On Thursday, Roll Call announced that Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives would be holding leadership elections for their party roles on November 18-19, following the November 3 election.
Since current U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján is running for the U.S. Senate, his “Assistant Speaker” position is up for grabs, and many Democrats are vying for it. Current Democratic Caucus Vice Chairwoman Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, Democratic Policy and Communications Committee Chairman David Cicilline of Rhode Island, and Congressional Hispanic Caucus BOLD PAC Chairman Tony Cárdenas of California are all competing for the spot.
Since Clark is running for Luján’s position, she will be vacating her No. 6 caucus vice chair spot. Pete Aguilar of California, Robin Kelly of Illinois, and New Mexico’s very own first-term Rep. Deb Haaland are running for the seat, despite only sitting in the U.S. House for one short two-year term.
Previously, Haaland was considering the run for the vice-chair position but had not made up her mind. Now, it’s official. Her greatest challenger in the race will likely be Rep. Aguilar, who held the spot in the 115th Congress before being beaten for the post in the 116th Congress by Rep. Katherine M. Clark. The top three Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and Majority Whip James E. Clyburn, are running uncontested for another term.
Haaland’s move to run for the leadership position signals that she is confident in her re-election campaign, despite a competitive contest with Republican challenger Michelle Garcia Holmes, who just debated Haaland last week.
During the debate, Haaland made multiple misleading or false statements, most notably about her support for Antifa, her “bipartisan” work in Congress, and her voting record. The fact-check can be found here.
Haaland supports socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal, a fracking ban, abortion up-to-birth, open borders, seizure of many privately owned firearms, among other far-left proposals.