AOC officially launches bid for top job on Oversight Committee

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., has begun informing House colleagues that she is running to be the top Democrat on the influential Oversight Committee, according to three Democratic lawmakers who told NBC News they had had conversations with her.

WASHINGTON — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., on Friday officially launched her bid to become the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, pitting the millennial progressive star against a more senior panel member, Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., as Democrats gear up for a second Trump administration.

In a letter to Democratic colleagues, Ocasio-Cortez wrote that she understood the gravity of leading the panel in the next Congress with Trump back in the White House. The committee, she said, must focus on both congressional oversight and improving life for everyday Americans.

“In the 119th Congress, Oversight Committee Democrats will face an important task: we must balance our focus on the incoming president’s corrosive actions and corruption with a tangible fight to make life easier for America’s working class," Ocasio-Cortez told her Democratic colleagues, who will soon vote on who should lead committees for the party while the House is under Republican control in the new 119th Congress.

Her announcement came after NBC News reported Thursday night that Ocasio-Cortez — who goes by the nickname AOC — had begun informing House colleagues that she was running to be the top Democrat on the influential Oversight Committee, according to three Democratic lawmakers who said they had had conversations with her.

Ocasio-Cortez told at least two of those lawmakers during votes on the House floor Thursday evening that she is throwing her hat in the ring to lead Democrats on the committee. A third Democratic lawmaker said they were told by Ocasio-Cortez, 35, this week that she was definitely running.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/aoc-running-top-job-house-oversight-committee-rcna183123

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