Five House Democrats to Watch (Not Named Ocasio-Cortez)

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Mikie Sherrill, one of more than five dozen newly elected House Democrats, is excited about coming to Congress: “We really can accomplish a lot.” So is Max Rose, who says his strong-willed fellow freshmen “aren’t going to just go in a corner and vote.”

In the orientation for new members, Colin Allred, another freshman, was “blown away” by the diversity of his classmates, “not just gender and color but the range of experiences.” Katie Hill revels in the “great energy” the newcomers bring, which Abigail Spanberger feels will facilitate “producing results.”

These five members — Sherrill of New Jersey, Hill of California, Allred of Texas, New York’s Rose and Spanberger of Virginia — are the story of what is potentially the most significant new class of House members in our lifetime.

A few bomb-throwers have attracted the most attention. New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for example, has become the darling of the left wing for her views and the favored target of the right wing, which portrays her as the face of new Democrats.

But it’s the first group that could shape the new House. All five new representatives captured Republican-held seats, and four of them beat incumbents.

There are 66 new House Democrats; 43 of them took Republican seats. More than half of them are women, and one-third are minorities. They include veterans, former national security and intelligence operatives, human-rights activists, nonprofit executives and entrepreneurs.

Many of these five are mainstream progressives, who overall trounced Bernie Sanders lefties in the primaries this year, and who are more interested in results than rhetoric.

If successful, they will shape the House majority in the era of Trump. They also will be the top targets of Republicans in the next election and the most at risk if Democrats fail.

They represent decidedly different districts and regions, and have some clear policy differences, but they sound remarkably similar in their initial impressions and in their expectations. Two of these five, Hill and Allred, will support Pelosi for House speaker in January, while the other three will not. None seem worried that a fractious fight could cause residual damage.

They all said their original meetings a few weeks ago met the high expectations. They shrug at some of the archaic procedures (House leadership votes are counted by paper ballots and can take up to an hour) and the incessant receptions: “If I have to eat another crab cake I’ll jump off the Verrazano Bridge,” complains Max Rose, an Army veteran who was wounded in Afghanistan.

They all declare that the top priority is their district; if it’s not, they’ll be one-termers. Within that context and recognizing shades of differences, all five see realistic achievements with limitations: “We can accomplish a lot by 2010,” declares Sherrill. “What we can’t do, we’ll do later.”

They all voice support for the Democratic leadership’s first initiative, a sweeping anti-corruption bill that sets tougher ethics rules for members of Congress and the Supreme Court, mandates more transparency for political-action committees, offers public money to match small campaign contributions, and requires presidents to release their tax returns.

“People have lost faith in government,” observes Hill. “This will send an important signal.” Rose cracks: “Trump said he wants to drain the swamp. Let’s do it.”

They’d like to do this with some bipartisan support. For Republicans, however, there are poison pills that could derail cooperation, such as proposals requiring release of Trump’s tax returns and the public funding of campaigns. Even if the new Democratic majority in the House passes a comprehensive measure, to have any chance of being considered in the Senate and enacted, the legislation would have to be broken into pieces.

The Democratic freshmen rattle off substantive measures that could be approved: infrastructure projects, more measures to combat the opioid epidemic, policies to reduce drug prices, criminal justice reform and maybe some gun-control measures.

Other than action on guns, these all are notions President Donald Trump has embraced. Can they work with him, selectively?

“It’s really unclear,” says Sherrill. “Some of what he says is encouraging, and then he says something else.”

These bright lawmakers-to-be say a huge mistake would be to emulate Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who after Barack Obama’s election in 2008 said his party’s top objective was to deny the president a second term.

Spanberger acknowledges that some other rookies in Congress “want to put down a marker as opposed to enacting policies.” But she already sees “common ground” emerging on a number of issues.

The newcomers may be in for a shock when they try to deal with House Republicans. The party’s new leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, will be constantly looking over his right shoulder and is interested solely in winning political advantage.

But some newcomers say they are already talking to colleagues on the other side of the aisle.

Allred, a young African-American lawyer and former professional football player from an upscale Dallas district, has been talking to Van Taylor, a conservative Republican just elected from an adjoining district, about possible common ground.

Next week Allred has scheduled coffee with a constituent: former President George W. Bush.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.net

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Albert R. Hunt is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics and policy. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

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