run when the post comes up for a vote of the House Democratic Caucus later this month or in early January, doing so would put him on a collision course with U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, the current ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.
Ideologically, there appears to be little daylight between Raskin and Nadler, both of whom have been sharply critical of President-elect Donald Trump. Both served as managers of impeachment trials during the incoming president’s first term: Nadler at the first trial in early 2020, Raskin during the second one in 2021 following the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by Trump supporters.
However, those pressing Raskin to run for Judiciary ranking member appear to be motivated by a belief that he would be a more articulate and aggressive counterpoint to the second Trump administration — as well as to the hardline conservative chair of the panel, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio). Raskin has developed a national following in the Democratic Party’s progressive wing since his initial election to Congress in 2016 following a decade in the Maryland Senate.
A generational shift?
If Raskin, who turns 62 next week, runs and wins the slot, it would mark a generational shift of sorts from the 77-year-old Nadler – who has served in the House for nearly one-third of a century. Nadler has boasted of crossing swords with Trump when he was a state legislator and the incoming president was a New York City-based real estate developer.
The Judiciary Committee has jurisdiction over executive branch agencies ranging from the Justice Department to the FBI at a time when the Democrats hope to rhetorically battle Trump on his vows to utilize the two law enforcement agencies for retribution against his political enemies.
Raskin — who spent 25 years as a professor of constitutional law at American University — is also seen by many fellow Democrats as being best positioned to take on threats to the rule of law and the possible overreach of presidential powers that they fear will accompany a second Trump term.
House Democrats are poised to be in the minority when the 119th Congress convenes in January, although the partisan division could be the closest in nearly a century in that chamber. There is one House race in California yet to be decided in which the Democratic candidate is slightly ahead; if the Democrats hang on to that seat, they will have 215 members in their caucus to 220 for the Republican majority.
The current leadership of the House Democratic Caucus – led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York – has adopted a neutral stance in the face of a possible contest for the Judiciary Committee post and the top Democratic slots on two other House committees, The New York Times reported Saturday. However, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California – to whom Raskin has long been close – is among those urging him to seek the Judiciary Committee position, according to the Times.
If Raskin decides to challenge Nadler, the winner will be determined by a vote of the full Democratic Caucus – although that will be preceded by a vote of the party’s Steering and Policy Committee, a group of leadership representatives that is highly influential in such matters. Raskin was elected to his ranking Democrat slot on the Oversight and Accountability Committee in 2022 after winning in the Steering and Policy Committee and the full caucus over a colleaguewith greater seniority – U.S. Rep. Gerald Connolly of Virginia.
Raskin leapfrogged Connolly with a platform that included a pledge to stymie efforts by the then-newly installed House Republican majority to impeach President Joe Biden – a goal at which he was successful.
If Raskin were to run and win the Judiciary post, he would have to give up his current ranking member post and his seat on the Oversight committee. Under House rules, those who serve as chair or ranking member of a full committee do not serve on other committees — a recognition of the workload involved in holding a top leadership post.
McClain Delaney loses bid for leadership post
Raskin is not the only Montgomery County-based member of Congress to recently eye a move up the leadership ladder on Capitol Hill.
His new House colleague, U.S. Rep.-elect April McClain Delaney of Potomac, made a bid for the presidency of the House Democratic freshman class as orientation for new members of Congress took place the week before Thanksgiving.
But Delaney, 60, a telecommunications attorney and former Commerce Department official, fell short, losing to Rep.-elect Yassamin Ansari of Arizona on a 23-10 vote. Ansari, the 32-year-old daughter of Iranian immigrants, became the youngest person ever elected to the Phoenix City Council in 2021 after earlier working for the United Nations as a climate policy specialist.
