CQ TODAY ONLINE NEWS
Nov. 20, 2008 – 8:15 p.m.
Dingell’s Defeat Part of a Pattern of Growing California Clout
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
California’s clout in Congress keeps growing.
The Golden State is gaining again, this time at the expense of the Great Lakes region of the Midwest. On Thursday, majority Democrats decided to push Michigan’s John D. Dingell out of an important chairmanship in favor of Henry A. Waxman , who represents Beverly Hills.
Earlier this week, Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo, Ohio, lost a last-minute bid for the lowest-ranking elected leadership post to Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles, who was the anointed pick of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-Calif.
The slot that Becerra won came open in the leadership shuffle following the announcement that Democratic Caucus Chairman Rahm Emanuel , D-Ill., would become President-elect Barack Obama ’s chief of staff.
The migration of power to the West Coast comes, perhaps ironically, as Democrats have expanded from a mostly coastal minority into a majority that reaches deep into inland territory that was once viewed as solidly Republican “red.”
It is a dynamic that has escaped neither the attention nor the condemnation of some members from interior states who worry that the interests of their constituents could be pushed aside.
“We won our majority in the battleground states, and we have to have sensitivity to those regions and what they’re going through,” Kaptur said after Waxman beat Dingell. “I weep for the heartland.”
The Democrats’ success at the polls in 2006 and 2008 largely came from interior states and the exurban and rural areas of coastal states.
They picked up seats in the Great Lakes states and industrial Midwest from just south of Buffalo, N.Y., through Erie, Pa., and the counties west of Pittsburgh, to the eastern part of Ohio and its southwestern corner, to south-central Michigan and outside Detroit, to the southern tier of Indiana and as far south as Louisville, Ky.
They flipped southeastern Alabama’s rural 2nd District as well as Mississippi’s Tupelo-based 1st District.
Vast swaths of previously Republican territory in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Idaho, as well as a Las Vegas-area swing district now belong to Democrats.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen , who headed the Democrats’ campaign arm for the House this cycle, told colleagues in a memo released Thursday night that reaching into Republican-held suburbs, small cities and rural areas was crucial to the Democrats’ success.
“Of the 24 [GOP-held] districts that Democrats won this cycle, George Bush won 21 in 2004 by an average of 54 percent and many were carried by Sen. McCain,” he wrote. “This cycle, we won 21 suburban or partly suburban competitive districts and 14 exurban or rural competitive districts. Our base now includes our traditional urban base, as well as smaller cities, the suburbs and the exurbs.”
Dingell’s Defeat Part of a Pattern of Growing California Clout
Now compare that with the Democrats’ elected leadership and committee chairmen.
Those posts, filled through a system that rewards seniority, party loyalty and fundraising prowess, are stocked with representatives from states on the East and West coasts.
In addition to the Energy and Commerce Committee chairmanship and two of the five elected leadership jobs (held by Pelosi and Becerra), Californians hold gavels at the Foreign Relations Committee ( Howard L. Berman ) and the Education and Labor Committee ( George Miller ).
In the new Congress, Californians are certain to also handle the gavels of subcommittees with jurisdiction over hot-button topics.
Pete Stark , for example, chairs the Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Health. Californians Ellen O. Tauscher and Susan A. Davis run Armed Services subcommittees, Maxine Waters has the gavel of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing, and Californians are in charge of three Judiciary subcommittees, including the one with jurisdiction over immigration policy.
In the 111th Congress, there will be 34 or 35 California Democrats in the House, depending on the outcome of a still-undecided race between Republican Tom McClintock and Democrat Charlie Brown.
That means they will constitute about 13 percent of a caucus that will have, at most, 260 members.
Most of the chairmen of “exclusive” committees — Ways and Means Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New York, Rules Chairwoman Louise M. Slaughter of New York, Waxman and Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts — also hail from coastal states.
The only exception in that club is Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey of Wisconsin.
The exception among the leaders is Clyburn, whose district stretches from Columbia to Charleston to Florence, S.C.
As she argued to fellow Democrats that they should elect her instead of Becerra in a closed-door meeting this week, Kaptur distributed maps to colleagues with flags stuck in the coastal areas represented by Pelosi, Becerra, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, House Majority Whip James E. Clyburn of South Carolina, Van Hollen of Maryland, Democratic Caucus Chairman John B. Larson of Connecticut and Steering Committee chairwoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.
Van Hollen and DeLauro were appointed to their posts by Pelosi.
In between, Kaptur marked her district, home of the man made famous by Republican presidential nominee John McCain as “Joe the Plumber.”
Dingell’s Defeat Part of a Pattern of Growing California Clout
The theme of her campaign for a leadership post was “Bringing the Heartland to Leadership.”
Hoyer said he believes House Democrats can “make sure our caucus is an inclusive caucus,” even without more high-level representation by the non-coastal states.
Kaptur is less convinced.
Under normal circumstances, Dingell’s post as Energy and Commerce Committee chairman would not have been considered up for grabs, since he has been the top Democrat on that panel since 1981 and the caucus’ term limits would have allowed him to remain chairman for two more years.
“This time, Beverly Hills won,” Kaptur said.
Comments
For the party of Jefferson and Jackson this state is now the functional equivalent of the old Solid South, where lily-white, Dixie-whistling Democrats used safe seats to accumulate raw power both at home and inside the Dome.
California has the largest population in the country ... 1/7 of the population. California supplies more money to the federal government than any other state, and for every dollar Californians pay in taxes, on $.60 comes back to this state. The other 40% of the money we send to the federal governement is used to help other states. Perhaps it is about time our voices are represented in Congress.
A. Lewis, I have seen the return numbers from 1981 - 2005. During that time California received $0.92 on the dollar while New Jersey received only $0.65 and Michigan received only $0.80. To say I find your claim of a 60 cent return for California dubious is an understatement.
When did the Dems put in term limits for Committee Chairmen?
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