FILE - Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., speaks during a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on gun violence on Capitol Hill in Washington, June 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats are quietly engaged in a behind-the-scenes race for a key committee position, the second time in as many months that the party has had to fill one of the most prized positions in Congress.

Four Democrats are running to be the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, an investigative panel with public clout, subpoena power and an expansive portfolio. The position is open due to the death last month of Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia.

While Democrats in the minority have little power to shape the committee’s work, the ranking member position comes with an enormous platform — and the possibility of becoming chair if the party wins back the majority in next year's midterm elections.

Whoever wins will immediately be squaring off against Republicans as they prepare for splashy hearings this summer on immigration enforcement, LGBTQ rights and former President Joe Biden’s age and mental condition while in office.

As they hear from the candidates, Democrats are weighing many of the factors that were in play late last year, when Connolly, a veteran member of the committee, fended off a challenge from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.

A look at how the race is shaping up:

The age factor

The debate over Biden’s age coincides with a reckoning over seniority and generational change happening across the Democratic Party.

Four House Democrats are running for the position: Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts, the acting ranking member; Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a viral sensation; Robert Garcia, a former Los Angeles County mayor who has pitched colleagues on a government reform agenda; and Kweisi Mfume of Maryland, former president of the NAACP and civil rights advocate.

While Lynch is the most senior of the four, Democrats broadly said they are more open to breaking from seniority than they were in December, when Connolly, then 74, beat out Ocasio-Cortez, 35, for the job.

Democrats are interested in how the candidates would communicate with the public, how they would help support lawmakers in battleground districts — and of course, how they would challenge President Donald Trump and his administration.

How the four Democrats are making their case

Crockett, 44, has pitched herself as the candidate best able to compete with Trump’s pugnacious and attention-grabbing style. Democrats, Crockett has argued, often fail to connect with voters and explain why the president’s actions may be harmful. She believes she can.

“It’s a matter of bringing that in, having a hearing and making sure that we are translating it and amplifying it,” Crockett told MSNBC in an interview. “Communications has to be a full-on strategy.”

Garcia, 47, has focused on government reform and effectiveness, a key issue for Democrats after the Trump administration’s blitz across federal agencies and mass firings of federal workers by billionaire Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.

Mfume, 76, has attracted support from members impressed by his longtime stewardship of the nation’s oldest civil rights group. He returned to Congress after decades leading the NAACP following the death of a previous Democratic Oversight chair, the late Congressman Elijah Cummings, a fellow Baltimore Democrat.

Lynch, 70, has styled himself as the acting chair and the lawmaker best positioned to take on the committee’s chairman, Republican James Comer of Kentucky.

“There are some members who speak to a very narrow audience, and that’s great,” Lynch said.

“We want them to be energized and animated. But that same person is not going to go to the Rust Belt with people that are farmers, moderates, conservatives,” Lynch told The Associated Press. “You need different voices to appeal to different constituencies.”

“I think I have a better chance of bringing back the blue-collar working people, and I have less of a chance of appealing to very younger people who are intensely invested in social media,” Lynch said.

What’s ahead as Democrats make their choice

The vote for Oversight ranking member is scheduled for June 24 and will be conducted by secret ballot. All four candidates are speaking before multiple caucuses this week, including the New Democrats and the progressive caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.

While many Democrats are undecided, others have made up their mind. Some who are privately stumping for their candidate believe it will be a tight race. That makes the public forums and private pitches even more crucial in the run-up to the vote.

House progressives are divided over their preferred choice. Three members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus — Crockett, Garcia and Mfume — are vying for the ranking member seat, which makes it unlikely the caucus will back a single candidate.

“We’re looking for folks that could expose this kind of corruption and hold Trump and his billionaire donors accountable,” said Rep. Greg Casar of Texas, the Progressive Caucus chair.

Rep. Brad Schneider, chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said he’s weighing two factors: which candidate could best help Democrats win the 2026 midterm elections and whether they can successfully lead investigations into the Trump administration and “try to repair some of the damage that’s been done.”

“The committee can be a flash point, or it can be a very effective place for us to make our point, and we want to know who’s going to do best in that role to make sure the committee works to help us secure 218 (members) next November,” Schneider said.

The role of seniority and the Congressional Black Caucus

Some Democratic caucuses have traditionally prized seniority as a clear and reliable way for lawmakers of color to rise through the ranks. There has never been a Hispanic Oversight chairman and only one Black chairman, Elijah Cummings.

“The CBC has always stood for seniority,” said Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia. But Johnson noted that the Black Caucus has at times “deviated” from that norm. He said many in the caucus are open to a conversation about age.

“So, Steve Lynch, I think, is the next senior member. And but as I said, other factors have to be considered and I’m sure that, along with myself, other CBC members are going through that process,” Johnson said.

“Since I’ve been here, seniority has had weight,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks of New York, who said he was undecided on which candidate to back. “But seniority is not the only thing. And there are times and circumstances where the person with the most seniority has not won. Whether that’s one of these times or not is what we’re going to see.”

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Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.

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