Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse elected to House Democrats' No. 5 leadership post, in charge of messaging

U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse won election Thursday to lead the House Democrats' messaging arm, putting the Lafayette Democrat in the No. 5 elected spot on his party's leadership team in the chamber.

Neguse was elected without opposition as chairman of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, a newly created position that will make the 38-year-old the most senior member of the chamber's leadership from the Colorado delegation in more than eight decades.

"It's a privilege and an honor to be selected by my colleagues to lead the messaging arm for House Democrats going into the 118th Congress," Neguse told Colorado Politics in an exclusive interview. "The stakes, as you know, couldn't be higher — for our caucus, for the Congress, for the country — and ensuring that we have a messaging apparatus that is focused and disciplined in terms of developing a message that is going to resonate with the American people couldn't be more important."

House Democrats on Wednesday chose Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York as the next minority leader, Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts as the next minority whip and Rep. Pete Aguilar of California as Democratic Caucus chairman, ushering in a new generation of leadership for the party. All were unopposed.

Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina, a member of his party's leadership team for nearly two decades, won the post of assistant leader by acclamation Thursday morning after Rep. David Cicilline of Rhode Island dropped his bid for the post.

"So it's an exciting day and of course, being able to be a part of this new generation of leadership within the House Democratic caucus, under Leader Jeffries," Neguse said. "It's a special privilege to represent Colorado at the leadership table and to ensure that the Rocky Mountain West is is in the room is incredibly important to me and my district."

Neguse, who was elected last month to a third term representing the 2nd Congressional District with 70% of the vote, was one of four co-chairs of the panel in the 117th Congress. He's served in a leadership role since his first term, when he was elected by fellow members of the incoming class of lawmakers as a co-freshman representative to leadership.

Neguse said he intends to continue working to bring innovations to the Democrats' messaging operation.

"My focus on the DPCC thus far has been around modernization and innovation," he said. "As you know, Colorado is a hub for innovation and for our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit. And I've tried to bring that same energy to this particular role. And now as chair of the DPCC, I intend to make that the focal point and a priority going into the 118th Congress."

He said he'll build on programs launched in the current Congress, including one that sought to bring attention to members' floor speeches and help fellow lawmakers communicate with their constituents.

"We're going to double down on those efforts and those activities while of course also doing the core work of developing, holistically, a message for House Democrats going into the 118th Congress," Neguse said.

"In this last Congress, we developed the 'People Over Politics' messaging frame, which ultimately enabled our caucus to outperform expectations at the ballot box in November, and ultimately enabled us to outperform the expectations of virtually every pundit in the country in terms of defying some of those historic norms. So we intend to double down and push forward and build out a message that I believe will viscerally connect with the American people."

Neguse said he plans to bring a focus on "collaboration, innovation and service" to his work communicating a unified message while elevating members of the Democrats' diverse caucus.

"The Democrats are the big tent party in Washington — and, by the way, I'd say the same goes for our party in Colorado," Neguse said. "We have members who have beliefs across the ideological spectrum, and my work is to find ways to ensure that every member of our caucus feels listened to and valued and heard, and that we ultimately find a way to unite around our shared values, which I think we've done quite well in Colorado."

Added Neguse: "You see that in the election results this past November across the board, and I think we've done it well here in Washington as well, with a message that was very focused on kitchen table issues that every Coloradan and every American cares deeply about: lowering costs, creating better paying jobs, building safer communities. Those shared values and those shared priorities ultimately, I believe, are supported by the vast majority of American people, certainly the vast majority of Coloradans. So I intend to, to continue to pursue that messaging frame with the support of my colleagues and am looking forward as chair of the DPCC to engaging every member of our caucus in that work over the coming months."

House Democrats also elected three DPCC co-chairs on Thursday: Rep. Veronica Escobar of Texas, Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois and Rep. Dean Philips of Minnesota. 

The son of Eritrean immigrants, Neguse is a former University of Colorado regent and served as executive director of Colorado's Department of Regulatory Agencies before winning election to the House in 2018.

The 2nd CD covers Boulder and Larimer counties, the Interstate 70 ski corridor and much of northwestern Colorado, including all or parts of Clear Creek, Gilpin, Grand, Summit, Eagle, Routt, and Jackson counties. The district also includes small portions of Jefferson and Weld counties.

Neguse serves on the House Judiciary, Rules and Natural Resources committees and is a member of the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. He chairs the Natural Resource Committee's Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands.

He served as a House impeachment manager for former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial in 2021 and was the youngest impeachment manager in U.S. history.

Neguse told Colorado Politics that he intends to pursue an aggressive legislative agenda in the upcoming Congress.

"It's one of the many reasons why I decided to run again to serve in House leadership and to serve in this particular capacity — to be in the room as we make decisions that ultimately will impact every American, including the nearly 6 million Coloradans that live in our great state and the many others in our region," Neguse said.

"Fighting for the American West and fighting for our state is always and will always be my North Star, and that's something that I take very seriously, I'm hopeful that we'll be able to continue to bring that kind of approach through this new role."

Noting that he's had 18 bills signed into law by former President Trump and President Biden, Neguse predicted that the leadership position will bolster his ability to pass legislation.

"We found success, throughout, in terms of getting our legislative priorities across the finish line by trying to find ways in which to build common ground," he said.

Neguse said his priorities will be familiar.

"I intend to do the same thing around the priorities that I'll be pursuing in the next Congress, which are focused on the issues that my constituents and Coloradans at large care about — protection of public lands, preservation of our incredible treasured public spaces and open spaces, water issues and dealing with the unprecedented historic drought that the American West and state of Colorado is currently experiencing, (and) ensuring that we are continuing the fight against the existential threat of climate change," he said.