Democrats Weigh New Leadership to Oppose Trump – Mother Jones

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Democrats will it faces the unenviable task of fending off a second Trump administration as the minority party in Washington. And in the House of Representatives, some Democrats openly question whether the septuagenarian leader of their caucus on the Judiciary Committee is up to the task.

According to New York TimesThe movement is preparing to force Rep. Jerrold Nadler, 77, a member of the House of Representatives from New York since 1992, to step aside and allow a younger, more energetic opponent of Donald Trump to take control. If that motif sounds familiar, it may be because Democrats are typically led by aging, long-serving people, from President Joe Biden in the White House to committee chairmen like Nadler. They will now have to consider whether loyalty to these elder statesmen is a winning strategy.

Two years ago, Nancy Pelosi, then 82, resigned as House Democratic leader. Today, she is reportedly one of the voices calling for a change of guard on the Judiciary Committee. According to TimePelosi has called on Rep. Jamie Raskin, who first won the Maryland seat in 2016, to challenge Nadler for the ranking member of the committee.

Raskin, a constitutional lawyer, gained national prominence for leading Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021. Timeremain neutral in the race. But for Democrats, who typically do not tolerate challengers to incumbents, public neutrality is a marked shift. However, Raskin has been slow to consider any challenge to Nadler, and no decision has been announced.

The debate over who will lead Democrats on the committee is part of what is expected to be a much larger transformation of the Democratic Party in the coming weeks, months and years. After losing the 2024 election, the party already has several candidates seeking to lead the Democratic National Committee, the party’s central body, offering competing views on how to win back a majority of Americans. In the halls of Congress, Democrats must also find the most effective way to hold the Trump administration accountable while it is in the minority.

In the context of this fight, the choice of Democratic leader on the Judiciary Committee is of extraordinary importance. Trump is expected to try to use the Justice Department, which the commission oversees, for political revenge. From immigration to abortion and beyond, he promises to expand the boundaries of presidential power. The committee will be at the center of these battles, with its leader tasked with playing a central role in identifying and combating any abuses.

Nadler is not the only senior Democrat facing resistance. The Democrat who currently leads the House Caucus on the Agriculture Committee, Rep. David Scott of Georgia, is 79 years old. testing him for the place. And Rep. Jared Huffman, 60, of California, is challenging Rep. Raul Grijalva, 76, of Arizona, for the top spot on the Natural Resources Committee.

“Now that the shock wave of Trump’s First 100 Days program is about to hit our committees, effective committee work led by our senior members will be critical to limiting the damage from Trump’s Project 2025 program,” Huffman said in her report. . statement outlining your pitch. (Grijalva said he will serve only two more years in Congress as he battles lung cancer.)

The battles raise questions about how far Democrats will go to shake up their ranks after a demoralizing defeat, or whether they will stay the course under leaders who oversaw that defeat just weeks ago.