WASHINGTON — The fallout from Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser’s victory over U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the state’s June Democratic primary for governor fell 1,800 miles away in New Jersey.
That’s because Bennet’s loss likely prevented Cory Booker from claiming the top Democratic spot on the Senate Agriculture Committee — even the gavel if the party wins control of the chamber this fall.
Bennet is next in line to chair the committee, with Booker after him. Had Bennet become governor, the gavel would have fallen to Booker based on seniority.
“It was an exciting prospect,” Booker told the New Jersey Globe. “I’m sorry Bennett lost not just because of that fact, but he’s a great leader and would have been great for Colorado.”
Bennet or Booker are in the position to grab the gavel if Democrats win back the Senate — or serve as the ranking member on the Agriculture Committee if they don’t — because all of the other Democratic members on the panel more senior than those two are leaving, and seniority is still the most important factor when lawmakers choose the chair.
On the Agriculture Committee, the ranking member, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, is favored to become Minnesota’s next governor; Minnesota’s other U.S. senator, Tina Smith, is retiring; and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois also isn’t running for re-election.
For Booker, it would have enhanced his profile in advance of the 2028 Democratic presidential primaries.
“If you care about the economy, because agriculture is the No. 1 industry in the country; if you care about a clean environment and a better climate; If you care about jobs, I mean, that’s agriculture,” said House Agriculture Committee chair Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania).
“If you’re really there for good policy and not the politics, there’s no finer place to be to make a difference in every person’s life in this great nation.”
But Rutgers University pollster Ashley Koning said sitting atop a congressional committee doesn’t pack the political punch it once did.
“I feel like we have strayed so far away from the traditional memes by what helps you get in line for the presidency or gives you a leg up in campaigning for the presidency,” she said.
“I just feel like we are in a completely different era from those classic times of holding leadership positions and chairs or cabinet positions,” said Koning. “Nowadays, I mean, everything has been completely upended in terms of what gets you to the White House.”