California Rep. Jim Costa said on Wednesday that he was seeking party support to become the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee, a post now held by Georgia Rep. David Scott. The race would be a rematch of 2020, when Scott became the first Black chairman of the committee.
House Democrats will vote in January on committee leadership posts. The date for the caucus was yet to be set. Costa is 72, while Scott is 79. He was being treated in the Atlanta area for back problems and has been using a wheelchair to get about, reported the Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week.
In the past couple of years, there have been repeated Capitol Hill whispers that Scott, with a courtly and deliberate manner, was not aggressive enough in promoting Democratic views at committee meetings or forging consensus among Democrats on the panel. Four of them voted for the Republican-written farm bill that was approved by the committee in late May.
Scott is running for another term as ranking Democrat on the committee, said an aide.