The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Congressman Gerald Connolly, will resign from his position after being diagnosed with another bout of cancer. Some are now wondering if Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could make another run for the post. 

Mr. Connolly announced in a statement on Monday that he will “soon” leave the ranking member position on the committee. “After grueling treatments, we’ve learned that the cancer, while initially beaten back, has now returned,” he said. Last year, the 75-year-old Mr. Connolly was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. 

“The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress. I will be stepping back as Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee soon. With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we’ve accomplished together,” Mr. Connolly added. 

The Democrats’ top slot on the Oversight panel was vacated last year when Congressman Jamie Raskin left to lead his party on the Judiciary Committee. That departure set up a high-profile fight between Mr. Connolly and Ms. Ocasio-Cortez in December. He defeated her in a caucus-wide vote among their Democratic colleagues by a margin of 131 to 84. 

Shortly after she was defeated for that position, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez was chosen by her colleagues to serve on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees everything from energy policy and health insurance to food and drug safety and tourism. Because of the committee’s broad authority, members of the panel are generally not allowed to serve on any other committees at the same time. 

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez would require a waiver from Democratic leadership to rejoin the Oversight Committee if she chooses, though even then she would need to win the race for the panel’s ranking member spot among the Democratic caucus. 

Though the Oversight Committee does little legislative work, it is charged with leading congressional investigations into the executive branch, non-governmental organizations, and other institutions that receive federal money. Some Democrats worried that Mr. Connolly was ill-prepared to be the public face of its investigative battles with Republicans, especially when compared to Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, who has been drawing tens of thousands of people to rallies all over the country during her “Fight Oligarchy” tour with Senator Sanders. 

Other Democrats who could succeed Mr. Connolly include Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, who has become a press darling for many liberals. Congresswoman Melanie Stansbury has also won praise for her fights with Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene on the Oversight panels’ DOGE subcommittee. 

Mr. Connolly is just the latest in a string of elderly Democrats whose departure is threatening the caucus’s ability to function as an effective opposition party. Ironically, Mr. Connolly wore a tie of President Franklin Roosevelt to a meeting with colleagues last year where he pitched himself as the best person to lead his party on the Oversight Committee. Roosevelt famously died just weeks into his fourth term. 

The Democrats’ losses of two elderly House members due to illnesses has already crippled their ability to fight the GOP agenda in recent weeks. Earlier in April, the House passed Speaker Johnson’s budget framework by a one-vote margin — a Republican win made possible only because Congressmen Sylvester Turner and Raúl Grijalva, both septuagenarian Democrats who had been diagnosed with cancer before the 2024 election, died in office this year. 

Several other Democratic lawmakers are at high health risks due to their advanced ages, and could be out of commission for pivotal votes in the next 18 months as the opposition party tries to fight their Republican counterparts. The median age of House Democrats at 57.6 is now higher than the median age of House Republicans, which sits at 57.5.