WASHINGTON — Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island introduced Wednesday that he’ll problem longtime chief Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina for the No. 4 place in Home Democratic management.
Cicilline’s bid to be the caucus’s assistant chief comes after some youthful Democratic members expressed frustration with Clyburn’s choice to remain on in celebration management after Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Chief Steny Hoyer introduced their plans to step apart for a brand new era.
In a letter to his Democratic colleagues Wednesday, Cicilline, 61, urged he felt compelled to run for the management publish after the current capturing in Colorado Springs on the LGBTQ nightclub Membership Q.
“With a lot at stake, I feel it’s vital that the Home Democratic Management group absolutely mirror the variety of our caucus and the American individuals by together with an LGBTQ+ member on the management desk, which is why I’ve determined to run for Assistant Chief,” he wrote.
Democrats elected a brand new slate of younger members to guide their celebration on Wednesday, naming Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, 52, of New York, as minority chief. Jeffries, who will make historical past as the primary Black lawmaker to guide a political celebration’s caucus in both chamber, will likely be joined by Reps. Katherine Clark, 59, of Massachusetts, and Pete Aguilar, 43, of California, because the celebration’s prime three leaders.
The Cicilline-Clyburn race for the No. 4 publish will likely be determined Thursday in one other closed-door vote.
“I’d be honored and humbled to have your assist and to have the ability to be part of Hakeem Jeffries, Katherine Clark, and Pete Aguilar as a part of the brand new era of Home management,” Cicilline wrote. “As a lot of you’ll bear in mind, I ran for Assistant Speaker beforehand and after falling brief final time I informed a lot of you that I deliberate to run once more as soon as Assistant Speaker Clark was elected to a different place. Now that the place will likely be vacant, I’m asking in your assist as soon as once more.”
Cicilline served as chairman of the Home Democratic Coverage and Communications Committee, which is taken into account a part of the management group, from 2019 to 2021. He has represented his state’s 1st Congressional District since 2011.
Clyburn, 82, a beloved determine in Democratic politics and a former Black Caucus chairman, has served in management for years after coming to Congress in 1993. Since his celebration retook management of the Home in 2019, he has been majority whip, a job he held after Democrats took the Home in 2007. From 2011 to 2019, he had served as assistant Democratic chief and likewise labored because the chair and vice chair of his caucus.
A number of youthful Democrats have been upset and stunned by Clyburn’s choice to run for a management place.
“It was the sense of the caucus that the three prime leaders may present counsel however wouldn’t have official management posts,” one youthful Democratic lawmaker informed NBC Information earlier this month. “Many people suppose very extremely of Jim Clyburn, however these problems may have potential to divide a remarkably unified caucus.”
One other youthful Democratic member who’s supporting Cicilline stated Wednesday, “I feel it’s fairly ridiculous that Nancy needed to depart. … She was the simplest chief in historical past, and I’m undecided why he [Clyburn] didn’t have to go away together with her.”
Clyburn had introduced his bid for assistant chief earlier than the Thanksgiving break. In an interview Sunday on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” he stated he needed to stay in a management position in order that his celebration nonetheless had illustration from the South.
“And have a look at our management, the South is unnoticed of it,” Clyburn stated. “And what we’re doing is making an attempt to ensure that we don’t tilt too far to the east or too far to the west, however keep what now we have right here. There is no such thing as a different Southerner among the many management, and we’d like the South.”
Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio stated she’ll assist Clyburn however that Cicilline has a proper to run. “I feel he needs to symbolize his standpoint, and he has the appropriate to try this,” Kaptur informed NBC Information. “I personally am pledged to Mr. Clyburn. We’d like some knowledge within the higher ranks.”
