New Top Democrat on House Oversight Panel Likely From District Dominated by Federal Workers

Regardless of who controls the House of Representatives come January 2023, the top Democrat on the powerful House Oversight and Reform Committee may well come from a district whose voters are mostly federal workers and contractors.

Two of the three Democrats who quickly threw their hats into the ring following Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s (D-N.Y.) loss in an Aug. 23 Democratic primary to Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) currently represent suburban Washington districts with heavy concentrations of career civil servants and government contractors.

If as expected, Republicans flip the House and regain control, the current ranking minority member, Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), is most likely to be the new chairman. Comer has been laying the groundwork for aggressive oversight of President Joe Biden and his administration in 2023.

Rep. Gerry Connolly, the Democrat who represents Fairfax County, Virginia, was the first to announce his intentions, issuing a statement of interest within 24 hours of Maloney’s loss.

Because of his district’s employment demographics, Connolly, a former chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, the Democrat has made the oversight panel his top committee assignment throughout his seven terms in Congress.

Most proposed legislation affecting federal personnel policies is referred to the oversight panel.

“For more than 14 years, I have made this committee my top priority and focused on the issues that define it: Postal reform; defending our proud federal employees; rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse; modernizing the federal government; and holding the Trump administration accountable,” Connolly said in a statement.

Connolly’s biggest campaign contributor group in his current re-election effort is retirees, many of whom are former federal workers, while his second biggest is federal employee unions, according to opensecrets.org.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, whose suburban Maryland district is, like Connolly’s, dominated by federal workers and contractors, issued a Dear Colleague letter

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