MSNBC host Chris Hayes said Tuesday on “All In” that House Democrats voting to make Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee instead of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) was “genuine madness.”

Hayes said, “Today, Democratic Congressman Gerry Connelly of Virginia was elected by his caucus to be the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee. That’s the highest ranking member of the minority party, the Democrats Connelly, who is 74 and was just diagnosed with esophageal cancer, beat back a challenge from 35-year-old progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez amid calls for a new generation of leadership in the Democratic Party.”

He continued, “Gerry Connolly won that vote today. And he did so thanks in part to former Speaker Nancy Pelosi whipping votes for him. Now again, to her credit, enormous credit, Pelosi did choose to step aside and relinquish her job as House minority leader to a new generation of leadership. She also played an enormous role in the successful effort to push Joe Biden to step aside this summer, which was very hard to do and I think the right thing to do. But now Pelosi whipped votes to make sure that Connolly got the Oversight job over the young star in the party, even as the 84-year-old Pelosi is recovering from hip surgery after suffering a fall. It feels like a moment of genuine madness.”

He added, “And look, no one wants to think about their own mortality. I sure as heck don’t. There are lots of people who live very long, active lives well into their 80s or 90s. Even John Paul Stevens lived years after he retired from the court at the age of 90. But as a general matter, this is a very risky undertaking for everyone. And Democrats are not taking this issue seriously, despite everything that’s happened. But they need to.

Hayes concluded, “Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire just said she’s undecided if she will run for another six-year term in 2026 when she will be 79 years old. And again, this is nothing against Senator Shaheen personally, but according to Pew polling, 79% of Americans support age limits for politicians in Washington. That is a striking, overwhelming number in today’s polarized environment. Seventy-nine percent of Americans don’t agree on anything. But they agree on this and Democrats should listen.”

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