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Democrat Gerry Connolly, now 74, who represents Virginia's 11th District, was selected to be the top member of the House Oversight Committee over controversial New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who had been pushing for the position and a change of the guard.
Connolly easily earned the nomination by nearly 50 votes.
"I thank my colleagues for their support and the confidence they've placed in me to lead House Democrats on the Oversight Committee," the longtime politician said in a statement.
The New York Congressman acknowledged the defeat in a short social media post made shortly before 1 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon.
"Tried my best. Sorry I couldn’t pull it through everyone - we live to fight another day. ♥️," she posted on Bluesky.
Connolly, who has been in office since 2009, came out swinging following the nomination, stating that his party "knows what the Republican playbook will be ... We have seen it before.
"They have demonstrated that they are willing to traffic in debunked conspiracy theories and enable the worst abuses of the Trump administration."
The new nomination comes after Connolly ran for the same Oversight position multiple times before, and he is poised to hit the ground running.
"This will be trench warfare. Now is not the time to be timid. I promise the American people that our Committee Democrats will be a beacon of truth and prepared from day one to counter Republican gaslighting," he added.
"We will be disciplined. We will be laser-focused on getting results on the kitchen table issues that affect the American people the most," Connolly stated.
"We will stand up for our democracy and for truth ... And we will protect the tremendous and historic progress we have made as House Democrats."
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