AOC is running to be top Democrat on this powerful committee

New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive darling, confirmed Friday that she’s jumping in the race to be the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight Committee, where she currently serves as the vice ranking member.

“This is not a position I seek lightly. The responsibility of leading Democrats on the House Oversight Committee during Donald Trump’s second term in the White House is a profound and consequential one,” she wrote in a letter to her Democratic colleagues. “Now, more than ever, we must focus on the Committee’s strong history of both holding administrations accountable and taking on the economic precarity and inequality that is challenging the American way of life.”

The New Yorker’s entrance pits her against Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a senior member of the committee. 

The winner of this contest will offer a clear window into Democrats’ future. A win for Ocasio-Cortez would make her the youngest Democrat to lead a major committee. It would also signal that Democrats are truly ready to embrace generational change: Connolly is 74, while Ocasio-Cortez is 35.