By Nancy Ognanovich | September 14, 2020 2:08 PM ET

The competition for several plum committee assignment openings next year on Capitol Hill will start heating up as lawmakers finish their work this fall.

Formal discussions about the parties’ lineups will wait until a post-election, lame-duck session and will not be official until January when the new Congress convenes, according to committee aides in both parties. Still, members who want an opening will spend the rest of the year making their case to leaders and colleagues why they’re the best pick.

There is potential for plenty of turnover. Democrats are in striking distance of a Senate majority and, with it, committee gavels for the first time since 2015. And there are lawmakers set to lose their chairmanships either through retirement, term limits, or electoral defeat.

“Whether Democrats or Republicans control the Senate, we are poised to see a number of new committee chairmen, ranking members, and quite a few brand new faces,” said Izzy Klein of the Klein/Johnson Group and a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).

Below are some of the key slots where there could be competition and change.

Senate Republicans

Three Senate chairmen are retiring this year. Others are poised to hit term limits under party rules that limit service to three Congresses, or six years. But if the lawmaker served as ranking member, he or she could still serve as chair if the party controls the chamber.

Agriculture, Nutrition & Forestry: Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) is retiring, creating an opening. Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.) is in line to succeed him.

Budget: Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) is retiring, contributing to a scramble involving three other committees. Behind Enzi at Budget are Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Michael Crapo (R-Idaho).

Grassley has served almost six full years as Finance chairman and told reporters he plans to assert his seniority and reclaim the Judiciary top slot next year. That would displace Graham, who recently said Grassley’s decision means he will seek the Budget chairmanship or ranking job instead.

Energy & Natural Resources: Chairman Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has exhausted her time both as chair and as ranking member of the panel. Aides said they expect Environment and Public Works Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who is next in line, to lead the panel; Barrasso’s office declined comment. Barrasso’s move would leave open the top Republican slot at EPW.

Environment and Public Works: If Barrasso takes Energy, that would create an opening for Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), who could become the lone GOP woman chairing a major committee next year.

Finance: Grassley is term-limited in either scenario, which could open the Finance spot for Crapo, who is next in line. His office declined to comment. A vacancy atop Banking could permit Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) to advance.

Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) is retiring. Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), who has less seniority than the retiring Enzi, stepped down as Intelligence Committee chairman amid an FBI investigation related to stock sales he made before the pandemic crashed markets. Behind him is Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

Judiciary: If Grassley reclaims the leadership role, Graham would be displaced.

Small Business: Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) temporarily took the gavel at the Intelligence panel when Burr stepped down. He may have to surrender the chairmanship at the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee if he becomes Burr’s permanent replacement. Risch is next in line but would likely continue chairing Foreign Relations. If Paul takes the helm at HELP, that could put Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the lone Black member of the Republican Conference, in line to chair Small Business.

“Republicans would like to have him in a leadership role,” said Liam Donovan, a GOP strategist at Bracewell LLP.

Photographer: Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/Bloomberg

Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) faces term limits under party rules.

Senate Democrats

Taking the majority would give the current group of ranking members the chance to become chairmen. The roster would likely be stable, as there’s only one retirement and one competitive race.

Still, the opportunity for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to shepherd budget resolutions and reconciliation bills at Budget, or Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) to run the Rules and Administration Committee at a time when the filibuster’s future may be in doubt will give two former presidential contenders high-profile roles if control changes.

Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs: Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) is on Republicans’ target list this November. If he lost, next in line is Tom Carper(D-Del.), who had the top spot in the past but switched to the Environment and Public Works Committee in 2019. Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) may take the job instead.

Indian Affairs: The only Democrat retiring is Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Indian Affairs Committee. Many of the Democrats with seniority would likely hold on to other gavels, such as Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) at Commerce, Science, and Transportation and Jon Tester (D-Mont.) at Veterans’ Affairs.

House Democrats

Two openings are guaranteed for House Democrats, while a third will come down to a competitive race for one of the most conservative Democrats in the House caucus.

Agriculture: Rep. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) would remain at the helm here unless he loses his competitive re-election race with former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach (R). Should he lose, there are a few subcommittee chairs who would likely wait until the results are in to begin any kind of campaign to replace him. They include Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.), Jim Costa (D-Calif.) and Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio).

Appropriations: Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) are seeking to succeed retiring Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.). DeLauro leads the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, which is a high priority for Democrats, and has long had a close relationship with Lowey and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the Military Construction-VA Subcommittee, proposed forming an advisory panel that would review federal spending to identify “inequities in communities of color and historically marginalized communities.” Kaptur, who has the Energy and Water Development Subcommittee gavel, has the most seniority of the group, as the longest-serving woman in House history. She has sometimes tacked to the right of her fellow Democrats on the issues of abortion and immigration.

Foreign Affairs: The contest to replace Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), who lost his primary in June, is pitting Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), the next most senior Democrat on the committee, against Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.) and Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). The race has exposed a generational rift and differences on U.S.-Israel policy that could reshape the party’s stance on achieving Middle East peace.

Photo by Samuel Corum/Getty Images

House Democrats will choose committee leaders to replace two veteran New York representatives leaving at the end of the Congress, Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (left), who lost a primary, and Appropriations Chairwoman Nita Lowey (right), who is retiring. They’re seen in January 2020 with Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

House Republicans

Term limits and retirements will also reshape the roster of House Republican leaders. Unlike their Senate counterparts, House Republicans’ six-year cap applies whether the service was in the majority or minority.

Agriculture: Members vying to replace the retiringRep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) include Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-Pa.), who may have an edge as a former committee vice chairman when Republicans led the panel, as well as Reps. Austin Scott (R-Ga.) and Rick Crawford (R-Ark.).

Armed Services: Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) is retiring; his colleagues named the House defense authorization for him. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) has seniority but would face challenges from Reps. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who would have to give up his Homeland Security position, and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), who has been vocal about wanting the ranking spot.

Energy & Commerce: Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) is retiring, and while Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has the most seniority, he spent six years as chairman from 2011 to 2017. Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), who has the top spot on the Environment and Climate Change Subcommittee, is also retiring. The top contenders are Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), ranking member of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee and a former GOP leadership member, and the more senior Rep. Michael Burgess (R-Texas), a physician who has held the top spot on the Health Subcommittee since 2017.

Natural Resources: Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah) announced his retirement last year and then made an unsuccessful bid in the primary to be his state’s lieutenant governor. The most senior Republican on the panel, Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), already served six years in the top spot. Contenders with some seniority on the panel and potential interest include Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Doug Lamborn (R-Colo.), Rob Wittman (R-Va.), Tom McClintock (R-Calif.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.).

Small Business: Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio) is running for re-election but spent four years as Small Business chairman and the last two as ranking member. The next most senior member is Del. Amata Coleman Radewagen of American Samoa. Rep. Troy Balderson (R-Ohio) and Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) are the only other GOP members on the panel who aren’t in their first term, though both won special elections in 2018.

Veterans’ Affairs: Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.) is retiring. The next most senior member of the panel is Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.), though he opted out of seeking the chairmanship in 2017 to focus on his role on the Energy and Commerce Committee. Reps. Jack Bergman (R-Mich.) and Mike Bost (R-Ill.) are pursuing bids for the top spot.

With assistance from Megan U. Boyanton, Jack Fitzpatrick, Kellie Lunney, James Rowley, Michael Smallberg, and Roxana Tiron

To contact the reporter on this story: Nancy Ognanovich in Washington at nognanov@bgov.com

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kyle Trygstad at ktrygstad@bgov.com; Loren Duggan at lduggan@bgov.com; Bennett Roth at broth@bgov.com