If Democrats win back Congress, Jamie Raskin could be DC’s next main character

U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin is ready to pounce.

For almost two years, the Montgomery County Democrat has watched the Republican-led Congress do little to check President Donald Trump’s power.

The president, his family and their allies benefit from self-dealing and grow richer by the day while the country is mired in an affordability crisis, Raskin said.

But if Democrats win back the House in November, as polling shows they have a good shot at doing, Raskin could resume his position as Trump’s No. 1 antagonist.

Now the ranking member of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, Raskin is likely to assume its chairmanship, and with it the ability to at least make a public show of accountability for Trump and his administration.

“We are seeing corruption on a scale and at a magnitude that America has never witnessed or experienced before,” Raskin said in an interview. “And the Trump administration has no plan for the people of America.”

Raskin, who’s in one of the most Democratic-leaning districts in the country, is almost certain to win a sixth term this fall.

So Maryland’s highest-profile member of Congress has spent the last year traveling the country — he’s been to 26 states, from Washington to Florida, his campaign says — to stump for centrists and socialists alike. And his campaign says he has raised $3 million for Democrats, with more to come, all in an effort to win back Congress in November and hold Trump’s feet to the fire.

That would be a familiar spot for Raskin. He led Democrats’ impeachment case in February 2021, Trump’s second, and became a Democratic star overnight. The Guardian described him as having “dominated” the Senate trial. The New York Times wrote then that he was “made for this moment.”

His fellow Democrats have only burnished that reputation since.

“Talk about someone who has stood tall for democracy, who is on the case with respect to the corruption in the Trump administration and the ability of Congress to reestablish checks and balances,” Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas, who is running for the Senate in New Hampshire, said of Raskin at a campaign event there last month.

Would reestablishing checks and balances spur a third Trump impeachment? Not exactly. Raskin told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in early September that impeachment is “not a taboo,” but it’s “not a panacea,” either.

For Democrats to remain in power going forward, Raskin told The Banner, they’ll have to work on things beyond Trump. The tough work of addressing the price of gas and groceries, the lack of housing, and the specter of job losses because of artificial intelligence looms.

Taking over Congress ahead of the 2028 election would be both a blessing and a curse, said Kesicia Dickinson, assistant professor of political science and economics at Morgan State University. Get things done and the party could win the White House. Stall out and Republicans could come right back.

“It’s really important that whatever the message or the plan is, that the Democrats get it right,” Dickinson said.

To Raskin, affordability and accountability go hand in hand. Grocery prices are high because Immigration and Customs Enforcement is limiting farm labor and because the Iran war is pumping up the price of diesel fuel, which in turn increases the price of transporting food and other goods, he said.

“Affordability is just the flip side of accountability,” Raskin said. “The corruption is costing us billions and billions of dollars a year.”

Raskin said Democrats will push for accountability by holding hearings, issuing subpoenas and picking topics that will resonate with the public.

Historically, the Judiciary Committee has had wide latitude for what it can investigate and a range of tools at its disposal, according to Sarah Binder, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a professor of political science at George Washington University.

But history and norms aren’t good indicators of how oversight will work under this Trump administration, Binder said.

“We’re sort of in uncharted territory for what does oversight look like with a totally uncooperative executive branch,” she said.

Trump might direct staff and administration officials not to comply with subpoenas or other requests from a Democratic Congress, as he did in his first term.

Normally, Congress could seek to hold those officials in contempt, which could lead to federal prosecution. But given Trump’s hold over the Department of Justice, that also seems unlikely, Binder said.

That doesn’t mean Democrats’ hands are tied, though. So much has entered the public domain by way of news reports and whistleblowers that any oversight hearings will still have plenty of meat to work with.

“We’re going to be ready for them,” Raskin said.

“We’ve got lots of private actors who, contrary to Trump’s wishes, are not somehow draped in a blanket of presidential immunity because Trump doesn’t want anybody to interview them,” he added.

And the hearings themselves could be useful for messaging. Getting the public — already widely dissatisfied with Trump, according to polls — more outraged and engaged could help Democrats win the presidency, Binder said.

If these oversight hearings become the must-see TV that Democrats want, and if the party is able to address affordability concerns these next two years, Raskin could turn into something of a main character going into 2028.

Could Raskin consider throwing his name into the presidential hat ring that may already include fellow Marylanders Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Gov. Wes Moore?

“I don’t have any bloodlust for it,” he said. “I would literally do anything to get America through this process, and if I had, you know, my colleagues telling me that I need to do that, and there was a clamor for it, I would very seriously consider it.”

For now, he said, he’s focused on this November.

“I take these election cycles one at a time,” he said.