Adam Schiff is trying to be House Democratic leader
Schiff, who gained notoriety investigating Russia’s involvement in the 2016 election before leading the first impeachment of President Donald Trump, is exploring a bid to lead the House Democratic caucus if Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) retires after the midterm elections, according to more than a dozen House members and top aides who have spoken directly with the congressman.
This account of Schiff’s recent efforts is based on interviews with eight lawmakers and 18 staff members and lobbyists familiar with leadership dynamics, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.
If he can amass enough interest in his candidacy, Schiff would upend a race that was considered largely set, challenging a variety of Democrats gunning for the top spot, including possibly Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), who has positioned himself among members as Pelosi’s heir apparent and represents a new generation of Democrats.
Schiff’s overtures, which began in earnest earlier this year, have focused on consolidating support among his home base, the expansive California delegation, according to members of that group. And though he has not made an explicit ask for endorsements, he is gauging members’ interest and planting the seed that leading the caucus is his goal.
Schiff has also reached out to members in a variety of key blocs in the vast Democratic caucus, including the minority tri-caucuses made up of the powerful Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. He has also reached out to the ideological factions within the Democratic caucus: both the large Progressive Caucus and the centrist New Democrat Coalition, of which he is a member, according to several people with knowledge of the outreach.
The jockeying for leadership roles comes as House Democrats are eager to take the party into the next generation, satisfying an increasingly restless progressive base while pushing back against a more conservative, but divided, opposition intent on payback for the treatment of President Donald Trump.
The debate inside the caucus mirrors the sentiment of many Democratic voters who are demanding a younger and more diverse leadership structure in the party — a tension that flared during the 2020 Democratic primaries and is resurfacing as President Biden’s poll numbers slide. Schiff, 62, represents the kind of leader many Democrats have urged the party to move beyond: older, White and in politics nearly three decades. Both Jeffries and Clyburn are Black and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, though Clyburn is older than Schiff.
Schiff’s trial balloon has been met with surprise and skepticism that he could earn enough support to win, according to several lawmakers. Jeffries, for example, has spent years assembling broad support among the House Democratic caucus.
“I told (Schiff) I thought it would be a difficult thing because of the lead that Hakeem has,” said one member of the California delegation, who had spoken with Schiff.
And while the California delegation is a powerful bloc, often sticking together in party leadership votes, its response to his outreach has been tepid, according to several members. Several are unsure Schiff can make the necessary inroads.
“I am with Jeffries and have been for quite some time,” said a second member of the California delegation, who noted they admire Schiff and think he has been a fantastic member. “This puts me in an awkward place.”
No one interviewed expressed outright support for Schiff. However, every member thought while leadership might not be the right place, Schiff deserved a prominent position within the party.
Lawmakers and staff members who had communicated with Schiff or his office also noted they were not explicitly asked for support in their conversations.
When asked about Schiff’s desire to seek the top spot in leadership, spokeswoman Cate Hurley said his “time and energy are focused” on reelecting Democrats.
“Chairman Schiff is doing everything possible to support vulnerable Democratic colleagues and promising challengers so that we can retain the House Democratic majority in November,” she added. Schiff declined to be interviewed for this story.
House Democrats continue to say privately that they believe a new generation of leadership should come to the forefront. Jeffries, 51; Assistant Speaker Katherine M. Clark (D-Mass.), 59; and Democratic caucus vice chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), 43, are considered the leadership trio in waiting, given they are all young, have served in Congress for less than a decade and all belong to minority caucuses. (Jeffries is Black, Clark is a woman, and Aguilar is Hispanic and previously represented a battleground district).
Schiff’s pursuit of leadership was a topic of conversation this past weekend at a Congressional Black Caucus fundraiser in New York City, according to multiple people in attendance. One person said lawmakers, including several from the New York and California delegations, were “infuriated” that anyone mulling a run for leadership would consider splintering the caucus.
“Anyone whose strategy is that they’re going to split the CBC is going to fail,” the person said.
The CBC is well aware that for the first time in its history it can elevate the first Black leader of any party in either chamber of Congress. Members have received the signal that Jeffries would want the top spot, but the CBC also would honor and equally support Clyburn in whatever position he may seek, according to people familiar with the group’s thinking.
In an interview with The Washington Post earlier this year, Clyburn said that while becoming speaker “was not on his radar,” he was not necessarily going to step away from seeking a higher position and dismissed accusations of ageism, noting that leadership needs to have “a healthy balance of strength and experience.”
There is an acknowledgment, however, that a Clyburn run for the top spot could divide caucus allegiances. But the CBC does “not believe we’ll lose to Adam Schiff,” one person familiar with the group’s thinking said.
Schiff’s strategy to ascend to leadership is based on the assumption that Pelosi would step down as speaker at the end of the year, a promise she made members when she ran for the top job two years ago. Yet she has spent this term deflecting questions about when she would retire, with those closest to her often reminding that she has never declared a decision before an election takes place.
“The speaker is not on a shift, she’s on a mission,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said, refusing to weigh in on Schiff’s exploration.
Hoyer has long aspired to replace Pelosi and is not deterred by members once again calling for younger, more diverse leadership, according to people close to him. He told The Washington Post in February he hopes colleagues recognize his service to the caucus over the decades and would reelect him to leadership.
Hoyer and Clyburn are in their 80s and have been in the top three positions since 2006. By testing the waters of support among his colleagues, Schiff is skirting what has been broadly viewed as the order of succession.
“I think it’s very, very difficult to go from outside the leadership position to jumping everybody,” said a person familiar with the inner workings of the caucus. “That is a dynamic that would be hard for any politician. But I think there’s no question that if Schiff thinks he can take the top spot or even the top two or three, I don’t think there’s any question his math is complicated, if not impossible.”
Several members and aides also expressed hesitation that in running for the top spot, Schiff is jumping over another Californian, Aguilar, who has worked to amass support for a potential leadership bid with Jeffries and Clark. Aguilar also has the support of many within the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, a group that would like to elevate him and potentially a Latina into the leadership ranks.
Schiff is a prolific fundraiser, which is a necessary requirement for the leader of the party. He has hired political fundraiser Bruce Kieloch, whom…
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