Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) will challenge Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) for the ranking member post on the Natural Resources Committee, the California Democrat announced in a letter today obtained by Punchbowl News.
The 76-year-old Grijalva, the son of a Mexican immigrant, has been chair or ranking member of Natural Resources since 2015. The challenge from the 60-year-old Huffman is going to cause waves within the Democratic Caucus.
But with President-elect Donald Trump returning for a second term in January — and all that means for the environment, energy production and federal land management — Huffman argues that Democrats need to be as aggressive as possible in responding to that agenda:
Huffman added “my first action as Ranking Member will be to ask the Caucus to designate our friend and colleague Rep. Raúl Grijalva ‘Ranking Member Emeritus.’”
With Rep. Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.) and Del. Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan (D-CNMI) retiring, Huffman is next in line for Democrats on the panel.
Grijalva’s office couldn’t be reached for comment on Tuesday night.
Grijalva has announced that the 119th Congress will be his last following his diagnosis of lung cancer. He missed extensive time undergoing medical treatment, returning to Capitol Hill this week to vote for the first time in months.
Huffman has served on the Natural Resources panel since he came to Congress in 2013, with a decade of that as a chair or ranking subcommittee member. His northern California district — which has the highest number of Indigenous tribes outside of Alaska — has suffered from climate change, including drought, wildfires and sea-level rise.
Huffman has also been far more active than Grijalva politically. According to a DCCC dues sheet, Huffman raised $1.4 million-plus this cycle for Democrats, including nearly $900,000 for Frontliners. Grijalva raised $161,000 and nothing for Frontliners this cycle. Since 2018, Huffman has nearly quadrupled Grijalva’s money totals.
We’ll have lots more on this contest, which will come to a head next month.
