Rep. Edolphus Towns of New York emerged Thursday as the leading candidate to take the chairmanship of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Two senior Democrats said Towns would be the frontrunner to succeed current chairman Henry A. Waxman , who earlier Thursday ousted John D. Dingell of Michigan from the chairmanship of the Energy and Commerce Committee.

The decision about the Oversight panel will not be made Thursday, however. Rosa DeLauro , D-Conn., said the delay would give members time to deliberate away from the excitement over the Waxman-Dingell contest.

Towns said he did not expect a challenge from a potential rival, Elijah E. Cummings , D-Md., who is the chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, and who will likely be focused on the coming highway reauthorization.

Jennifer Kohl, a Cummings aide, said her boss would be “honored to succeed Chairman Waxman, but he respects that his CBC [Congressional Black Caucus] colleague, Mr. Towns, is next in line.”

Under Waxman, the Oversight panel actively investigated the Bush administration and lately has held a series of hearings to examine the causes of the financial crisis. But with an incoming Democratic administration, the panel is expected to take a lower profile.

The two senior Democrats said Towns likely would have strong support when he seeks the endorsement of the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, who sits on the Oversight panel, said she would support her home-state colleague’s bid for the panel’s gavel.

“If Mr. Towns were not a candidate, I would be — and I believe I would make the strongest case, having served the caucus by my work in helping to save the Census and advancing a reform agenda” in the Oversight panel, Maloney said in a written statement.

Towns was a strong backer of Dingell in his bid to retain his chairmanship against Waxman, a strong ally of Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif. But Towns said he did not think that past support of Dingell would hurt his effort to win the gavel of the Oversight panel.

“I am hopeful I will be named the chairman of the committee,” Towns said.

Waxman said in an interview that he did not expect to push for any candidate to succeed him, for now.

Towns previously served as a senior Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s financial services subcommittee, but that panel was disbanded and its jurisdiction over the securities industry was shifted to the newly created Financial Services Committee in 2001.

Towns currently serves as chairman of the Oversight Subcommittee on Government Management, Organization and Procurement.