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Rep. Robert Garcia was elected as the top Democrat on the strong House Oversight Committee on Tuesday, expressing a new direction for the party’s opposition to Congressional Republicans and President Donald Trump.
California’s Garcia won the job by far the House Democrats’ Caucus closure vote. The former mayor of Long Beach defeated Massachusetts Rep. Stephen Lynch 150-63.
Garcia then thanked his colleagues and committed to the democratic aspect of the committee to eradicate corruption in the government and focus on improving government efficiency.
“Efficiency is not doge,” Garcia said. He mentioned the government’s efficiency. “In fact, efficiency is improving government work for our members around the country, and that’s what we’re trying to focus on.”
House oversight is one of the most prominent committees in Congress, and one of its most consistently partisan committees. As a top Democrat, Garcia enters the spotlight as Republicans have done some well-known research.
Garcia said the committee’s democratic staff are “prepared for consistent leadership” and promised “to get the job done right away.”
The Ranked Democrat spot was opened after Virginia Rep. Jerry Connery passed away in late May after treatment for esophageal cancer. Other Democrats who took the job include Lynch, Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas and Rep. Quisi Muhume of Maryland.
Crockett and Mfume were dropped out of the race on Monday after Garcia won support from the Democratic steering committee, which sets the party’s priorities.
Garcia will become the first Latinx and openly gay to serve as a ranking member of the committee. His election has come at a time of generational change for the Democrats, and internal debates about how to correct what went wrong in last year’s election have furious.
Last December, the Democrats made another choice last December. Connolly defeated Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, one of the party’s progressive stars, for his job as a surveillance ranking member in a race, which features massive debate over generational change. This time, many senior Democrats expressed openness to reassessing seniority as a key consideration for the top posts of the committee.
Lynch has been on the surveillance panel for 14 years, while Garcia is the two of them.
“I think the key is that this party and we are considering expanding our tents at this moment,” Garcia told reporters. “And I think experience is very important. I think it can bring that experience. I feel prepared. But I also think it’s an opportunity to bring a new voice to the leadership and this committee.”
Garcia pitched herself as a potential compromise for her colleagues. He highlighted his experience as mayor of Long Beach, California, as a reason for his skilled guiding party conversations about government reform and effectiveness. He then emphasized to lawmakers that fighting potential government corruption in the Trump administration is both a good governance and a victory political message.
Multiple Democrats in competitive districts could be persuaded by his pitch to not stake positions that would hurt the party’s wider brand, thus regaining the majority.
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