Rep. Jerry Nadler has left the race to become a ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, NBC News reported. The New York Democrat and longtime lawmaker endorsed Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) who only two days ago announced he would challenge Nadler for the position.
Nadler, 77, has been in Congress since 1992 and has been a leader on the Judiciary Committee since 2019. Now, Raskin is expected to take the position as there are no challengers with Nadler out of the way.
The powerful position is meant to keep the FBI and Department of Justice in check. Nadler announced his intentions Thursday in a letter to fellow lawmakers, complete with hysterical predictions about President-elect Donald Trump.
"As our country faces the return of Donald Trump, and the renewed threats to our democracy and our way of life that he represents, I am very confident that Jamie would ably lead the Judiciary Committee as we confront this growing danger. Therefore, I have decided not to run for Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee in the 119th Congress," Nadler wrote.
The Democratic Party has singled Raskin out as their next big thing. This was made known when then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi chose him to be the lead prosecutor for Trump's second impeachment over the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Pelosi also appointed him to head the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack. At the time, Democrats considered this their ace in the hole for getting rid of Trump for good, and Raskin's appointment was a signal of his future importance.
Raskin ran with that and parlayed the notoriety into a 2022 book, "Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy." He wrote about the interplay between grieving his 25-year-old's Dec. 31, 2020 suicide and the political uprising less than a week later.
He also draws on his fight with cancer twice to oppose "authoritarianism and MAGA’s campaign to dismantle our Constitutional system and the rule of law as we know it," Raskin claimed. "I hope to be at the center of this fight and — as someone who has battled cancer and chemotherapy — I can tell you that I will never, never surrender," Raskin said.
This narrative has cemented Raskin's position as a politician to watch in the coming years, especially considering they have no standouts to speak of besides him. Their desperation is palpable, but it seems Raskin is doing all he can to rally excitement for Democrats.
With Raskin a shoo-in for the leadership position, his current post as the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee will become vacant. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) has already jumped in his grave, but he may get pushback from "Squad" member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
The New York Democrat said she was "receiving a lot of input from my colleagues, and we'll be making a decision" but has yet to commit to putting her name forward. For his part, Connolly argued that he was the better choice because of his experience running another Oversight Committee.
"To me, it's not generational. It's about experience and record and capability, that's how I got to present it," Connolly said.
"And she's a new talent and has a lot of promise, but I'm the only one in the race ... who, in fact, has a subcommittee. I've invested in the committee. I think that's really important," he added.
The shakeup to Congress from the 2024 election seems to have ripple effects for people like Nadler. Democrats will need fresh leadership if they have any hope of regaining power in the coming years, and they believe Raskin is a good bet.
