Joe Biden's cognitive collapse forced Democrats to dump him from the 2024 race.
Now the same party wants to hand an 88-year-old one of Congress's most powerful gavels.
And the Democrat who promised Waters he was not running just started quietly recruiting votes to take her down.
The House Financial Services Committee Fight Tearing Democrats Apart
Rep. Maxine Waters, 88, has led Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee for more than a decade and is first in line to chair it if Democrats flip the House next month.
The committee controls banking regulations, housing policy, cryptocurrency rules, and oversight of the Federal Reserve – enormous power over Wall Street and over every American's savings account, mortgage, and retirement fund.
If she gets the gavel, she will be the oldest Financial Services Committee chair in American history.
Her response to colleagues quietly questioning her fitness?
"If you take a look at my energy and what I do – I am Auntie Maxine," she told Politico. "I don't know who's got more energy, more concern."
Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois, 54, disagrees.
In September, Casten privately told Waters he would not challenge her for the chairmanship. Then he started dialing for votes.
One senior House Democrat told Politico there is a "pretty broad appetite" in the caucus for change and that Waters – who will turn 90 before the next Congress ends – is the most "glaring case." That same Democrat quickly added they have "a world of respect for Maxine and her career."
Sure they do.
The Congressional Black Caucus has already signaled it will go to war if Waters gets pushed aside.
"You're gonna hear from the CBC," one House Democrat warned.
The Maxine Waters fight is not really about one committee.
It is a preview of what a Democrat-controlled House looks like starting in January.
Darializa Avila Chevalier and the DSA Are Coming for Hakeem Jeffries
The age fight is only half the problem.
While Democrats war over whether Waters should hold the gavel, a new class of House members is headed to Washington – and they are not interested in playing by anyone's rules.
Darializa Avila Chevalier is 32 years old, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, and headed to Congress after defeating incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat in the New York primary.
She has reposted calls for "a world without borders – just like a world without prisons or police."
When a radio host pressed her on deleted social media posts on primary Election Day, she walked out of the interview live on air.
DSA-backed candidates swept primaries across New York and Colorado, toppling at least three incumbent Democrats who had party support.
After their victories, DSA members were caught on video chanting "You're next" – directed at House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries.
Jeffries responded by going on NBC's Meet the Press and promising DSA-backed winners they would have a place in his caucus.
"It's going to be a broad caucus," Jeffries said.
Avila Chevalier has made no secret of viewing Jeffries as the obstacle – a career politician standing between the socialist movement and real power.
Jeffries heads into a potential speakership already fighting on two fronts: octogenarian incumbents who refuse to give up their gavels and Marxist newcomers who want to tear down everything he has built.
Hakeem Jeffries Needs Every Vote and the Socialists Know It
Jeffries needs every vote to hold a majority and lock down the speakership.
Half a dozen DSA members are expected to win House seats next month, giving them enough votes to hold legislation hostage and enough leverage to turn Jeffries's speakership into a daily hostage negotiation between 88-year-old committee chairs who refuse to leave and 32-year-old socialists who think he is too conservative to lead them.
What is playing out right now is not a distraction.
It is the first warning shot of what is coming – a Democrat House that cannot agree on who should run its committees, cannot control its socialist wing, and has not learned a single thing from watching Joe Biden cling to power until it was too late.
Three weeks out, with everything on the line?
They are making the same mistake again.
Sources:
- Nick Givas, "House Democrat Reveals Plan to Knock Maxine Waters Off Her Leadership Pedestal," The Western Journal / The Gateway Pundit, October 15, 2026.
- Peter D'Abrosca, "Rising Socialist Stars on Track to Congress: Who Are Darializa Avila Chevalier, Brad Lander and Claire Valdez?" Fox News, June 24, 2026.
- Staff, "Mamdani-Backed Socialist Candidate Storms Out of Live Interview When Confronted With Old Social Media Posts," Fox News, 2026.
- Staff, "Jeffries Promises to Caucus with DSA Members Despite Not Supporting Agenda," Washington Examiner, August 17, 2026.
- Staff, "Socialist Revolution? Zohran Mamdani's Allies Seek to Primary House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries," Washington Free Beacon, 2026.