By Jonathan Allen and Coral Davenport, CQ Staff

The House Democratic Steering Committee has nominated Henry A. Waxman to be chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee next year — a stinging rebuke of the sitting chairman, John D. Dingell .

Waxman won a 25-22 vote over Dingell in a closed-door meeting of the Steering panel on Wednesday. Because Dingell got more than 13 votes in the secret balloting, he can be nominated to run against Waxman at Thursday’s Democratic Caucus meeting, at which all of the Democrats elected to the 111th Congress are eligible to vote.

Waxman 69, currently chairs the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. He has used his position to conduct aggressive investigations of various activities of the Bush administration, but would likely have less appetite for similar probes of the incoming Obama administration.

Dingell’s supporters said they are not worried by the vote of the Steering panel, which they say is stocked with left-leaning members who do not represent the broader makeup of Democratic Caucus.

“If you look at the makeup of that committee in terms of geography and political leanings, this is not the same dynamic as our whole caucus,” said Jim Matheson , D-Utah, who is part of a team working the phones for Dingell, D-Mich.

Dingell, 82, enjoys backing from moderate and Midwestern members, as well as lawmakers from the Congressional Black Caucus and the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

Waxman, D-Calif., and his supporters continued Thursday to take a quiet approach to the process. There were no news releases, conference calls or comments to the media.

Waxman has said he is confident of a win, though fewer members have publicly declared their support for him than for Dingell.

Dingell’s supporters say that among many Democrats, respect for the seniority system runs deep.

“We’re confident that Dingell will win,” said Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin, D-S.D., another member of Dingell’s whip team. “As someone from a Great Plains state, I want someone with a great background not just in effectiveness, but in attentiveness to all regions of the country.”

Herseth added: “Each of us has to wonder, if we were just as effective, if we had just as proven a track record, how would we feel, if that was challenged?”

The Energy and Commerce Committee has some of the broadest jurisdiction of any congressional panel, handling legislation on topics as disparate as telecommunications and health care, energy and environmental protection, interstate commerce and consumer protection.

Dingell, first elected in December 1955 to take the seat previously held by his father, is the House’s longest-serving current member. He is a skilled legislator renowned for protecting the interests of his state’s auto industry.