Connolly, top Democrat on oversight panel, will ‘soon’ leave post due to worsening cancer diagnosis

The top Democrat on the House committee that oversees federal operations and employees on Monday announced in an email to his constituents that he will “soon” step back from the position due to a worsening cancer outlook. 

Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who also said this will be his last term in Congress, wrote that his supporters’ “outpouring of love and support has given me strength in my fights — both against cancer and in our collective defense of democracy.”

At the end of last year, House Democrats picked Connolly to serve as ranking member on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee over Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. 

Connolly was first elected to Congress in 2008, representing a Fairfax-area district that is home to tens of thousands of federal employees. He announced in November that he had esophageal cancer and was undergoing treatment. 

The congressman said in his email that, despite "grueling treatments" initially having some success, his cancer has returned.

"The sun is setting on my time in public service, and this will be my last term in Congress. I will be stepping back as Ranking Member of the Oversight Committee soon," he said. "With no rancor and a full heart, I move into this final chapter full of pride in what we've accomplished together over 30 years. My loving family and staff sustain me. My extended family – you all have been a joy to serve."

In Trump’s second term, Connolly has emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the administration’s efforts to overhaul the federal government. He urged inspectors general who Trump fired to “show up for work in defiance of the unlawful terminations.” Earlier this month, Connolly revealed, based on whistleblower disclosures, that the Department of Government Efficiency is building a single, cross-agency database of sensitive information that may run afoul of privacy law. 

Democrats will “fight in every way we can, in the courts, in public opinion, with the bully pulpit and in the halls of Congress,” Connolly said on Feb. 3 to protestors outside of the headquarters of the U.S. Agency for International Development, which the Trump administration has effectively dismantled. 

Every year, Connolly introduces legislation to increase federal employee salaries. He has also been a staunch advocate for improving federal information technology acquisition, co-sponsoring the Federal IT Acquisition Reform Act in 2014 and shepherding the biannual FITARA scorecard, which assesses agencies' IT modernization and acquisition efforts. 

Oversight Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., said in a statement that Connolly is a "steadfast public servant who has spent his career serving Northern Virginians with honor and integrity. It’s an honor to serve the American people alongside him and I am rooting for him as he battles cancer once again."