Congress
Hispanic Caucus members are devastated their chair lost his primary. Will they welcome his successor?
Still reeling from their leader’s electoral defeat earlier this week, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus are warily preparing to welcome his successor — with some conditions.
Darializa Avila Chevalier — a Democratic Socialist who ousted Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat in Tuesday’s New York primary and is expected to win the general election — plans to join the coalition currently composed of 42 Democrats across the party’s ideological spectrum.
“ICE kidnappings have sent school absenteeism rates skyrocketing across New York City since immigrant parents are too afraid to send their children to school,” Avalia Chevalier said in a statement Thursday. “I’m proud to join the CHC on Day One in office and stand alongside Latino leaders to fight back, push a bold agenda for our families and make sure NY-13’s voice is heard.“
The Hispanic Caucus is expected to be at the center of consequential policy fights in the next Congress as Democrats continue to battle the Trump administration on any number of fronts, including immigration. If Democrats take the majority, the CHC will look to assert its agenda even further, including by seeking to influence the likely speaker, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries.
But CHC members will demand that Avila Chevalier be a team player. Notwithstanding that she is coming into Congress having taken out a beloved incumbent, she has embraced positions during the campaign, and earlier on social media, that put her at odds with even some of her more liberal future colleagues.
She has, for instance, called for the abolition of Israel as well as all forms of policing, borders and private property.
“If she joins and is aligned with all our priorities and all our legislative programs, we would welcome her,” said Hispanic Caucus Whip Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas).
Some leading CHC members hope Avila Chevalier will be a productive contributor.
“The more voices that we have, the better and stronger both our larger caucus and the CHC is,” said caucus policy Vice Chair Rep. Rob Menendez (D-N.J.).
Should she be turned away from joining the Hispanic Caucus, though, there would be some precedent.
Espaillat himself tried to join the Congressional Black Caucus after running against a founding member, the late-Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel, in 2012 and 2014. When Rangel retired in 2016, Espaillat ran for the seat a third time — against Rangel’s preferred successor. When Espaillat prevailed, the CBC denied his attempt to join their ranks.
The all-Democratic CHC also previously denied a lawmaker from joining the group in 2017: Then-Rep. Carlos Curbelo, a Florida Republican who was locked in a longstanding feud with the group.
Current members aren’t expecting any similar fireworks with Avila Chevalier. Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Calif.) — the chair of BOLD PAC, the CHC’s campaign arm — said in a Tuesday statement that “Democrats win when we move forward together.”
“Our commitment is to continue the work Adriano has led with the same energy and determination,” Sanchez continued, “and we look forward to standing with Darializa Avila Chevalier in the fight ahead.”
Progressive Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) said “it would be a shame if there are members of Congress who can’t see past respecting a democratic process of an election and not welcome her. I certainly will, and I’m going to do everything in my power over the next six months to help her prepare.”
But Espaillat, when asked Thursday whether he thinks Avila Chevalier should be a part of the CHC, would only say, “That’s another question. I’ll answer it next week.”
Though he won’t have a vote in Congress next year to deny her entry, the decade-long House veteran is respected by his colleagues and considered a mentor to many CHC members, and loyalty could play a role in how Avila Chevalier is received inside the caucus.
“It’s a real loss,” said former Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) of Espaillat’s departure.
The Hispanic Caucus, meanwhile, will not only be contending with a new, potentially polarizing member, but having to select a chair for the next Congress; though CHC chairs typically only serve one term, there won’t be an immediate predecessor close by to ease the transition.
Multiple Hispanic Caucus members said this week they expect the current vice chair, Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), to ascend. However, several CHC Democrats also acknowledged that Soto is facing a challenging reelection bid in his newly redrawn district, which could render a potential promotion moot.
Other senior members of CHC leadership include Menendez; Rep. Norma Torres (D-Calif.), who serves as vice chair of communications; and Rep. Andrea Salinas (D-Ore.), the current vice chair of engagement.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) is also a member of CHC leadership, but he was previously the chair. Garcia, the whip, said she isn’t interested in the caucus’ top spot.
At least one former chair, retiring Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.), said he hopes the group embraces the CHC’s next generation of members.
“All of the incoming members should be welcomed there,” he said. “The reality is that they will be a part of this new leadership. They represent the popular will in those districts, and they need to be incorporated as much as possible into the process.”
A pair of House Democrats voted to rescue the Republican legislative agenda Tuesday as GOP leaders faced an internal revolt, representing an extremely rare crossing of party lines on a procedural vote in a closely divided chamber.
Democratic Reps. Jared Golden of Maine and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington voted with most Republicans to set up debate on a series of GOP-led bills, including a resolution condemning socialism that party leaders want to use to hammer Democrats on the campaign trail.
