By RANDY RUEDRICH
The United States House of Representatives (Congress) consists of two teams of elected members. The majority team runs the show. The minority team watches. The majority team elects its House leadership and its committees that craft all the legislation that comes to House floor for a vote.
How does a member become a meaningful member of the majority, like a committee chair?
Consider the demographic description of the Members of Congress. The average member is 57.9 years of age and has served 8.5 years in Congress. The average age of a new member is 47.8 years of age. These statistics are from the Congressional Research Service, published on March 11, 2024: “Membership of the 118th Congress: A Profile.”
Advancing to congressional leadership is critical in achieving Alaska’s goals. Congress has 23 committees currently run by Republican chairs. Rookies are not elected to chair a committee.
The current 23 chairs were in Congress for over eight years before they were elected as a committee chair, or even a ranking member of a committee. The data is skewed since most chairs on extremely important committees initially were selected to lead a lesser committee. Hence the time served to chair a major committee like Judiciary, Natural Resources or Rules would be much greater.
What does this mean for a typical legislator? Newly elected members are usually under age 50. That typical member will serve four terms in Congress before departing for other duties and interests.
Since the average chair was not elected to their position until after eight years, the average member never participates in this Leadership process. Alaska was well served by Congressman Don Young, who entered Congress at age 39 and chaired major committees for 12 years. Sen. Ted Stevens did likewise, first entering Congress at age 46. Lisa Murkowski began serving in the US Senate when she was 45 years old.
Let’s consider our two 2024 Republican Congressional candidates:
Nick Begich is entering this election at age 47 (born 10/21/77). His age is similar to his new peers. As our congressman, he would compete with his peers for leadership positions as he serves on various committees of relevance to Alaskans. As he approaches age 55 after eight years in Congress, he could be tapped for a committee leadership position.
Nancy Dahlstrom is age 67 entering this election (born 8/13/57), a nominal two decades older than the typical new member. By the time she has served eight years in Congress, she will be over 75 years of age. Her competitors for leadership roles will always be 20 years younger. Instead of being an active candidate for Republican House Leadership, she would be approaching the end of her political career.
Why vote for someone who lacks the actuarial capacity to achieve seniority for Alaska?
Alaska needs someone with enough runway left to make a difference. Alaska needs Nick Begich.
Randy Ruedrich is former chairman of the Alaska Republican Party and is a retired petroleum engineer.
This article was originally published by a mustreadalaska.com . Read the Original article here. .