California’s Ami Bera loses bid for key Democrat post. Here’s what happened
Rep. Suzan DelBene, a centrist Democrat from Washington state, was chosen Tuesday to be the new Democratic House campaign chairman, as bids by California Reps. Ami Bera and Tony Cardenas fell short.
Bera and Cardenas had been in what was seen as a close battle for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee job, which involves fundraising and campaigning for the party’s House candidates around the country
For Bera, the job would have been a way for the Sacramento congressman to vault to national prominence among party insiders. Democrats likely need a net gain of only four or five seats in 2024 to win back the majority they lost last month, and the person in charge of the campaign committee is likely to get credit if successful.
The job has at times been a way for lesser-known members to get on the path to congressional leadership or higher office.
In 2006, Rahm Emanuel chaired the committee and Democrats won back a House majority for the first time in 12 years. He would later become mayor of Chicago.
Ben Ray Lujan was chairman as Democrats won back the majority in 2018, and is now a U.S. senator from New Mexico. Massachusetts’ Tip O’Neill was chairman in the early 1970s and would become House Speaker four years later.
Bera has said he did not see the chairmanship as a stepping stone to bigger things.
New Democratic House Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York, picked the chair. He gave no reason for choosing DelBene over the Californians, though some reports said he specifically wanted to select a woman for the position.
Bera said he supported the decision to nominate DelBene, who now must be confirmed by the House Democratic caucus next month.
“Suzan is a good friend and I know she has the right experience and vision to lead the DCCC at this pivotal moment,” Bera said. “I look forward to working with incoming Leader Jeffries, Chair DelBene, and the DCCC to win back the House majority in 2024.”
DelBene, who entered Congress in 2012, has close ties to centrist Democrats.
The congresswoman headed the New Democrat Coalition, a group for more moderate Democrats.
Jeffries called DelBene “the right leader, with the right experience and the right demeanor to meet this pivotal moment.”
After losing her first bid for Congress in 2010 against a Republican incumbent, she won a redrawn district in 2012 by a surprisingly large margin.
In the ensuing years, Jeffries said, she “put that tough seat out of reach.”
He praised how she was “one of the first and only members to flag that Democrats could win in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District.”
Rep.-elect Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won in the rural district, one that Jeffries noted “long eluded the grasp of Democrats.”
This story was originally published December 20, 2022 at 1:26 PM with the headline "California’s Ami Bera loses bid for key Democrat post. Here’s what happened."
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