The two Democrats were decisive in the 210-208 vote, where five Republicans had broken ranks over frustrations with how party leaders had handled an earlier vote on government spending.
Neither Golden nor Gluesenkamp Perez gave immediate comment on their votes. Both are members of the moderate Blue Dog Democrats, and Golden is not seeking reelection in November.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters he did not get a heads-up from the two Democrats, and Majority Whip Tom Emmer also suggested he was caught by surprise.
“I don’t count Democratic votes,” he said.
Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said he believed Golden backed the measure because it provided for passage of a bill benefiting lobstermen in his home state. The bill in question delays the implementation of fishing regulations meant to protect the right whale population.
The GOP holdouts were upset over a variety of issues linked to the spending bill, including the inclusion of a delay on a ban on sales of some hemp products and the manner in which GOP leaders put the funding bill on the floor. That bill, which had White House backing, passed earlier Tuesday in a 370-48 vote.
Had the procedural vote failed, Speaker Mike Johnson would have faced immediate pressure to cut the House session short and send members home ahead of next week’s GOP midterm convention in Dallas. With the government now funded through the midterms and no other pressing deadlines to meet before November, GOP leaders could still scrap some or all of the remaining September session weeks to allow members to campaign in their districts.
The House cleared a stopgap funding patch Tuesday to keep cash flowing to federal agencies until mid-December — preventing a government shutdown before Election Day and setting up two major policy battles at year’s end.
The 370-48 vote takes care of Speaker Mike Johnson’s last must-pass bill before the midterms. But swift passage comes at a cost for House GOP leaders, who are now managing blowback from Republicans angry about the contents of the funding patch Senate leaders crafted and President Donald Trump endorsed.
The legislation would fund the government beyond the October start of the new fiscal year, keeping federal agencies running on current budgets through Dec. 11. It also allows incumbents to campaign for reelection without the threat of a government shutdown feeding into political messaging about dysfunction in Washington.
“We want to get a longer-term deal. But at a minimum, let’s ensure that we can continue to see government properly funded and functioning,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Tuesday, noting the “chaos” and “uncertainty” of last year’s record-breaking shutdown.
Besides funding the government through mid-December, the bill would temporarily block the White House from finalizing a rule to put political appointees in charge of approving federal grants.
It would also delay a ban set to kick in next month on intoxicating hemp products — to the dissatisfaction of House hard-liners, who threatened to vote Tuesday afternoon against teeing up debate on other bills this week and potentially block any significant House floor action between now and November.
Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, chair of the Freedom Caucus, was among the Republicans who voted no on the funding patch and said he would oppose moving forward with debate on other bills too. He scoffed at the last-minute pressure campaign from the White House and hemp industry leaders promising to regulate intoxicating products in lieu of proceeding with the ban lawmakers enacted last November.
“They had 10 months,” Harris said in an interview this week, knocking the Trump administration for not taking action sooner to crack down on the products currently sold in the U.S. without age restrictions or other regulations. “There are profiteers who are making money on basically the health of our children, and I object to that.”
Trump is expected to sign the funding patch, which the White House endorsed last month ahead of Senate passage — even though it blocks the Office of Management and Budget from finalizing its controversial rule to overhaul the federal grantmaking approval process.
That Senate-added language, as well as a prohibition on new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, drove significant support from House Democrats.
“This critically stops the OMB rule from proceeding forward that many of us have been pushing against,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) said Tuesday, cheering other “incredibly helpful” additions to the bare-bones stopgap House Republicans initially passed earlier this summer.
Democrats also hope to regain control of the House and Senate in the November elections and increase their leverage in December negotiations on government funding for the rest of the fiscal year.
“That’s the huge intervening event,” House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said this week about the election. “And it will impact whatever comes after it, no matter what anybody thinks. So it’s not like we’ll go back and pick up exactly where we left off.”
The Oklahoma Republican traveled to Ukraine and other European countries last month with his counterpart across the aisle, top committee Democrat Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut.
The two top appropriators are motivated to strike a year-end deal to fund federal agencies with updated budgets, Cole said, rather than clearing another short stopgap or resorting to a lengthy patch that keeps programs on autopilot through next September
“We both are pretty adamant that we need to get these bills done before the end of the calendar year,” Cole said, adding that he and DeLauro will be “working really hard once we know who the players are on the other side” of Election Day.
Everton Blair was sworn in to the House Tuesday, adding another Democrat to the closely divided chamber. Blair won a special election this month to replace the late Georgia Rep. David Scott, a former chair of the House Agriculture Committee. Another Democratic winner of a recent special election, Aisha Wahab of California, is scheduled to be sworn in tomorrow to replace former Rep. Eric Swalwell, according to a person familiar with the plan.
With the two Democrats sworn and voting, Speaker Mike Johnson will be able to lose only one Republican on party-line votes.
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