Molly Jong-Fast, a novelist and political journalist who has frequently gone to bat against President Donald Trump, is considering a run against Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) for Congress, Politico reported on Friday.
She said she lacks any confidence can continue with his job.
Jong-Fast told Politico's Jeff Coltin in a phone call she remains "on the fence" about running, and her first preference would be to recruit someone, rather than run herself.
“If someone who is a good communicator and a serious Democrat will run for that seat, then I absolutely will not," she said. "If there’s someone who’s an AOC or a Maxwell Frost — if there’s someone like that who will run — then I will just be delighted.”
"The dean of New York’s congressional delegation, Nadler has held the office for 32 years, since 1992. But in December he was pushed out of his role as the top Democrat on the powerful Judiciary Committee by Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who another member told Punchbowl has 'reenergized' the committee," said the report.
Despite this ouster, "Nadler has already filed to run for reelection. In fact, he told New York magazine last year he could run for another five terms. His chief of staff, Robert Gottheim, noted that Nadler easily beat veteran Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a competitive primary in 2022 and didn’t even face a primary in 2024 before getting reelected in November with 80 percent of the vote."
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Jong-Fast was unconvinced, however.
“It’s not about their age, it’s about their ability,” she told Politico. “And clearly the fact that Jerry has been removed from his committee means that leadership does not have faith in him. If leadership does not have faith in him, then the voters should not have faith in him.”
This comes amid a long-simmering battle about the future of Democratic leadership as a number of long-serving, elderly lawmakers mull whether to step aside for the new guard. The most notable instance was former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), 84, stepping aside for current Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), although Pelosi still commands a strong influence over the caucus from behind closed doors and has been accused of interfering with leadership races based on grudges.
