In a nod to seniority and a blow to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, House Democrats on Wednesday elected Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. as the party’s new top member of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Pelosi campaigned vigorously for her close friend and fellow Californian, Rep. Anna Eshoo, to succeed retiring Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., as the ranking Democrat on the committee. Eshoo won the initial backing of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on Tuesday night.
But in a rare move, the full House Democratic Caucus went against the steering committee’s wishes and voted 100 to 90 to elect Pallone, who has served New Jersey in the House since 1993 — a result perceived by some as a rejection of leadership by the caucus’ rank-and-file members.
Pallone, who has more seniority on the committee than Eshoo, dismissed talk that the vote was a referendum on Pelosi’s leadership.
“Regardless of where leadership stood in this race, the bottom line is that members in there were voting for what they thought was the best. And it was a very close race,” Pallone told reporters after the closed-door vote.
“This is in no way a referendum on the leadership. If anything, I think the whole process brought us closer together.”
Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., a Pallone supporter, also disagreed with suggestions the vote was an opportunity for members to voice displeasure with Pelosi, saying the caucus’ leaders routinely pay attention to the wishes of rank-and-file members.
“But you’ve got to not only pay attention but to listen to what folks are saying and take everything into consideration. And I think that there is a lesson to be learned here when everyone looks at it,” he said.
“It’s not a rejection of leadership. That sounds better in the press … But what’s more important is that the party did not give up, because otherwise you would have thrown the hats and said what does it matter.”
He also hinted that Pelosi’s pushing for Eshoo may have backfired.
“She has every right to speak up. [But] one may make the argument she overdid it, in terms of the letter she sent out” to members expressing her support for Eshoo, he said. “But she has every right to do it, she didn’t break any laws.”
After the vote Pelosi congratulated Pallone on a “hard fought campaign” and gave kudos to Eshoo “for raising the issue of innovation [for the energy committee] to a level that all members appreciate.”
“We look forward to working with both of these members as we move forward,” she said.
Eshoo congratulated Pallone after meeting and at one point held hands with the victor while speaking with reporters.
“When I got up this morning I had one vote — my own. And I walk out today with 89 others,” she said. “I congratulate Frank with all of my heart.”
The race was never clear-cut. Eshoo and Pallone are generally well-liked within the caucus. And both have raised significant money for their party and have been generous in contributing to the re-election campaigns of vulnerable colleagues.
But seniority appears to have been as big of an issue as anything in the election, with many rank-and-file members saying that Pallone’s many years of service on the committee made him more deserving of the post.
The Congressional Black Caucus also had been particularly perturbed that Pelosi would ignore “historic tradition” by supporting Eshoo’s bid to leapfrog several spots on the committee’s seniority ladder.
Pallone suggested that while seniority played a factor in his victory, it’s uncertain just how much it did.
“Ultimately people decide on who they think will be the best person to lead the committee,” he said. “But I think members also feel that seniority is important. And I believe in seniority.”
Still, it’s unusual for the full Democratic caucus to override a steering committee vote. The last time it happened was 2010, when Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts lost his bid to become Ways and Means Committee chairman to Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan despite winning the steering panel’s endorsement.
“I’m very proud of what we did today,” Pascrell said. “Frank deserved it. He got it and we’ll move on now, all together.”
This story was first published at 12:30 p.m. and has been updated.
