Maryland U.S. Rep. James Raskin, who represents Maryland’s 8th District, officially launched his campaign to be the next ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee in the 119th Congress.
In a letter released on Dec. 2, the Democrat expressed concern over the future of the country in the face of a GOP-controlled Congress and White House, calling next year’s political scene the “fight of our lives.”
This time the MAGA movement has not only a trifecta but a complicit Supreme Court waiting in the wings and a dominant media propaganda system parroting all the lies,” he wrote. “House Democrats must stand in the breach to defend the principles and institutions of constitutional democracy.”
Congressman Raskin urged his colleagues to “strategize and organize like never before” until Democrats “win the House back in 2026,” he predicted. With Republican’s thin 220-215 majority in the House, the Democrat said lawmakers need to advance legislation that will prevent a “further descent into MAGA chaos.”
“This is where we will wage our front-line defense of the freedoms and rights of the people, the integrity of the Department of Justice and the FBI, and the security of our most precious birthright possession: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the rule of law, and democracy itself,” he wrote.
Throughout his career in politics, Congressman Raskin has leveraged his experience as a professor of constitutional law and the First Amendment for over 25 years, and his decades-long work at the Maryland State Senate, where he served as Majority Whip.
During his time at the Maryland General Assembly, Congressman Raskin advocated for marriage equality, abolition of the death penalty, restoration of voting rights for former prisoners, and the passage of the National Popular Vote interstate compact.
Congressman Raskin has been a member of the House Judiciary Committee since he joined Congress in 2017, and was heavily involved in the legislative aftermath of Jan. 6. Together with Congressmen Ted Lieu and Joe Neguse, Raskin successfully drafted an Article of Impeachment against president-elect Donald Trump.
In the 119th Congress, the Judiciary Committee will be the headquarters of Congressional opposition to authoritarianism and MAGA’s campaign to dismantle our Constitutional system and the rule of law as we know it,” the Congressman Raskin wrote in his ‘dear colleague’ letter. “I hope to be at the center of this fight and — as someone who has battled cancer and chemotherapy — I can tell you that I will never surrender, never surrender.”
The Democrat concluded the letter expressing respect and “boundless admiration” for his opponent and current Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler.
In response to the news on social media, political pundits were quick to weigh in. John Dedie, a political science professor at the Community College of Baltimore County, predicted Congressman Raskin would earn enough support to be selected as ranking member.
“Dems want a guy who can do the theatre of TV for all the public hearings and is sharp with sound bites,” Dedie wrote on X, previously known as Twitter. “Rep. Raskin is that guy.”
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